The revolution that begins in the Hula Valley: Israeli sesame returns to the fields
Love tahini? You'll be happy to hear that sesame seeds have recently begun to be grown in the Hula Valley, with the aim of breaking the dependence on imports. The local variety Mika will contain much more iron and taste sweeter. The first harvest is coming soon A pilot currently being conducted in the Hula Valley is attempting to break Israel's dependence on imported sesame, which currently accounts for almost all consumption in the country - and is threatened by disruptions in supply chains. On the challenging peatlands of the Hula Valley, 140 dunams of a new Israeli sesame variety called Mika were recently sown. It was developed at the Hebrew University and is adapted for mechanized harvesting in a combine, without human contact. This October, the heavy equipment of the Galilee Development Company is expected to carry out the first harvest, a move that could transform a regional ecological nuisance into a local raw material for the milling and oil industry, with an ambitious goal of reaching a production of 15% of local consumption in Israel. On the edge of Kibbutz Shamir's peat lands in the Hula Valley, Zamir Carmi, the kibbutz's farm manager, examines the white sesame blossoms of the new field. He prays that he will be among those seeking to bring about a small nuclear revolution in a crop that has been almost completely wiped out of local agriculture, except for a few crops in the south. "It looks very beautiful, and this crop can fit into our crop cycles and even improve the soil in terms of diseases and more," he notes with satisfaction. The peat soil, which was exposed when Lake Hula dried up, is an ongoing agrotechnical and ecological headache. The organic soil undergoes accelerated decomposition processes, raises dust that pollutes the entire valley, and requires farmers to water it continuously - even when there is no growth on it - just to keep it moist and prevent underground fires. This is a heavy water expense that is subsidized by state funds. Sesame, which has a strong root system that penetrates hard soil, may be a solution for the problematic areas. The current pilot, led by Kibbutz Magal Harvest and the Maxim company together with Kibbutz Shamir, is based on a development by Prof. Zvi Peleg and agronomist Assaf Avnery from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University. While sesame is harvested by hand in a labor-intensive process around the world, the Israeli variety (named after Avnery's daughter) will be mechanized using large combines. White sesame seeds, which accompany almost every savory pastry, sweet challah, are made into halva or ground into an addictive tahini spread - they are one of the most consumed plants in Israel. "Although Israel is the second largest consumer of sesame in the world per capita after China, more than 99% of the sesame consumed in the country, about 80,000 tons of grains per year, come from imports from countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Turkey and Argentina," explains Oren Hekter, CEO of Magal Harvest and CEO of Israel Sesame. According to him, "complete dependence on sesame imports could create difficulties in the supply chain, such as the current crisis caused by the war with Iran, when Oman closed its ports to the transit of goods. Our goal is to reach a production of 15% of local consumption." For farmers in the field, the struggle is not only for nutritional independence from seeds, but for economic survival in the face of the import policy, which is making more and more agricultural crops unprofitable. Zamir Carmi says that the choice of sesame was not made without careful examination: "We planted 140 dunams this year to examine the economic aspects, and it looks excellent so far, and we will continue to expand the planting," he notes with a satisfied look. Zamir referred to the change in agriculture in the area: "Until today, on these lands we grew vegetables for industry throughout the growing seasons, but this is a world that is disappearing, because the state is busy killing farmers and agriculture. After they killed garlic, industrial corn, which we used to grow a lot of and at several times a year, almost disappeared from the crop cycle. The cultivation of tomatoes for industrial use has also been greatly reduced, and beans have also decreased. This is one of the considerations why we went into this crop - because I am looking for something else that can reach the local market." The nutritional values of Israeli sesame seeds will surely surprise even die-hard tahini lovers: While imported tahini contains about 6.7 mg of iron per 100 grams, Israeli seeds have unimaginable values: no less than 58.6 mg of iron. And the taste? Slightly different from the foreign one. It is sweeter and has a thicker texture compared to traditional tahini.
Source: https://www.ynet.co.il/environment-science/article/yokra14877002