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Today, the Arava & southern Negev area produce almost half of the country's crops & vegetables. A veritable accomplishment from an area that Mark Twain, upon his visit to Palestine in 1867 described as: "a desolation that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action…".
It's quite amazing how the people have made the desert flourish in these nearly impossible conditions.
However, in the future there will be serious problems with the availability of water, despite all the research and innovations in this field Israel has made. (in the past 30 years, the agricultural produced has increased almost fivefold, with hardly any increase in the use of water)
However, the land is facing increasing problems (over pumping of ground water, pollution, etc) with the supply of frest water for both residential and agricultural use. Read the speech by Dan Zaslavsky of Bar-Ilan University for some fodder for the thought... It's a bit provocative, but highlights the basic problems well I believe.
For an official, longer, version, read this. text from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. |
