Agricultural Development: Planning and Implementation: Israel Case Study

422 Pages·1968·13.114 MB·English

by  Raanan Weitz, Avshalom Rokach (auth.)

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT:
PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION
RAANAN WEITZ/ AVSHALOM ROKACH
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT:
PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION
(ISRAEL CASE STUDY)
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
ISBN 978-94-017-7076-7 ISBN 978-94-017-7074-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-7074-3
© 1968. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland inl968.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1968
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint,
microfilm, or any other means without permission from the publisher
NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is our pleasure and duty to express here our thanks to all those who made
the publication of this book possible through their experience, advice and
assistance.
Thanks are due first and foremost to Mrs. Jean Kosloff, not only for her
meticulous editing but for her invaluable comments and advice throughout
the preparation of the final version. The first draft has been edited by Mr.
Victor Nell, whose contribution is no less appreciated.
Were we to mention everyone, the list of people to whom we are indebted
would be very long indeed. At the top of the list are members of the staff of
the Land Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency, from whose ex
perience we had drawn incessantly. Among those there are a few who took
an active part in our work, providing background material and participating
in our discussions: Mr. Y. Abt, Mr. J. Lichtman, Mr. 0. Shapiro and Mr.
M. Black. The contribution of Mr. A. Hartman, Ambassador of Israel to
the United States is also recognized with gratitude. And to all others, even
though their names have not been mentioned, their assistance nevertheless
has not been forgotten and is greatly appreciated.
The Agriculture and Settlement Planning and Development Centre,
The Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University, The Volcani Institute
for Agricultural Research, the Production Boards as well as other insti
tutions supplied us with data and information, for which we are grateful.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface XIII
CHAPTER I I THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL PATTERNS IN ISRAEL 1
A. Land Settlement in Israel 1
1. First Attempts 1
2. The Emergence of Modern Jewish Settlement 3
3. The Role of the Zionist Organization 5
4. The Impact of the Second Aliyah 6
5. Co-operation and Collectivism 7
B. Evolution of the Settlement Patterns 8
1. The Kibbutz 8
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2~~~
3. The Moshav Shitu:fi and other Forms 11
C. World War I and the Mandate 12
D. The Impact of Statehood 14
E. The Policies Underlying Rural Development in Israel 15
1. The Basic Principles of New Settlement 15
2. Mass Immigration: a New Human Element 17
3. Integration: Problems and Techniques 19
4. Settlement Patterns for The New Immigration 22
5. The Aims of 'Democratic Bridging' in the Lakhish Experiment 24
6. Problems 25
7. The Solution: Composite Rural Structure 27
8. Wider Applications of Composite Rural Structure 28
9. Conclusions 28
CHAPTER 2 I STATING THE TARGETS: THE DEMAND FACTORS 31
A. Population Projections 31
1. Total Population 32
2. The Projected Population Increase 36
3. Labour Force 37
VIII AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT: ISRAEL CASE STUDY
B. National Income and Product Projections 39
1. The Past Course of the Economy 39
2. Development Forecasts 41
3. The Import Surplus 42
4. Private Consumption 43
5. Projections for 1972/3 and their Implications for Agriculture 44
C. Factors Influencing the Demand For Agricultural Products 45
1. Income 45
2. Prices 46
3. Tradition 47
4. Climate 47
D. The Demand Sources For Agricultural Commodities 48
1. Subsistence Production 48
2. Market Sales direct to Consumers 50
3. Sales of Food and Processing Industries 51
E. Predicting the Long-Term Demand 52
1. Internal Markets 52
2. External Markets 67
3. Demand Variables in Long-Term Production Planning 78
CHAPTER 3 f MEETING THE TARGETS: THE SUPPLY FACTORS 82
A. The Importance of Knowing the Resources 82
1. Survey 82
2. The General Physical Features of Israel 83
3. Conclusions from the Survey 86
4. Land Survey 87
5. Land Reclamation 90
B. Agricultural Lands and Population 91
1. Population-Land Ratios 91
2. The Changing Economic Importance of Agricultural Land 93
C. Climate: Its Importance, Estimation and Control 94
