OpinionThe national food security plan must be included in Israel’s 2025 budget
Opinion
The national food security plan must be included in Israel’s 2025 budget
Tnuva Chairman Haim Gavrieli asserts that a multi-year national food security plan is a top public interest, and resources should be allocated for its implementation as early as 2025.
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security announced the formulation of Israel's first-ever national food security plan, projected to extend until 2050. This plan aims to ensure that the Israeli economy can independently produce and supply food at all times, with intermediate goals set for implementation by 2030 and 2040. While this is a commendable initiative, the major crises we've experienced in recent years — primarily the current war and the COVID-19 pandemic — have underscored the link between food security and national resilience. They have taught us that national preparedness in the realm of food security cannot be delayed. Such preparation is crucial already in the upcoming budget year, before the next crisis strikes.
Over the years, food security in Israel has not been a significant issue and has not received due attention. The vacuum left by the government has been filled by food companies, including Tnuva, along with farmers, who stepped in and took on the responsibility of managing the food security of the Israeli public. The challenges of war and the pandemic highlighted for all of us that food is much more than a basic need – food is security. It is therefore essential to create a continuity of food supply for the Israeli public and prepare a comprehensive government plan on the matter.
Tnuva, as the leading food company in Israel, with most of its production local and most raw materials sourced from Israeli agriculture, has been committed to this issue for many years. In the past decade, we have invested billions of shekels in establishing production lines and infrastructure for basic products. The current war found Tnuva prepared, despite a significant shortage of manpower who were called up for reserve duty. From the first day of the war, out of responsibility to the public, we prioritized the production of essential and price-controlled products and maintained business continuity in plants and dairies, with employees from across the company reinforcing production and distribution lines to ensure that every refrigerator in Israel had milk and cottage cheese. We rented warehouses and continually replenished stocks to prevent shortages. Tnuva mobilized for its dairy partners early in the war, establishing a fund of roughly 15 million shekels for the rapid recovery of affected dairies in the Gaza periphery.
However, this resilience cannot be sustained long-term. Food companies and farmers cannot take on the role of the state indefinitely. Extreme events highlight an existing reality: the war impacted outputs in the economy and local agriculture and created challenges in the chains of supply to Israel. Sea freight and raw material prices soared due to Houthi attacks. The Russia-Ukraine war affected the supply of eggs to Israel, and above all, it became clear that Israel is isolated, and is therefore exposed to many risks regarding the import of raw materials and food security.
In light of this, and considering additional challenges such as population growth, the climate crisis, and geopolitical crises, a comprehensive national food security plan is urgently needed.
A national food security plan must map out potential extreme and intermediate scenarios. Additionally, it should set goals to encourage Israeli production. The plan should present a coherent policy for local production according to priorities, for extreme events such as war, as well as for specific crises, to ensure food accessibility for all.
Furthermore, the plan should define goals for industry and farmers for managing emergency stocks, and ensure that the country's infrastructure supports them: encouraging innovation in agriculture and production, and guaranteeing the quality and availability of production factors such as land, water, workers, etc.
The plan must specify which products will be included in the emergency stockpile, their production volume, how often the stocks will be replenished, and whether they will be stored at the producers' sites or in a secured national warehouse. The plan should also determine in which scenarios producers will be required to increase production or prioritize the production of certain products over others. Finally, since Israel does not grow many essential products, import goals should be defined to round out these categories.
Decisions on these matters cannot wait any longer. A multi-year national food security plan is a top public interest, and resources should be allocated for its implementation as early as 2025.
Haim Gavrieli is the Chairman of the Tnuva Group
