Shmulik Rifman, head of the Ramat Hanegev District Council, himself a member of Kibbutz Revivim sums up: “We hope to reach, within the area of the Council, 31 farmsteads according to the approved plan. 23 already exist and have resulted in a substantial change throughout the District, mainly to Road 40, which goes from Beersheba via Mitzpeh Ramon to Eilat. There is a pilgrimage from all directions to the area, to the wine, the cheeses, the olive oil and the guestrooms along the astounding natural landscapes. Within a year, there will be between 50 and 60 unique guestrooms along the road, according to the flights of fancy of their owners’ imagination. We feel the development, and the subject of tourism is taking a larger place in the livelihood of the residents of the region. I have to add that without KKL-JNF, the development of the individual farmsteads and the regional agriculture would have stopped a long time ago.”

Rifman enumerates the ongoing investments of KKL-JNF in the most central spheres, from applied agricultural research and development to the development needs of unique agriculture and ending with the reclamation of areas for farming and infrastructures for housing. “I welcome the commitment of KKL-JNF again and again through its donors, among them friends of KKL-JNF in South Africa , giving for the development of the individual farmsteads.”