News just in from Palestine telling us the almond harvest is well underway, and it looks like it will be a good year, despite a number of challenges. Our Advocacy & Liaison Officer in Palestine, Taysir Arbasi, reports from the groves of Haj Rafeeq Hussein and Majdi Ghanam.
Speaking from his farm in the ancient village of Ti’innik near Jenin, Haj Rafeeq Hussein tells me that, despite a shortage of rain over the winter, his rain-fed almonds have done well and he has a reasonably good harvest.
He says: “My family works with me in the fields to pick the almonds. There are three of us usually and we start early in the morning so we can finish about noon, as the temperature is reaching 42 degrees by midday at the moment.”
Extreme heat is not the only thing threatening Haj’s almonds. “The big issue we have now is the wild boar! They eat the almonds – so we’re trying to finish as soon as possible as we’re losing more almonds every day.”
Wild boar have been released in their thousands in the West Bank over the last 10 years and they produce large numbers of offspring every year so they are now a significant problem – especially for agriculture.
Meanwhile, in Aqqaba, south of Jenin, farmer Majdi Ghanam, is also out picking his almonds in this exceptional heat, and is pleased with his harvest despite not getting as much rain as normal. “We don’t have so much of a problem with wild boar here, so my almonds have survived,” he says.
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