For 5 years, the Jewish Community of Marrakech will offer the use of arable land for HAF to build a nursery on which to raise 80-120,000 fruit tree saplings and train village representatives in arboriculture. In the 2nd and 5th years, the trees will be donated to each household of the surrounding disadvantaged villages and by 6-8 years later, the fruit yields will at least double the income of those rural communities, economically and environmentally benefiting 10,000 people.
Morocco has a strong history of inter-religious cooperation that is often omitted from modern rhetoric. This project establishes multicultural partnerships to tackle national problems such as rural poverty. The combination of population growth and the low market value of traditional staple crops (such as barley), from which most rural households derive their income, have made subsistence agriculture unsustainable, compelling farmers to transition to plantin cash crops, most commonly fruit trees.
The House of Life project facilitates the free loan of land adjoining Jewish burial sites to establish organic fruit trees and medicinal plant nurseries to benefit Muslim farming communities. Community-managed and supported by the High Atlas Foundation, the nurseries raise organic seeds into saplings. Once matured, the young trees are distributed to small-scale farmers and schools around Morocco yearly during the planting season.
Launched in 2012, House of Life upholds the notion that Morocco's multicultural past and present, and the preservation of it, should necessarily advance the sustainable development of the country by providing a tangible and vital pathway for the social and economic benefit of generations of Moroccans to come.
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