Palestinian Experience in Enhancing Innovation in Precision Agriculture Technology

Abstract

in developed countries, precision agriculture (PA) technology rapidly gaining attention as a way of addressing the issue of sustainable agriculture. Understanding current trends in PA aids in avoiding future challenges. In Palestine, the agriculture sector is the most effective and holds significant political and economic value. The use of technologies could allow the agricultural sector to achieve big leaps in Palestine, especially in improving environmental protection, increasing productivity and introducing the cultivation of new strategic classes of crops. With the aim of enhancing and introducing PA technology to Palestine, a team of researchers from ten European and Palestinian universities, including the author of this article, were participants in the Erasmus+ project entitled “Promoting Innovation in Precision Agriculture Education and Research in Palestine (BENEFIT)”. Before 2020 the beginning of the BENEFIT project and the Palestinian universities involvement in it, the use of PA technology was limited and there was insufficiency of knowledge and awareness about PA technology in Palestine. In addition to the lack of the content of PA technology in the curricula of Palestinian universities. Hence, this article provides an overview of development and status of PA technologies in Palestine. The topics include promoting Innovation in education in the field of PA, and Innovation in PA– Case Studies from Palestine.