RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) is completing preparations to launch an agricultural investment company within four months. On April 30, PIF Chairman Mohammad Mustafa announced plans for the company, which will be controlled by Sharakat, the PIF’s investment arm for agriculture and human development.

The new organization will focus its activities on Area C, which includes most of the West Bank’s agricultural lands, constitutes around 60% of the West Bank and is under the administrative and security control of Israel. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told Palestine TV on April 13, “[We] will deal with the Palestinian territories as agricultural clusters, and no one can prevent the government from operating in Area C because it is Palestinian land.”

Nassim Nour, managing director of Sharakat, told Al-Monitor that the PIF already has investments in several agricultural projects worth $8 million, most notably, a plant for producing animal feed and a farm for milk production in Hebron and a vineyard in the Jordan Valley. These operations will come under the purview of the new company, which Nour said, will serve as a national platform for agricultural investment. 

Nour said the investment company's goal is to promote local production, achieve self-sufficiency, create jobs and protect Palestinian land and farmers. “Establishing the company aims to encourage investments in agriculture in Palestine, reduce dependence on imports of food, agricultural goods and meat and to find an alternative so farmers would not have to work in Israel or in settlements,” he said.