RAMALLAH (NNN-WAFA) -- The Palestinian Territory suffers from water scarcity due to limited water resources, which affects all the vital sectors, especially agriculture, which is essential to ensure food self-sufficiency, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said.
It stated, marking World Water Day that around 220 litres of water are available daily per capita in the Palestinian Territory, which means that each Palestinian needs nine times the current amount of water in order to produce their daily food.
According to its press release, the Israeli actions of ongoing siege and closure of Palestinian cities, burning or confiscation of lands, stealing of agricultural crops, expansion of settlements and expulsion of farmers from their own lands, plus stealing the water to re-sell it back at high prices that farmers cannot afford to use for agriculture, have severely affected food production.
It said that water resources in the Palestinian Territory consist only of springs and ground water wells.
The amount of water discharged from springs in 2010 was 26.8 million cubic metres, while 244 million cubic metres of water was pumped from ground water wells and water purchased from the Israeli Water Company (Mekorot) totalled 60.3 million cubic metres, of which 4.3 million cubic metres were for agricultural use, it said.
Rain-fed cultivated areas form 80.0 per cent of the total cultivated area of Palestinian cultivation due to the limited water supply, while irrigated farming forms 19.6 per cent.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing represent 5.5 per cent of Palestinian GDP and provide employment to about 11.8 per cent of the total labour force. -- NNN-WAFA
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