Chart of the week: Gaza's farmland has been almost erased
Gaza's agricultural sector has been devastated, with a recent UN assessment revealing that only 4.6 per cent of the enclave's cropland remains usable. The destruction of farmland, coupled with restrictions on the entry of aid lorries into the strip, has pushed Gaza's entire population to the brink of famine.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation and the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) report that more than 80 per cent of Gaza's cropland has been damaged, and 77.8 per cent is inaccessible, leaving 688 hectares available for cultivation.
Israel's military operations have severely impaired Gaza's capacity for self-sustenance. Farms, orchards and greenhouses have been destroyed or rendered inaccessible, depriving Palestinians of food and livelihoods.
Before the current conflict began in October 2023, agriculture was important to Gaza's economy and food security. Although Gaza was never fully self-sufficient, the sector contributed approximately 6 to 11 per cent of the GDP and employed a significant portion of the population.
Local farms supplied about 12 per cent of the average daily caloric intake per person, producing crops including citrus fruits, dates, olives and vegetables, according to a joint study by the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Centre for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
However, this lifeline has steadily been eroded. Remote sensing analyses by the UN Satellite Centre indicate a sharp decline in viable cropland: 8 per cent damaged by December 2023; 28 per cent by January 2024; 43 per cent by February 2024; and 57 per cent by May 2024.
Much of the remaining agricultural land has been bulldozed, bombed or lies in areas that farmers can no longer safely access. Geospatial imagery reveals the widespread degradation from above.
'This level of destruction is not just a loss of infrastructure – it is a collapse of Gaza's agrifood system and of lifelines,' said Beth Bechdol, deputy director general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
International aid agencies have described the situation as a humanitarian catastrophe. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network and other hunger monitors warn that more than half a million people face catastrophic food insecurity.
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