A’ed Awni Abu Ramadan is a Palestinian engineer who studied Civil Engineering in the United States. However, Abu Ramadan now works as a farmer, as he inherited his love for the land and agriculture from his parents and grandparents.
“I translated my passion for agriculture into developing the family farm, located north of the city of Beit Hanoun,” Abu Ramadan told The Palestine Chronicle.
“I was keen to grow nontraditional fruits and vegetables, exploring new varieties of tropical fruits that were not produced in Palestine, such as dragon fruit, passiflora, thornless cactus, and some aromatic plants,” he explained.
Abu Ramadan employs sustainable and intensive farming methods as well as vertical farming techniques in order to maximize agricultural produce. These eco-friendly techniques allow him to employ renewable energy and reuse water and agricultural waste.
“I established the first vertical strawberry farm in Palestine,” he said. “It produces the same amount of strawberries but it employs only 10% of water, fertilizers, and pesticides used in traditional strawberry farming.”
Abu Ramadan is also trying to experiment with modern technologies in order to produce fruits and vegetables out of their season.
“I want my farm to be a role model for all Palestinian farmers to maximize local products and enable us to challenge the many difficulties we face because of the siege imposed by Israel.”
(All Photos: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)
