Israel’s agricultural growth is currently advancing at an accelerated pace with the aid of financial support from American Jews. Rudolf G. Sonneborn, national chairman of the United Israel Appeal, announced today in a quarterly report to the Appeal’s board of directors.
The UIA chairman warned that a severe drought in the Negev had resulted in at least a $10,000,000 loss in crops and disclosed that only either percent of the grain sown in Israel’s southern area is expected to produce a yield this year.
”The food situation,” Mr. Sonneborn said, ”which had been hopeful early in the year has suddenly taken a turn for the worse with the daily protein consumptions at least one-third less than the minimum requirements for good health. Only with intensified farming development can we hope to cope with the desperate shortages and avert alarming nutritional trends.”
A total of 24 new settlements are to be founded by the end of April, he reported. Thirty more will be established through May and June, involving an over-all expenditure of $26,600,000, including 22,400,000 for housing and farm equipment and $4,200,000 for local irrigation facilities. The settlements will be erected by the Jewish Agency, Mr, Sonneborn emphasized.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
