Project Summary


The continuous food insecurity in Palestine is driven by limited economic access to food, arising from imposed restrictions of movement, trade and investment, and high unemployment rates. Almost 30% of the Palestinian households in the West Bank, Palestine, are considered as severe or moderate food insecure or marginally food secured. Therefore, the project aimed at improving the food security of vulnerable families in Palestine through improving the urban agricultural techniques, specifically; the adoption of wicking bed and hydroponic plant production systems in urban and refugees’ camps. Through demonstrating improved models of wicking beds and hydroponic systems, the project focused on improving the wicking beds and hydroponic models in Palestine. It aims at using the alternative inputs for developing a more efficient and cheaper model of wicking beds that become affordable to install by vulnerable urban households. The system also has offered self-productive vegetable systems in urban areas by using a limited amount of water for irrigation.

Research Objectives


  • Improving the adaptation of green and eco-hydro-agriculture through research and development in urban areas, and refugee camps. 
  • Enhancing the access of vulnerable families in urban areas and refugee camps to demonstrate, cultivate crops and produce through the developed models of wicking bed, and hydroponic agro-production systems.   
  • Assessing the socioeconomic, food security and income-generating impacts of the introduced new models of eco-hydro agriculture (hydroponics and wicking beds systems) into urban areas and analyzing the key elements for their economic feasibility, sustainability, and scaling up in Palestine. 

Project Team


Name                     : Daoud Abusafieh, Assistant professor

University               : Palestine Technical University-Kadourie

Email                      : daoud_il@yahoo.com

Name                     : Mahmoud Rahil, Associate professor

University               : Palestine Technical University-Kadourie

Email                      : mrahail@yahoo.com

Name                     : Suhyb Salama, Associate professor

University               : University of Twente

Email                      : s.salama@utwente.nl

Name                     : Bouke Kappers, Researcher

Organization          : TGS for Business and Development, The Netherlands

Email                     : bkappers@tgsbusiness.com

Name                    : Nader Hrimat, Research assistant

Organization         : Applied research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ)  

Email                    : nader@arij.org

 
 
 

Research Deliverables and Outcomes: 

Tags: 

Research Category: 

Small Research Project (SRP)

Research Summary : 

The continuous food insecurity in Palestine is driven by limited economic access to food, arising from imposed restrictions of movement, trade and investment, and high unemployment rates. Almost 30% of the Palestinian households in the West Bank, Palestine, are considered as severe or moderate food insecure or marginally food secured. Therefore, the project aimed at improving the food security of vulnerable families in Palestine through improving the urban agricultural techniques, specifically; the adoption of wicking bed and hydroponic plant production systems in urban and refugees’ camps.