With FAO and Canada’s support, Kafr Dan farmers’ cooperative becomes bedrock of resilience and ‘green’ agriculture in Jenin Governorate

The Kafr Dan Agricultural Cooperative is located in a small agricultural village outside the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The cooperative began in the early 2010s with just three volunteers. With support from Canada and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it has now grown to 20 full-time employees and supports more than 100 farming families in this small community, including 40 families led by women and 35 led by youth. The families cultivate a total of 1 700 dunums using climate-smart agricultural practices. 

Kafr Dan is one of 40 cooperatives equipped and trained on crop production, post-harvest and processing as part of a nine-year project implemented by FAO and Canada. The project aimed to optimize agrifood value chains in the West Bank toward greater inclusiveness, profitability and environmental sustainability. The support to cooperatives benefited 7 000 individual member farmers. 

“When I started the cooperative, I was never expecting our operation to reach this size”, says cooperative head Mohamed Abu Fehmi, who goes by his surname, Abu Fehmi. “The farmers in this area had big problems that I, as an individual, could not solve”. 

According to Abu Fehmi, production in Kafr Dan was always strong, but it suffered from several inefficiencies. Small-scale farmers relied on traditional, underdeveloped and resource-inefficient production systems that inhibited yields and lowered vegetable quality. Poor marketing capacity and movement restrictions limited market access. Water resources were growing scarcer due to the Israeli occupation and climate change. The challenges are reflective of those experienced by farmers across the West Bank. 

In the early years, the cooperative invested in transitioning from manual to automated production. With FAO and Canada’s support, it purchased baby cucumber sorting machines to enhance Palestinian specialty pickle production. FAO also provided capacity development support on climate-smart farming techniques. The training enabled the cooperative to introduce more cost- and water-efficient irrigation, diversify crop production, reduce crop losses, improve product quality and consistency, and establish a viable business model. The support helped the cooperative reach new markets and establish a brand across the West Bank and regionally.  

Abu Fehmi says the project almost immediately helped Kafr Dan increase production fourfold, from 100 to 400 tonnes per year. By 2025, annual production had jumped to 3 000 tonnes. Over the years, the cooperative reinvested its profits to purchase additional cold storage and increase the time the cooperative could store harvests from one day to one week and establish a canning and sterilization line for pickles. The cooperative has also improved extension services for member farmers. 

The cooperative is now able to contract farmers to cultivate a set quantity of crops at an established price, based on market demand and contracts with pickle companies in advance of the planting season. The model guarantees income to families, reduces food waste and keeps the cost of fresh and nutritious food down. It also promotes food security for the increasing number of displaced people in Jenin Governorate. The cooperative is actively searching for financing to improve water resources for the village. Without the cooperative, many farmers would be unable to access good quality and affordable inputs such as seedlings, fertilizer or irrigation.  

On a bright summer day in Kafr Dan, a farmer named Wael and his 3-year-old son visit Abu Fehmi’s office. The office is situated in a small shed next to the cucumber sorting machine provided by FAO. Wael says he used to work in masonry but was forced to stop after October 2023. He now farms molokhia and baby cucumbers. 

Wael says the Kafr Dan cooperative’s support has partially offset the income he lost and increased his cultivation from one to four dunums. Three dunums are contracted directly by the cooperative, and payment is guaranteed. The cooperative’s marketing channels enable him to sell the output from the final dunum. Wael says his work with the cooperative has helped keep his dream alive that he will one day be able to pay to send his son to university and become a dentist. 

From 2016–2025, FAO implemented the project “Support economic growth through optimized agricultural value chains in the West Bank”. Project activities benefited about 22 000 farming families, for an estimated total of 103 400 beneficiaries. Thirty-five percent of all project beneficiaries were women.