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Agriculture ministry: Power outages and fuel shortages portend a food crisis

The Palestinian ministry of agriculture on Saturday warned that the power outages and the shortages of fuel and gas adversely affected the agricultural sector in the Gaza Strip and portends an imminent food crisis.

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In a press release, the ministry said that the food basket of Gaza's people, which is represented in agriculture, fishing and livestock, is about to come to a complete standstill.

The ministry explained that many water pumps for wells were  out of service in different districts in Gaza  which means a failure to irrigate large tracts of agricultural lands.

It added that the poultry farms also stopped working because of the long hours of power blackouts and the depletion of gas needed for operating heaters for the chicks, in turn this will deprive Gazans from white meat after they already fell short of read meat because of the closure of crossings.

The ministry pointed out that hundreds of fishing boats have not been used for a long time for the lack of fuel needed for operating their engines.

The ministry underlined that the paralysis which hit the agricultural sector is part of a series of disasters that Gaza is suffering from as a result  of the blockade and the absence of the Arab and European roles to end the suffering of Gaza people.