Palestine: agriculture in context.

Palestine was among the 27 countries and territories named in WFA’s founding initiative. The association’s first international conference took place on 15–16 December 2022 in Yiwu, Zhejiang, China.

The founding network connected agricultural communities across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas around cooperation, practical knowledge and farmer livelihoods.

The reporting area for these World Bank figures is West Bank and Gaza. The land and value-added figures are from 2024; the employment estimate is from 2022.

The figures above describe land use, work and primary production. Agricultural land includes permanent pasture as well as arable land and permanent crops. Employment covers agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing and uses a modeled ILO estimate.

The land-use figure is from 2024, employment from 2022 and value added from 2024. These figures do not form a same-year comparison. Each percentage has a different denominator: land area, total employment or GDP. Value added deducts intermediate inputs from output; it is a share of the economy, rather than a growth rate or measure of farm income.

Food manufacturing, distribution and retail can create additional work and value outside the agriculture category. Following those activities helps explain how primary production connects with the wider food economy.

The agricultural figures for this profile cover the World Bank’s West Bank and Gaza reporting area. Land use, employment and value added refer to different years, so they answer different historical questions. A practical discussion of agricultural resources needs current information about the particular place and the people working there.

Local assessment can consider land and water access, functioning services, production costs, handling and a route to market together. Keeping those connections visible helps identify a specific need and the information required to understand it. The older employment observation remains useful as dated context when its reporting year is kept clear.

The linked World Bank country profile brings together economic, social and environmental information. Read the historical series alongside recent experience from farmers, producer organizations, researchers and public agencies. Together, they can help define the resources, skills, costs and market requirements behind a local agricultural decision.