Through the Agriculture and Natural Resources Program, MA’AN Development Center strives to protect and improve the use of natural resources in Palestine. Farmers of all scales are capacitated on best green practices and are supported through comprehensive theoretical and practical training, mentorships and 1-on-1 coaching. These sessions cross sects with the Social and Economic Development Program, as it strives to capacitate farmers in best green practices to improve and find income generations within the food value chain.
Within this program, MA’AN Development Center projects focuses on 5 types of interventions within the agricultural sector to support farmers:
MA’AN Center strives to provide updated research on land and water in Palestine, while also developing policy papers to enhance farmer resilience and protect their natural resources. MA’AN Center promotes dialogue sessions between farmers and decision-makers to break barriers and create accountability mechanisms for farmers to reach their basic rights.
Provision of theoretical and practical trainings in production and farm management, using sustainable agricultural models as steppingstones for farmers to cultivate safe produce, decrease environmental pollutants, and generate income.
MA’AN capacities farmers on the demands of the local and national Palestinian markets. Through these capacity building sessions, farmers are capacitated in marketing strategies such as branding and product design.
MA’AN Center documents violations, through the creation of fact sheets on these violations, and also launch media awareness on key issues occurring with Palestinian farmers for international lobbying.
MA’AN Center supports entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector through direct financial support or by facilitating their access to other finance resources.
MA’AN Center strives to protect and improve the natural resources of farmers, while ensuring sustainability of production and providing safe organic produce. Within a project titled “Building Farmers Resilience and Increasing Access to Agricultural Assets”, issues in water availability and land productively in the West Bank were addressed. A small-scale farmer, Hamdallah, highlighted the positive impact MA'AN Center's water harvesting intervention had on his agricultural land by stating, “The project helped me to replace the old irrigation network with a new one that reduced the water loss costs by 80%”.
