THE CANAAN CENTER FOR ORGANIC RESEARCH & EXTENSION
“The beauty of the land of Palestine stems from its rich, fertile, and diverse agriculture, and this has been for thousands of years, a social culture of farming that creatively lived with the land producing the best treasures out of the soil. Palestinian farmers lived in harmony with this ecosystem for thousands of years and continue to honor these traditions to this day” Founder, Nasser Abufarha.
THE CANAAN MODEL FOR A SUSTAINABLE CROP VALUE CHAIN APPROACH IN PALESTINE
The Canaan Model- consists of the Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA), Canaan Center for Organic Research and Extension (CORE), and Canaan Fair Trade (CFT) working together in complete synergy and integration for developing entire crop value chains.
The PFTA, which is the largest fair trade producers’ union in Palestine, consolidates farmers and their production, and facilitates marketing them through fair trade channels. CFT processes, develops and markets farmers’ products. CFT contributes to social empowerment and community development programs initiated by the PFTA. The PFTA-CFT model has been named a “world model for rural transformation” by the ILO.
CORE is a new institution aiming to improve the livelihood of small-scale farmers and their communities through promoting sustainable ecological and organic farming. CORE aims also to scale up the Canaan model and expand its positive impact, through using research and innovation, training and extension, and sharing knowledge and cooperation with local and international partners.
The participatory approach that CORE adopted in addressing the almond seed wasp problem, the most serious challenge for almond farmers in the last few years, and the tangible positive results, all that enabled CORE to build real trust and start active and sound collaboration with farmers.
This presentation was given by CORE director Dr. Samer Jarrar at the closing plenary of the 10th Organic Producers Conference, hosted by the Organic Research Centre in the UK. The complete presentation on PDF is available from this page.
“The beauty of the land of Palestine stems from its rich, fertile, and diverse agriculture, and this has been for thousands of years, a social culture of farming that creatively lived with the land producing the best treasures out of the soil. Palestinian farmers lived in harmony with this ecosystem for thousands of years and continue to honor these traditions to this day” Founder, Nasser Abufarha.
