Could alternative farming save Gaza’s agriculture sector?
A young Palestinian graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture at Al-Azhar University in the Gaza Strip has built a hydroponic farm to grow lettuce without the need for soil, in a bid to overcome soil-related problems and high salinity levels in the water in Gaza.
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — Two years after graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Feras Bakri, 25, has built a small hydroponic unit to grow lettuce without using agricultural soil. By replacing traditional soil farming with hydroponic farming, he hopes to overcome the problems of soil contamination and the high salinity of irrigation water in the Gaza Strip.
Bakri’s hydroponic system is in a 1,600-square-foot greenhouse. There are 40-foot-long rafts lined up one over the other for optimal use of space. Before the start of cultivation, the greenhouse was sterilized with chlorine and a fungicide. The use of insecticides is not required in this type of agriculture.
