Esperanza

I. FARMER RESEARCH CENTER

1.1 AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY

The project proposes the creation of a Farmer Research Center that allows guiding the agricultural production in communitarian orchards in an efficient way combined with the use of technology, such as soil handling and irrigated systems, which allow the development of significant economical activity. The Farmer Research Center is in charge of giving a permanent technical advice, making periodic visits to the orchards and making own investigations in order to improve products to be cultivated, considering that the cooperative sector contributes today more than the 8% of the agricultural production to Israel.

The recommendable products for the zone are cereals, tomatoes, citruses, cotton, olives, plums, almonds, among others. Another alternative of production is seedtime of aromatic like, mint, thyme, oregano and others that has a good acceptance in the internal market like in the external one.

In the short term it is advisable to handle the farm in the natural field, adapting the ground with the respective nutrients for the type of selected product. In the medium and long term, it is considered opportune that the agricultural activity should be made under the system of greenhouses due to the climatic conditions to which Ein Hud is exposed. In order to optimize the resources and to reach a greater performance of the agricultural operation, it is necessary to establish greenhouses of wood or metal, being the last one the advisable ones by its resistance.

Based in the little availability of water resources, few rains, desert lands, high levels of salinity in the subsoil and a extremely warm summer season, the original methods of irrigation are not totally effective, that is why the proposal is focused to a dripping system of irrigation, where small amounts of water are used with a maximum of efficiency. Additionally, this technique allows significant advances in the injection of nutrients and other necessary chemicals to the irrigation system, directly to the zone that corresponds to the root of the plant. In addition it reduces the expansion of the weeds and allows using brackish water for irrigation.

1.1.1. THYME PRODUCTION

One of the mentioned alternatives within the selection of agricultural products is the thyme (Thymus vulgaris), a perennial shrub, pertaining to the family of the Labiadas, original of the Mediterranean area. It grows without problems from the sea to the mountain until the 1,500 meters and prefers the barren, stony places and sunny, thus it is an attractive alternative for the project.

Nowadays the market of spices in the United States is supplied mainly by national producers, nevertheless Israel is has the sufficient possibilities of being one of the important suppliers of this market. The growth anual average of participation between 1991 and 1997 was around 75%.

It is considered advisable that the project of the production of thyme has to be outlined within the logical parameters that facilitate the process of design, execution and evaluation of it. For this it is necessary to formulate a matrix of logical method which intention is offering a structure to the planning process and to communicate essential information relative to the project. It must be elaborated with the initial participation of the equipment of the village, and soon evolve the active participation of the borrower, consultants, the equipment of the project and the executor.

In these way parameters that will allow seeing more clear the vision and proposal and its objectives have been considered. Additionally, it shows some of the critical facts or risks of the project that have to be analyzing during the execution of it.

1.2 ANIMAL RAISING FARM

At the moment one of the economic activities of the village of Ein Hud is the production of ewes destined to the local consumption and in smaller amount to the commercialization with bordering towns. The idea of this project focuses a technified system of raising of ewes with meat, milky aims and in a medium and long term with industrial aims. In order that the raising of these animals does not interfere with the suitable urban handling, nor it generates disadvantages as far as the environment in which the village are located, it is considered that the raising of these animals has to be made in an intensive way with stables that allow to increase the percentage of yield of the animal and to diminish the margins of waste of resources, point that must be considered like a key point for the successful execution of the project.
In order to promote the sustainable development of the ovine production in the village of Ein Hud being maximized the economic result of its operation, sets out the incorporation of the Dorper species, originating savage race of the South African Republic that was developed in the 1930. The lamb to dorper grows quickly and obtains a high weight to the weaning, which is another economically important characteristic in the raising of savage ewes. The dorper lamb can have a weight of near 36 kilograms at the age of 3-4 months.

This assures meat high quality of approximately 16 kilograms. This is associated with the inherent potential of the growth of dorper and with its capacity to feed to an early age. According to Dr. Q. P. Campbell in his book "Make Money with Mutton Sheep", the average of daily gain of the ewes to dorper under extensive conditions is of 81 grams to 91 grams per day. During a test of the D2 phase in Tweedie, the average of daily increase was of 160 grams per day during the test whereas the average of present daily increase by every day of age was of 203 grams per day.

II. TOURISIM

The second point considered as the center of promising business for the sustainability and development of the village of Ein Hud is the tourism. The project proposes the agricultural tourism within the medium and long term. This activity consists of the welcome of visitors with interest in the agricultural activity and the domestic animal raising in the village of Ein Hud, and additionally the welcome of the tourists who arrive at Ein Hod, considered a town already settled down and of tourist character due to their economic activity based on the art, which attracts a significant number of visitors that can be guided towards our village, maintaining a tourist information center that it promotes the economic activity, style of life and human quality of the inhabitants of Ein Hud.

This activity besides to generate important income for the village, is a tool that opens the doors towards without number of opportunities of business with connections to other towns of Israel and in the world. Examples of the effectiveness of the tourism towards centers of diverse communitarian businesses are kibbutz in Israel, communities like Salinas de Guaranda in Ecuador or the increasing agricultural tourism in populations of Taiwan, in which the values before mentioned: work in equipment, responsibility and conscience on the part of each one of the inhabitants of the communities, have been part of the system of handling of the tourist activity that combined with the human quality and the desire of overcoming of their people, has obtained in these ten last years, to become communities total and effectively supplied with the required resources: economic, social and cultural.
We considered key moments within the touristic activity to those which are executed during the medium and long term on which the inhabitants of the village of Ein Hud are totally enabled to execute tourist activities in an effective way, and also have the necessary resources to carry them out. The project proposes a system of non complex lodging and accessible for the inhabitants of Ein Hud, such as their own houses provided with additional rooms and enough space to offer comfort to their visitors. The main idea of the project is to create guest houses in different places of the town to welcome visitors and to create a familiar atmosphere that considers the tourists as special members of the community of Ein Hud, with the objective of involving them into the style of life of the citizens of the village.

The key aspects to be emphasized in this activity are:

a) Correct and opportune information on the part of the citizens.
b) Owners of houses and guides characterized by an authentic human quality.
c) Clean, ordered and safe scenes for the tourists of internal and external character.
d) Responsibility in the communitarian work of each citizen.

Those are some of alternatives that the project proposes to make of Ein Hud a better place to live for the present inhabitants, who will give a view to the future and will combine their internal force and dreams to create a successful Ein Hud and form solid bases for the prosperity of future generations.