1. The Systematic Prediction of Climate 95
2. Climate Control 95
3. The Exploitation of Climatic Variations 96
D. Water Resources and Agriculture 97
1. Desert Agriculture, Ancient and Modern 97
2. The Irrigation Projects in Israel 99
3. The Use of Sprinkler Irrigation 101
4. Water Norms for Agriculture 102
TABLE OF CONTENTS IX
5. The Control and Administration of Water Use in Israel 105
6. A Future Water Resource: Desalinated Sea Water 107
7. Water: A Limiting Factor? 110
E. Agricultural Technology 111
1. Application of Technology 112
2. The Revolution in Quality 115
3. Predicting Future Yields 116
4. Factors Influencing Yields 125
F. Agricultural Labour Productivity 131
CHAPTER 4/ THE HUMAN RESOURCE AS A FACTOR OF SUPPLY 139
A. The Sociologist and Settlement Problems 140
B. Social Context of the Farmer 144
1. Organization of the Farmer 144
2. Community and Cultural Context 148
3. Education and Know-how Level 151
C. Social Background and Development Rate - The Israel
Case Study 152
1. Percentage of Outside Income of the Settler 154
2. Acquisition of Agricultural Know-how 156
3. Adaptation to Farm Work 156
4. Size of Investment by the Farmers in the Farms 157
5. Indebtedness of the Village Organization 158
6. Efficiency of Village Marketing Institutions and their Acceptance
by the Farmers 159
7. General Stability of the Village 160
8. Stability of Village Councils 161
9. State of Village Public Institutions 161
10. Co-operation between the Village and the Local Government
Authorities 162
11. General Development Rate of the Villages 162
12. Significance of the Israel Case Study 164
D. Some Rules of Thumb for Cultural Changes 165
1. Study the Social Background 165
2. Respect the Customs and Social Pattern 166
3. Introduce Changes Gradually - Evolution rather than
Revolution 168
4. Settle Groups of Homogeneous Background, or Integrated
Group Structure 169
X AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT: ISRAEL CASE STUDY
CHAPTER 5 I THE PLAN 172
A. Resource Combination: Art and Science 172
1. Budgetary Planning 174
2. Land-Water Combinations 175
3. Developing Subsistence Economies 178
B. Past Agricultural Planning in Israel 180
C. Choosing the Best Alternative 184
D. Description of the Plan 186
1. Estimation of the Relative and Marginal Values 186
2. Supply Combinations 193
3. Projections of the Various Branches 194
4. Evaluation 199
CHAPTER 6 I ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIT OF
PRODUCTION 207
A. Family or Large-Scale Farms 207
1. Theories of Family and Large-Scale Farming 207
2. The Family Farm: A Competitive Unit? 212
3. Planning for Scope 215
B. The Diversified Farming Pattern in Israel 218
1. Evolution of the Diversified Farming Pattern in Israel 219
2. Achievements of the Diversified Farm 222
3. The Trend Towards Specialized Farming 223
C. Farm Types 228
1. The Dairy Farm 228
2. The Citrus Farm Type 230
3. The Field Crop Farm Type 231
4. The Export Farm Type 232
5. Equal Income Principle 234
D. Marginal Areas and the Income Principle 238
E. The M oshav as a Production Unit 240
1. The Co-operative Framework 241
2. Social Aspects of the Co-operative 242
3. The Village and its Centre 243
F. The Kibbutz as a Production Unit 245
1. General 245
2. Social Aspects of the Kibbutz 246
3. The Young Kibbutz: Problems and Guidance 247
TABLE OF CONTENTS XI
CHAPTER 7 f REGIONAL PLANNING 253
A. The Region Defined 253
B. Motives for Regional Planning 254
1. Pilot Regions 255
2. Regional Development to improve Local Conditions 255
3. Comprehensive Land Settlement Schemes to relieve Population
Pressure 256
4. Economic Motives 256
5. Settlement of Immigrants or Migrants through Resource
Development 257
C. Aspects of Comprehensive Planning 259
1. Economic 259
2. Social 260
3. Political and Security 260
4. Physical and Environmental 261
D. The Growth of the Regional Planning Concept in Israel 262
E. Industry and Agriculture in Comprehensive Planning 269
1. The Advantages of Integrated Industry 269
2. Types of Rural Industries 271
3. Siting Industry in Rural Areas 272
4. Siting of Israel's Third Sugar Factory 273
5. Industries for the Rural Centres 275
F. Regional Planning in Lakhish 278
1. General Description of the Area 279
2. Lakhish in 1965 280
3. The Planning Concepts 281
G. The Regional Town 283
1. The Development of Kiriat Gat 284
2. The Position in 1965 285
3. The Growth of Employment 286
H. The Composite Structure in Practice 291
1. The Rural Centre and its Villages 291
2. The Composite Structure's Economy 293
3. The Development of an Individual Village 297
4. The other Villages of the Sub-region 303
5. Future Development 303
I. Regional Administration 306
1. The Human Factor in the Region 306