AMMAN —
The
Jordan Dates Association is calling on the Ministry of Agriculture to
cancel the customs exemption decision on imported dates, considering that the
decision will harm date producers in Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
The association
said in a letter submitted to
Minister of Agriculture Khaled Al-Hanaifat, that
the prices of Jordanian dates declined after COVID-19 pandemic, and became
affordable to everyone, while public consumption increased and local dates
competed with imported ones, according to Al-Ghad News.
The letter
indicated that the Cabinet’s decision to reduce customs duties will harm the
local product and lead to losing its competitive edge.
The head of the
Jordanian Dates Association Engineer Anwar Haddad said in a previous statement,
carried by Al-Ghad News that Jordan produces 25,000 tonnes of dates and exports
half of it to more than 15 countries around the world.
He added that the
volume of investments in the palm sector in Jordan amounted to half a billion
dollars, and that the area planted with palms reaches 35,000 dunums, while the
number of trees has reached about 550,000.
He said the date
palm plantations in Jordan provide about 8,000 job opportunities, 35 percent of
which are for women.
Haddad expected
that the share of Jordanian production of dates in the global market would
increase in the coming years due to the entry of newly planted areas into
production and the continuation of the momentum of expansion in its cultivation
and production, which contributes to a reduction in marketing bottlenecks
facing other producers of vegetables and fruits.
For his part, secretary-general of the Ministry of
Agriculture, Muhammad Al-Hiyari, confirmed that the decision was issued by the
Council of Ministers, adding that the request of the Jordanian Dates
Association will be studied with all seriousness, pragmatism, and interest,
stressing the strong relations between the ministry and the association as they
work constantly for the interest of the country and citizens.
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