Employment of Skilled Agricultural Workers in Greenhouses

Employment of Skilled Agricultural Workers in Greenhouses in North Gaza

Income for the worker, higher productivity for the farmer

Technical agricultural workers employed in North Gaza greenhouses through a cash-for-work programme

In cash-for-work programmes, the real difference turns on a single question: what gets produced in return for the wage? Work that leaves no productive trace gives the worker temporary income and ends there. Work that raises the productivity of an entire sector gives the worker income, the farmer a return, and leaves an impact that outlasts the funding.

Working from that understanding, the Gaza Society for Sustainable Agriculture and Friendly Environment (SAFE) implemented a project employing skilled agricultural workers in greenhouses across North Gaza Governorate in September 2009, funded by the Islamic Society of the Kingdom of Bahrain, at a total cost of USD 10,000 over eight months.

The Project in Numbers

• Skilled agricultural workers employed in the governorate's greenhouses
• Eight months of continuous employment — covering a full growing season
• USD 10,000 total project cost
• Modality: cash for work, with technical outputs rather than general public works

Why Cash for Work in Greenhouses?

Because this modality delivers a double return when directed toward productive technical work rather than temporary public works:

For the worker — regular income across eight months at a time of severely elevated unemployment, with technical skills maintained rather than eroded through inactivity.

For the farmer — qualified labour supporting production operations inside the greenhouse: pruning, pollination, pest management, and irrigation and fertilisation control — precise tasks whose execution directly shapes the harvest.

For the sector — improved productivity and produce quality in greenhouse agriculture, among the highest-yielding farming systems per unit area and the most sensitive to labour competence.

The wage here was not a cash transfer wrapped in token work, but an investment in real production.

The Timing of the Intervention

The project came in September 2009, when economic capacity across the Gaza Strip was under severe pressure and the agricultural sector particularly capital-intensive greenhouse farming was struggling to absorb the cost of skilled labour. An intervention providing that labour at no cost to the farmer while paying the worker addressed both sides of the equation at once.

SAFE's Role

SAFE led the project drawing on its agricultural expertise: assessing the needs of greenhouse farmers in the governorate, selecting technical agricultural workers on the basis of competence and need, assigning them to target greenhouses, providing technical supervision of the work and monitoring its effect on productivity and quality, and administering the wage system throughout the project period.

Partnership for Production and Employment

The project reflects the value of partnership with Gulf charitable institutions in supporting Gaza's agricultural economy. With support from the Islamic Society of the Kingdom of Bahrain, USD 10,000 in funding became income for workers, better harvests for farmers, and a more productive agricultural sector.

The best thing about cash for work is that its impact remains after the money is spent. That happens when the work is genuine production.