Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Palestine Investment Fund, confirmed that work on establishing the Al Rabyeh Animal Feed and Grain Factory is progressing in full swing as part of the plan to start actual production in 2023.

The confirmation came during an inspection tour of the project’s progress, with the participation of the Governor of Hebron Governorate, Major General Jibreen Al-Bakri, and Mr. Abdul Hakim Al-Fuqaha, CEO of Palestine Industrial Investment Company, PIF’s partner in implementing the project.

Dr. Mustafa said: “based on the directives of the Palestinian leadership represented by President Mahmoud Abbas, PIF continues to implement national and sovereign dimension strategic projects, as part of its strategy aimed at achieving impact investment, which means implementing vital projects in strategic productive sectors that contribute to improving key economic indicators, such as creating job opportunities, reducing imports, increasing the volume of national products, and contributing to GDP.

The production capacity of the factory will reach 40,000 tons annually, with the possibility of doubling the capacity in later stages to reach 80,000 tons annually, which will contribute to reducing the import bill and providing a national product that is an alternative to imported products. The factory will also include silos for storing grain as inputs for production, with a storage capacity of about 20,000 tons.

Dr. Mustafa added, “we are proud of our partnership with Palestine Industrial Investment Company in the implementation of the Al- Rabyeh Animal Feed and Grain Factory, which aims directly to contribute to the growth of the livestock sector, and thus contribute to achieving food security for Palestine, which in itself constitutes a national goal within the vision and tasks of the Fund as the Strategic Investment Fund for the State of Palestine “.

The northern governorates annually consume about 800,000 tons of fodder, of which approximately 550,000 tons are imported, at an estimated value of about $300 million dollars, while the current local production does not exceed more than 250 thousand tons annually, about 31% of the Palestinian market needs of this commodity.

Major General Jibreen Al Bakri, Governor of Hebron Governorate said: “We are proud of the Fund’s development projects, especially in the Hebron Governorate, as the Hebron and Bethlehem governorates alone consume approximately 45% of the total annual consumption volume of the northern governorates of fodder. “The presence of the Al-Rabyeh factory in the Hebron Governorate. It will cover a large part of the governorate’s needs of this commodity on the one hand, and it will provide dozens of job opportunities for the people of the governorate on the other hand” he added.

Major General Al Bakri stressed the support of the Hebron Governorate to implement such projects, which work to build the national economy and contribute to achieving economic independence.

On his part, Mr. Abdul Hakim Al Fuqaha, CEO of Palestine Industrial Investment Company, said: “We are proud of our partnership with PIF in implementing this vital project, whose goals intersect with the company’s objectives in terms of developing agricultural and animal projects, in addition to the importance of focusing on providing local products that compete through their quality with the imported products.

Al Fuqaha said “It is vital to unite the efforts of the public and private sectors in order to reduce the import of agricultural products as much as possible, through the implementation of productive projects in this sector, the exploitation of human resources in the implementation of agricultural projects, and the increase of local production.”

launching the production next year is in full swing, as the infrastructure works for the factory and the construction, steel structure and silos is underway. The operating machines have been imported in parallel based on a bid that was put forward in accordance with the highest international standards and the latest technologies in production of fodder, to be assembled Once the construction process is completed.