The Land of Milk and Honey ?!

Introduction to the Israeli Agriculture Ofer Sachs In Charge of Agricultural Relations with the EU

Lebano n Mediterranean Sea Tel Aviv Jerusalem Egypt 22,000 Km ² Negev N

RAINFALL

mm/year

1000 800 700 500-600 200-400 100-200 <100

Year Average( mm) Mountain : 550 South : 30 North : 720

Number of active farms 1971-95

Farms Moshavim Urban/Rural Non Jewish Kibbutzim & collective villages Agricultu re survey 1995

25,400

Agricultu re census 1981

44,900

Agricultur e census 1971

35,000 15,500 3,750 22,800 6,000 19,500 5,100 5,817 327 14,350 307 10,000 282

FORMS OF SETTLEMENTS



Kibbutz = “Group” In Hebrew



A rural settlement of usually few hundred members, it’s a voluntary community (registered as a cooperative) engaged in farming, industry and/or agro-tourism



Common Ownership and management of Production assets & and many of the community facilities.



269 kibbutzim, 2.2% of Total Population

A rural settlement of 60 – 120 Individual Family Farms (registered as an agricultural cooperative) The Individual Farmer Works His Own Plot Purchasing of imputes, supply of credit & marketing was previously done by the Cooperative, nowadays the individual farmers are doing all managerial tasks on top of production 450 Moshavim, 3.1% of Total Population

1USD=4.5NIS

Export of Agriculture produce

(total Value 1,027.1 millions $ F.O.B for 2005)

Export According to Country of Destination, 2002

78% 8% 2% 2% 10% European Union Turkey Japan United States Rest of the World

CATTLE



14.4% of Israel ’ s total agricultural production*



10.9% Milk & Dairy products.



3.5% Beef products.



Milk consumption per capita/year 173 litres.



Average milk production per cow 10,000kg (annually).



Average Moshav dairy herd consists of 50 milking cows , while the average on a kibbutz dairy herd is 300 cows.

*At 2003

Average milk production, 2003

New-Zealand Australia Spain EU USA Holland Israel 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000

Liters per cow/year

10,000 12,000

POULTRY

•Accounts for ~

17.8% agricultural output of the total

•Consumption of poultry meat & eggs per

capita, on a ready to eat basis, is among the highest in the world. 45kg of chicken, 17kg of turkey and 250 eggs per capita annually.

•

AQUACULTURE

Accounts for 2.6% of total agricultural production Type Carp Quantity (tons ) 6,200 Tilapia Mullet Silver Carp Trout Hybrid bass 8,200 1,630 710 500 380 Sea-bream Others Total 3,160 510 21,290

Risks

        Land and labor costs Import from Africa and from the far East  Flowers, and Garlic World trade barriers Farmers income Water Minimum volume of the sector Environmental issues R&D