Agricultural export in Israel is in deep crisis. That is the resounding conclusion following a report prepared to summarize the past year in the sector. The overall agricultural production remained roughly constant, however that is largely due to increased prices in animal husbandry and in the local market; the fresh produce export industry registered major drops in both production and revenue.
Fresh produce export has been a driving engine of the entire Israeli agricultural sector in recent years. The industry is led by the exports of citrus and fruits, which have remained mostly unharmed and continue to bring in strong revenues; the same cannot be said for the vegetables sector. Over the last two years, the export of vegetables has lost a significant portion of its volume, a fact which has held true in almost every export market and for just about every product.
Up to now, there has been no concrete analysis of whether the decrease in export is a temporary phenomenon or if there is a permanent trend occurring. The decreased export opportunities have been attributed to a lack of new market development, a lack of new varieties which could give Israel an advantage or a combination of multiple factors.
Growers and others involved in the sector have pointed to disregard by the government which has failed to offer sufficient support in most cases. When the peppers industry fell into a crisis the government responded, but did so slowly and the success of the response could not yet be determined. In other struggling sectors, such as potato and carrot exports, little has been done to find a solution; those sectors hold even greater risk due to their large size and considerable investments made in them in the past.
The head of the Israeli Farmers Federation, Avshalom Vilan, concluded that “the data presented in the report are a red warning light for the future of Israeli agriculture. The large drop in export holds a very real risk. We are living off of our past achievements. We need an emergency action plan on a national scale supported by the government to take Israeli agriculture back on track.”