For hundreds of Gazan families who have been grappling under a tough Israeli siege for over a decade’s time winter signals the advent of a season marked by the profuse productivity of sweet potato harvest.
Considered by Palestinian families in the blockaded coastal enclave as one of nature’s most delicious gifts red potato harvest marks a time of the year when Gazan men women and children gather in their ranches to celebrate “the red potato festival.”
Palestinian farmer Jihad Zukmat driving a tractor to reap red potatoes said sweet potatoes are packed in plastic boxes known as “al-Buksa” pending their exhibition in local markets.
For hundreds of farmers potato-picking and selling is the only source of income in an area engulfed from all sides by an Israeli siege that has entered its 11th consecutive year making the enclave the world’s “largest open-air prison.”
Red potato is typically reaped at five shekels a kilo. At the end of the day a worker ends up garnering some 30 shekels in total (nearly $10).
According to Zukmat sweet potato seedlings are imported from Israel at a price amounting to $10 per every single plantlet. One seedling ends up producing around two kilograms of potato.
Sweet potato is typically planted in April and May said Zukmat adding that he exports nearly 1000 tons of his potato crops to the occupied West Bank via the Karem Abu Salem crossing point. Some 500 tons are sold in Gaza’s markets at 2 shekels a kilogram.
Wiping the drops of sweat that figure on his exhausted face Mohamed al-Shaer said he earned 35 shekels after he worked five hours nonstop in potato-harvesting. He expressed wishes that the situation will take a turn for the better in the enclave so as to get a decent job to feed his four children.
As one strolls down the streets of Gaza the smells of grilled potatoes made in the traditional “Tabun” ovens spark an aroma of an unparallel delicacy.
A traditional delicacy in Gaza as well as in other corners of the Middle East and North Africa sweet potato is the manifestation of a natural gift deeply anchored in its geo-historical idiosyncrasy. Nowhere is red potato as mouth-watering as in the world’s “largest open-air prison”—Gaza.
