DEIR EL BALAH: From a small makeshift tent in the central Gaza Strip, a dedicated team works to carefully store and document some of the war‑shattered territory’s most precious commodities: local seeds.
Shelves of unassuming plastic tubs line the walls of the Al Qarara Seed Bank, each holding indigenous seeds seen as a way of reviving Gaza’s devastated farming sector and preserving its agricultural heritage.
The seed bank in Deir el‑Balah is rebuilding its stocks of Gaza’s heirloom seeds that were destroyed during the Israel‑Hamas war which erupted in October 2023.
Unlike hybrid varieties often sold commercially, heirloom seeds can be saved and used year after year and are often better adapted to their local environment.
“During the war, they were what helped us survive,” said Salem Muhanna, who manages the project which was founded in 2017 with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“Heirloom seeds give continuity. They provide 80 to 90 percent of the same yield repeatedly. That is why we relied on heirloom seeds,” he told AFP.
The bank holds seeds for wheat and barley; leafy crops such as Swiss chard, spinach and parsley, as well as some vegetables like courgette and okra.
The war that erupted following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 took an immensely heavy toll.
The fighting “completely destroyed the bank and led to the loss of many seed varieties,” explained 27‑year‑old Hanadi Muhanna, Salem Muhanna’s daughter who also manages the project.
“In addition, because we were repeatedly displaced, it was difficult to start over again,” she added.
“Eventually we settled in Deir el‑Balah and managed, thanks to basic means, to establish a small tent where we created something simple.”
A collection of large hessian sacks, plastic barrels, and smaller mismatched tubs now hold what remains of the stocks, each carefully labelled and protected from pests with plastic sheets.
– ‘Safety valve’ –
Like the rest of life in the coastal Palestinian territory, Gaza’s agricultural sector was shattered by the conflict.
Despite a US‑backed ceasefire since October 2025, bloodshed has continued, with the Israeli military targeting those it designates as militants.
Israel says it now controls more than 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, up from about half when the ceasefire took effect, and has refused to start withdrawing until Hamas fully disarms.
Before the war, agriculture—including crop production, herding and fishing—accounted for roughly 10 percent of Gaza’s economy, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
Only three percent of Gaza’s cropland remained accessible and undamaged, the FAO reported on Tuesday.
Tight Israeli controls on the entry of all goods compound the difficulties faced by Gaza’s farmers.
“There is no water, no fertilizer, no agricultural chemicals,” said Salem Muhanna to AFP. “Nothing is available.”
Before the war, Gaza was self‑sufficient in fresh vegetables and exported one‑third of its production to external markets, according to Osama Al‑Mukhalalati, an economic security officer with the ICRC.
Now, at best, agricultural output cannot meet more than ten percent of Gaza’s vegetable needs., he added.
The Al Qarara Seed Bank operates a lending system, providing trusted farmers with seeds and requiring return at season’s end.
“During the war, we considered this project our main safeguard,” said Suleiman Abu Shamas, a farmer from Deir el‑Balah who was inspecting a row of waist‑high chili peppers.
“With agricultural supplies cut off and prevented from entering through the crossings, the only safeguard we had was to build a food basket based on existing heirloom seeds within Gaza.”
In his view, the bank is as much a continuity measure for remaining farmland as a means of preserving Gaza’s agricultural heritage.
#“We regard this initiative as a ray of hope amid the overwhelming darkness looming over the agricultural sector.”
