The Strategies of Food Security in Palestine Wheat Strategic Reserve as a Case رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

The study clarifies the importance of wheat strategic reserve in Palestine food security, wheat, the key resource of food security, was selected as one of the strategic reserve components. As a matter of fact, Palestine – West Bank and Gaza Strip - suffers from a shortage of wheat strategic reserve which must be used to face any potential crises. The study aims at identifying the optimal wheat strategic reserve volume and proper places needed for this to ensure food security. The study adopted descriptive analytical method in explaining research problem through estimating the optimal wheat strategic reserve volume based on the data collected and analyzed from several sources; The method of interviewing with the concerned parties and persons was applied taking into consideration the reality of Palestinian agriculture and the obstacles that may face wheat strategic reserves, and considering the experience of some surrounding countries with this regard. The study considered four methods for distributing wheat silos and warehouses to the proposed areas applying these scenarios; distribution by production; population density and consumption rate. Three methods were found to estimate strategic wheat reserve volume, 17% of annual consumption; estimated scenarios (17%, 20%, 25%, 30%, and 35%) of annual consumption and (2 to 4) times of annual consumption. The minimum six- month wheat strategic reserve volume is around (53,813) tons. The last scenario "decentralization of the silo, central warehouse, and sub-warehouses" is the best one that can be applied. The conclusions emphasize that Palestine has no wheat strategic reserve and its wheat local production is insufficient to support the strategic reserve and face crises; Palestine basically relies on imports from abroad due to an absence of effective policies to grow wheat instead; there are political, financial, technical and logistical constraints facing wheat silos construction; and a lack of studies on wheat strategic reserve. Recommendations concentrate on encouraging the government in cooperation with nongovernmental institutions to invest in wheat silo projects, increasing agricultural areas to grow wheat, increasing wheat production to reduce dependence on imports from abroad through following a policy of encouraging farmers to do so; overcoming all obstacles that may face silos construction, and conducting more studies on agricultural development.