Kaddish Luz, Israel’s Minister of Agriculture, called today for a maximum national effort to conserve water, asserting that the water shortage situation was “grave.” He reported that them was virtually no hope for the Negev crops and that the yield from areas more favorably situated with regard to rain would be law. This has been the worst drought in a decade.
The Minister announced that he has named a special committee to work out means of conserving water. In addition, his office is drafting a priority list of crops to be irrigated with whatever water is available. Fodder for cattle, groves and orchards of food-bearing trees will receive their full share of water, while new orchards and garden vegetables and sugar beet acreage will be controlled. Home gardens will receive limited supplies of water.
Meanwhile, after but two days of rain, Israeli skies turned fair and blue yesterday to the joy of city dwellers and to the dismay of the farmers. The two days of showers had little effect in saving crops, except in the North. Rain in Israel was in short supply this year, with key areas receiving only one-third to one-sixth the average rainfall.
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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.
