On scraps of land and under constant threat, Gaza farmers struggle to survive

Saqer Abu Rabee, 48, irrigates his few remaining seedlings that survived from the first months of war. Photograph: Amjed Tantesh/The Guardian

As Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been hemmed into an ever smaller slice of the territory, farmers are using every last remaining patch of unspoiled earth, no matter how tiny, in their struggle to survive.

With severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses ruined, it has taken inventiveness and determination to clear land of debris and coax new seedlings into life. Moreover, venturing out into the open to tend to plants can be deadly.