The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture has stated that, despite the purpose of cutting down on living expenses however, the change has led to increased costs and loss of market part for Israeli farmers.

The initiative, which was started by the former government in the past, was designed to lower the price of living via three major components: decreasing taxes on imported vegetable and fruits, research in agriculture and assistance measures for farmers in the local area. The budget allocated for 2.6 billion shekels (EUR 0.7 billion) was set aside to fund these projects.

Although import tariffs were cut twice, the assistance measures for agriculture in the country weren’t fully implemented. Therefore, by 2023, the imports of vegetables grew in value by 43% when compared with 2021. The increase was also accompanied by massive increase in prices. The average price for consumer goods were up 8.8 percent, however, vegetable prices rose up to 13.1 percentage.

Consumers and farmers alike suffer from the changes. Increased imports have partially affected domestic production and raised fears in the minds of experts. At present, fruits and vegetables are the sole food group which Israel is completely self-sufficient and exports some of. But, Israel’s dependency on imports for food is steadily growing during the last few years.

Source: detaly.co.il