Israel's Ministry of Agriculture allowed the sowing of potatoes to begin on Wednesday in the Lev HaNegev fields, near Kibbutz Urim, located about 25 kilometers from the border with Gaza.
The Ministry of Agriculture notes that at this stage, there is no agricultural activity at a distance of up to 7 km from the border with Gaza. In the area surrounding Gaza (Eshkol, Shaar Hanegev, Negev fields and the Ashkelon coast) there are about 6,000 hectares of potato fields, out of about 16,000 hectares of land used for growing potatoes in the whole country. That is, about 40 per cent of the potato growing areas in Israel are located in the region near Gaza.
Each year, about 490,000 tons of potatoes are produced in Israel. Of these, about 225,000 tons are for Israeli consumption, about 73,000 tons are used as raw material for industry, about 35,000 tons are used as potato seeds for the next crop and about 155,000 tons are exported.
Source: telanganatoday.com