AMMAN – The
closure of Jordan’s borders with neighboring countries, namely Syria and Iraq,
inflicted loses on Jordan and its farmers, farmers said.
اضافة اعلان
The argument came
to the backdrop of comments by the Minister of Agriculture Khaled Al-Hneifat in
a meeting with the director-general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), Qu Dongyu, on Tuesday.
Hneifat said that
75 percent of Jordan’s border has been shut down due to turmoil in neighboring
countries, like Iraq and Syria. As a result, the ministry devised the National
Plan for Sustainable Agriculture, which has been in effect since the beginning
of 2022.
Farmer Jamal
Masalha said the closure of the Syrian border alone “cost famers in Jordan more
than JD80 million in the past decade”. He explained that the loss was incurred
from produce from plastic greenhouses, which was intended for export to Eastern
Europe, Ukraine, and Russia.
“At a cost of
JD1,700–1,800 per piece, there were 22,000 plastic greenhouses in Jordan whose
output was set for export to Eastern European markets through Syria”, he told
Jordan
News.
But the export was
hampered by developments in Syria, he explained. He noted that “the plan was to
grow that number to 50,000 in the span over a few years”.
“But now, we have
zero,” he said.
During the Syrian
civil war, farmers were forced to sell their products locally, and this
included greenhouse produce, he said. This resulted in increased supply,
coupled with a declined demand, which drove prices down.
Alternatively, some
farmers opted for exports through Israel to avoid further losses, he added.
“Inspection on the
borders with Syria took 8 to 10 days, which blocked shipments of Jordanian
produce for 22 days for each consignment from Jordan to Russia,” he said.
Noting that the
produce spoiled on the way, he said: “This was not good, and has resulted in
huge losses for Jordanian farmers.”
He pointed with
that the closure of the Syrian border forced a drop in exports to Europe 40–50
percent.
Walid Al Rabei, a
Jordan Valley farmer who used to export through Syria, said Jordanian farmers
“must export more than half of their overall production to make ends meet, and
keep the local price range offering profitable”.
But because of the
closures, “many farmers have gone bankrupt, and the majority of them face legal
liabilities today”, Rabei told
Jordan News.
Rabei proposed a
barter system, which would enable Jordanian farmers to exchange produce with
Syrian and Lebanese farmers to make up for part of the past losses.
“But there are
powers at play here,” he cautioned, referring to the commercial and financial
ramifications involved. “There are powerful producers and exporters in Jordan,
who do not want to see other farmers bring in the same produce they import into
the local market”, he explained.
As a result, export
remains the only currently viable solution for Jordanian farmers, according to
Rabei.
Ministry of
Agriculture spokesperson Lawrence Al-Majali said the ministry has been waiting
for several years for the “situation in Iraq and Syria to be resolved, to
restore agricultural export to, and through, Jordan’s traditional markets”.
“The closure of the
Syrian and Iraqi borders caused Jordanian exports to, and through, Iraq and
Syria to drop from 250,000 tonnes to nothing in some years,” he said.
“Evidently, the
ministry must find solutions, looking at the situation from outside the box,”
Majali added.
According to
Majali, the national plan entailed the establishment of the
Jordanian-Palestinian Agricultural Marketing Company, “which has secured
numerous contracts to export local produce to markets in Europe and the Gulf,
among other destinations”.
In fact, a recent
shipment headed for Qatar ahead of the World Cup there, he noted.
“Another measure
that was enacted to support the agricultural sector in Jordan was the
introduction of zero-interest loans to finance certain produce that is in
demand in the local market and abroad,” Majali said.
Additionally, the
ministry is working on marketing the excess production of olives, dates, and
other produce, the spokesperson said.
The National Plan
for Sustainable Agriculture is “tackling these issues to restore profitability
to the agricultural sector, and to find new export markets for the local
produce, which may help revitalize the local sector in Jordan”, according to
Majali.
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