• Sunday, 10-12-2017

PTUK Hosts International Conference on Food Security in Palestine

Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie organized an international conference on food security in Palestine, hosted in Millennium Hotel in Ramallah.
The conference, which included the participation of elite experts, scholars and decision makers specialized in the food security sector, aimed to identify the actual status of agricultural production – plant and animal, develop a method to sustain future development for this important sector towards achieving food satisfaction and to explore the challenges that threaten the area in this regard.
The conference included two seminars: the first one presented by the agriculture expert Dr. Abdallah Gaza, in which several representatives discussed a number of researches having the head title “the agricultural production in Palestine and the ambition for food security”. While the second one was presented by Dr. Sa’ed Al Khayyat from PTUK’s Faculty of Agriculture discussing strategic ways of securing the food sector in Palestine.
In his opening speech, the University President Prof. Marwan Awartani shed light on the conference theme that falls within the university's framework of responsibility towards leveraging sustainable development being a basic supporter to arise with the state of Palestine and to enhance its economic basics, technology and knowledge.
He went on highlighting that sustainable agriculture is the foundation of food security, hence, creating new joint academic and research programs among colleges and research centers is what should be prioritized on the agenda, which will also give rise to deep-root and enhance the culture of green entrepreneurship among students and the Palestinian graduates.
The Israeli Occupation is at the top of threats that menace the food security in Palestine throughout confiscating the rich lands and the valuable resources of Palestinian people causing prevalence of malnutrition and undernourishment across the state, he added.
For his part, the Deputy of Ministry of Education Dr. Basri Salih, thanking the university and the conference organizers, considered this scientific conference an integral necessity since it is making the Palestinian people feel unsafe and worried calling for activating the role of the international law regarding the food security to prevent the occupation policies from illegal exploitation. However, it will enable the smallholder farmers invest the farming and water resources keeping the food satisfaction secured at all levels.
The Deputy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Abdallah Lahlouh explored the international, Islamic, Arab and national initiatives set to achieve the food security stressing the importance of agriculture that will remain the basic cornerstone of the national Palestinian economy.
At the end of the conference, several recommendations were presented and discussed, all of which connected the pathwaysof joint-cooperation between the private sectors and the university agricultural colleges in order to achieve sustainable agriculture and food security in the nation.