The Revive Gaza’s Farmland Project launched by the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN), is a coalition of farmers working to restore and cultivate farmland across Gaza. They hope to bolster food security and food sovereignty for Palestinian people by reviving local agricultural production.

Less than five percent of the Gaza Strip’s total land remains available for cultivation, after cropland areas have been damaged or made inaccessible to farmers, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). But rather than focus on the destruction, Razan Zuayter, Founder and Chairperson of the APN, tells Food Tank that the Project aims to “highlight what endures.”

Since March 2024, the Project has supported the cultivation of 1,341 dunums (~331 acres) of land, producing over 7 million kilograms of vegetables including eggplants, zucchini, cucumber, tomato, melon, and molokhia. The grassroots connection between farmers and families allows vegetables to directly reach over 12,000 people under siege, the Project reports.

This comes at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations report that Gaza has faced systematic starvation. According to the latest U.N. analysis, the recent ceasefire helped to offset famine conditions, but food security in Gaza is still under threat. More than three-quarters of the population face acute hunger and malnutrition.

“Gaza’s children are no longer facing deadly famine, but they remain in grave danger,” says Lucia Elmi, UNICEF Director of Emergency Operations.

Zuayter says the Revive Gaza’s Farmland Project is working to address the dire situation. But under the Defense Export Control Law, Israel regulates the entrance of all goods into the Gaza Strip and restricts items it dubs as having potential for both civilian and military use. Since 2023, these restrictions prohibit the entry of food sources like tomato seeds, date pits, or coriander seeds.

“By reviving Gaza’s agricultural capacities through internal procurement and local production, we strengthen a food system resistant to blockade and man-made famine,” Zuayter tells Food Tank. “We are breaking the siege from within.”

Read the full article about reviving Gaza’s farmland by Amy Hauer at Food Tank.