Tree plantation
Trees are planted in batches during the planting season which extends from March to October. You can donate a tree at any time, with plantation taking place as soon as possible if in season or at the start of the next planting season otherwise.
Olive trees and their harvest are vital to the economy and are a symbol of the Palestinian heritage and identity. Many farmers have been left destitute by the loss of their only source of income and this has had a knock-on effect on labourers and other parts of the economy. Olive trees are of course also an excellent form of sadaqa jaria (continuous charity) and will be a source of reward for as long as individuals or the community benefit. .
Tree crops have been publicised as performing functions similar to those of a forest in the maintenance of the water cycle. Some plantation proponents have even gone as far as to state that the tree plantations in prairie ecosystems help to regulate the water cycle (JICA 1987). Such affirmations are groundless.In ecosystems which have not been radically modified recently, the naturally-occurring vegetation possesses characteristics which ensure long-term balance in the water cycle. In some social contexts, large-scale industrial plantations can create local employment, and this is one of the main arguments wielded everywhere both by state and corporations to convince local communities to accept the projects. However, 'very often plantation development results in a long-term net loss of employment'. Although figures vary widely from place to place and source to source, on the whole there appears to be agreement that industrial plantations cannot employ as many people as conventional agriculture, particularly family agriculture. The cases in which large-scale plantations have generated more employment than was already locally-available, as in Uruguay, can be counted on the fingers of one hand