Palestinian farmers in the West Bank mainly engage in low intensity agriculture. Despite great agricultural potential, the prospect of losing access to the land impacts negatively on the willingness of farmers to invest in sustainable agricultural intensification. Moreover, prior investments in agriculture could be under pressure as well when farmers do not have the documents to proof their tenure rights. Women in particular are often unable to claim rights to the land they are using, importantly caused by discriminatory inheritance practices. The project aims to increase land tenure security for Palestinian farmers, by improvement of the land governance system through the provision of technical and legal support. Special attention will be given to formal and informal inheritance practices and raising awareness of women’s land rights.
In December 2020, a subsidy was granted to the Land Research Centre (LRC), to execute the LAND-at-scale project in the Palestinian Territories. LRC will support farmers in strengthening their land tenure security as part of building more resilient and sustainable livelihoods, while contributing to an enabling investment climate. LAND-at-scale supports the ‘Improving land governance for Palestinian farmers’ project with 2 million euros of funding.
Sustainable land management and food production
Over the coming years, the project will provide tailor made support to Palestinian farmers to strengthen their security of tenure, contributing to more sustainable land management practices and improved food production. By offering tailor-made technical and/ or legal support to farmers, security of tenure for existing farmlands will be strengthened. In relation to the position of women, the project will analyse existing inheritance practices, its impacts on women’s access to land, and provide recommendations for empowering women’s abilities to access farmland.
LAND-at-scale
LAND-at-scale is a government programme that helps to improve land governance. The programme supports better food and nutrition security, economic development and peace and stability in developing countries. It also contributes to sustainable incomes and social justice. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds LAND-at-scale.