organization:agriculture ministry

Iran launches first overseas farming plan
▻http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/25264-iran-launches-first-overseas-farming-plan

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Iran has launched agricultural cultivation in #Kazakhstan, marking its first farmland investment overseas as the Middle Eastern country seeks to secure food supplies amid a lingering drought.

Cultivation has begun over eight hectares of farmland in the Central Asian country, with the next project expected to start in Ukraine in the next few months, Agriculture Ministry’s Mohammad Reza Shafeinia of Iran said.

A similar plan is in the works for #Ghana whose agricultural sector accounts for over half of the African nation’s gross domestic product and is the world’s second largest cocoa producer.

Water-intensive rice and corn crops as well as oilseeds and livestock inputs have been cited by Agriculture Ministry officials as the target products which Iran seeks to grow on farmlands overseas.

The semi-arid country is awaking to its water shortage vulnerability, rushing through a series of exigency plans to tide over the problem.

#Iran #Asie_centrale #eau #terres

Israeli food makers seek solution to EU settlement sanctions

The EU bans the import of organic produce from settlements. From September 1 it will block the entry of all animal products, including eggs, poultry and dairy.
By Ora Coren | Aug. 18, 2014 Haaretz
►http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.611022

Israeli manufacturers are preparing for increased limitations on imports to the European Union of products produced in the settlements. The European Union may ban outright foods grown or raised in Israeli settlements or manufactured foods using raw materials from settlements.

The EU bans the import of organic produce from settlements. From September 1, it will block the entry of all animal products, including eggs, poultry and dairy. Israeli industry figures fear the ban could be extended to conventionally grown produce and will force Israel’s food export industry from using produce grown in the settlements.

This would include not only West Bank settlements but also the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem.

The Agriculture Ministry, in partnership with the economy and foreign ministries, is trying to persuade the EU to reverse the decision, but it is also preparing Israeli producers for its implications.

The official EU reason behind the decision is public health. Since the European authorities do not recognize Agriculture Ministry activity beyond the Green Line, food from the area is considered unregulated.

According to the Israel Export Institute, in 2013 Israel exported some $87 million in processed fruit and vegetable products to the EU, out of the total food exports of $365 million. This includes goods from both sides of the Green Line.

One source said the EU’s approach suggested that it was likely to extend the ban to foods manufactured in Israel proper using produce grown in settlements. That would effectively bar Israel’s food industry from exporting to Europe. To counter the ban, companies would have to create two production lines, with goods designated for Europe using only ingredients sourced from within Israel’s pre-1967 borders.

“This is an illogical expense for the entire industry. The agriculture, foreign and economy ministries are trying to keep the EU from toughening its stance in conversations in Brussels. This is unquestionably a very significant tightening of restrictions in exports to Europe. We are cautiously optimistic, but if the move goes forward Israel must adapt to European regulations,” one source said.

In 2012, the EU stopped recognizing the area beyond the Green Line as Israeli. Exports from this area did not receive the import duty benefits of Israel’s free-trade agreement with the EU.

But different EU agencies interpreted this decision differently. In 2013 the EU stopped recognizing Agriculture Ministry supervision of organic agriculture in the West Bank and banned the import of this produce on the grounds that because it was unsupervised it posed a danger to public health.

A workaround was found for these goods, through July 2015: Companies registered in Palestinian towns would buy the produce and export it to Europe, under the supervision of a Swiss firm.

In February, the EU decided to stop recognizing Agriculture Ministry veterinary supervision beyond the Green Line, from September 1. That means Israel will have to stop exporting poultry and other animal products from the territories to EU markets.

Israel exported $36 million in processed meat products to Europe last year.

Off Tov, which exports chicken products to Europe, will set up different production lines for chickens raised in the settlements and those raised within the Green Line. A European delegation came to observe the setup last month.

Last week, the Agriculture Ministry’s veterinary services sent a letter to dairies, instructing them to separate raw milk from the settlements from that produced within Israel proper.

In opposing the planned sanctions, Israel argues that they will hurt Palestinian workers, for example at dairies in the Jordan Valley, and damage Israeli-Palestinian relations.

In the meantime, Israel plans to increase agricultural exports to Russia, in the wake of Moscow’s restrictions on European imports.

Poultry products originating from Israeli settlements no longer sent to Europe amid EU sanctions -

Officials at the foreign and agriculture ministries say that so far no serious economic damage has been done, with diversion to the local market solving the problem.
By Barak Ravid | Aug. 17, 2014 |Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.610900

The Agriculture Ministry decided two months ago to divert settlements’ poultry products to markets outside the European Union after the EU imposed sanctions have made it very difficult to send such products to Europe.

Officials at the foreign and agriculture ministries say that so far no serious economic damage has been done, with diversion to the local market solving the problem.

On February 17, the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, enacted procedures under which the EU would no longer recognize the authority of Israeli veterinary services for livestock in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights.

Without veterinary approval, importing to EU countries becomes virtually impossible.

According to a senior Israeli official, an investigation showed that hens are supplied by some farms in the Jordan Valley to the Off Tov (Good Chicken) poultry plant, which prepares products exported to Europe.

The new procedures raised concerns that all the company’s exports to Europe would be blocked, given the difficulty in establishing the source of each product.

At the end of June, Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir, a member of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, tried to resolve the issue. The ministry ordered the diversion of settlements products to plants that supply local markets, or to countries outside the European Union.

Hens from the settlements were put on different production lines to distinguish them from other poultry. A delegation of experts from the European Union arrived here in late July to confirm this separation so that exports to Europe could continue.

The new procedures have affected other items exported to Europe. According to the daily Maariv this weekend, dairy exporters were also told to separate items coming from settlements from those originating within Israel’s 1967 borders.

Fish products are expected to be next in line for such treatment. A plant at the Atarot industrial area north of Jerusalem raises fish for export to Europe. Other farmers export decorative fish to Europe. Without veterinary approval these companies will have to find another destinations.

Senior officials at the foreign and agriculture ministries say diversion to the local market will work for fish as well. Wine is also expected to be included in the new arrangement, but this will cause serious damage because many wineries are located across the 1967 borders.

Report: EU won’t import poultry from settlements -

By Haaretz | May 22, 2014
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.592203

The European Union recently informed Israel’s Agriculture Ministry that it does not recognize the ministry’s veterinary supervision beyond the Green Line and thus refuses to import poultry and eggs from West Bank settlements, the Israeli site Walla reported.

The restriction on such imports is in line with a footnote within the EU guidelines that went into effect in January, restricting business and trade with Israeli entities located in the West Bank. The EU informed Israel that as a result, poultry imported from settlements would not be recognized as having undergone the required veterinary supervision.

According to the report, Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir was surprised by the notification and assured Israeli veterinary supervision beyond the 1967 borders is no different than within. It also notes that only 5 percent of the poultry produced by Israel originates in the settlements.

Jerusalem and Brussels have been in contact in recent weeks to try and resolve the issue, and an Israeli official is quoted by Walla as saying it is one of the “strangest diplomatic disputes” he has encountered.

#BDS