The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security plans to add 300 new shelters for use by farmers in the risk areas. This addition will join the 1,100 shelters that already exist in the field, with the aim of strengthening the safety of agricultural workers in the northern and southern regions.
According to the ministry’s announcement, the investment in this project is estimated at approximately NIS 15 million shekels. The ministry emphasizes its efforts to “speed up the production of shelters and enable their placement as soon as possible.” The exact location of the new shelters will be determined in accordance with the directives of the Home Front Command, with the emphasis being on the northern areas and certain towns in the Gaza Envelope.
In planning the location of the new shelters, special attention is given to areas where there is a high concentration of workers. The ministry notes that the shelters “will be located near points where there are concentrations of workers: barns, chicken coops, agricultural fields and plantations, packing houses and sorting centers, in accordance with the needs of the farmers.”
It is important to note that the Ministry of Agriculture took this initiative already in November, when it began placing shields on agricultural farms in localities near the border. Although the overall responsibility for protection at the national level rests with the Home Front Command, the Ministry of Agriculture has significantly increased the number of protections in the agricultural areas since the beginning of the war, up to a third of their number.
