PALESTINA AGRO MACHINERY
Agricultural Machinery Leasing company in Palestine
The Dutch company Roelofs Landbouwmechanisatiebedrijf B.V. (LMB Roelofs or Roelofs) and the Palestinian company Al Shamali Ltd. set up a modern ISO 9001 certified agricultural service centre combined with a workshop, training centre and leasing company for agricultural equipment.
In the Palestinian agricultural sector is a lack of modern agricultural equipment and knowledge about how to operate and maintain these assets. A second constraint is the small financing capacity of small and medium size farmers. In many cases these farmers do not have the means to buy their own tractor and machinery, and as a result they often cannot prepare all of their land properly. This results in sub optimal yields and small profit margins, if profit is made at all.
The new company highly contributes to the development of the agricultural sector in Palestine. Farmers are given the opportunity to lease equipment. They receive training on how to operate and maintain the equipment before the lease contract is signed. They can operate the machines by themselves or hire a professional from the new company to operate the machine. The lease of agricultural equipment is new to Palestine. Small and medium sized farmers benefit from this project as agricultural services will be more and more available. This helps them to increase their harvests and consequently increase their income and living standards. All farmer related businesses profit from increased production and better quality production.
Terwel was requested to represent Al Shamali in The Netherlands to find a Dutch partner. Terwel brought them in contact with Roelofs, that has more than 30 years of experience in servicing agricultural equipment and has been dealing with clients from many different countries. Terwel BV assisted the partners to develop the project proposal and business plan and continues to be involved in the project’s implementation.