Women Turn to Agriculture Amid Crisis To Fight Poverty

Covid – 19 has impacted the entire world. Some regions had been affected more severely than others like Gaza. Gaza's condition is worsening day by day. The rapidly crashing economy, of Gaza, can be viewed through the constant decline in the living conditions of people. The poverty and unemployment rates in the country are rising rapidly from 45% to 59%. According to statistics, women's unemployment in Gaza is even higher, at 62%.  

The Green Girls 

Amid this crisis, two groups of young women decided to turn to agriculture to provide food for their families. When Ghaidaa Qudaih graduated from university, she was among the several other women, who were unemployed and were suffering from poor living conditions. When she was unable to find a job, even with a degree in business, she realized that it was time to take matters into her own hands. With the help of two other young women named Aseel Najjar and Nadine Abu Rok who were facing the same issues, Ghaidaa decided to fight poverty and unemployment through an agricultural project run by women.   

How did they do it? 

Ghaidaa, Aseel, and Nadine were ambitious, young, and brave. They rented a piece of land of about one-fourth of an acre. The rent was low because it was farther away from where they had been living. One of their male friends helped them buy supplies for farming as he took a loan under his name because none of the local store owners were ready to take a risk and lend money to women they did not know. They focused on growing peas, lettuce, and radishes. In order to keep their farms organic, they abstained from using fertilizers.

On October 20, they planted their first-ever seeds. They started working every day from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening. On the 100th day of their hustle, they were overjoyed, seeing the time and hard work that they have invested into the farm has finally paid them back. They planted over 5 kilograms of seeds.

The seeds that they have planted helped them in yielding tonnes of crops. They opened Facebook and Instagram pages to sell their goods. They could never have predicted the number of responses they got. They fought hunger and poverty with their goal to better and they accomplished it by their hard work.