National Plan for Sustainable Agriculture launched

AMMAN — The Ministry of Agricultureon Sunday launched the National Plan for Sustainable Agriculture (2022-2025), meant to improve farmers’ living conditions through empowering them and increasing the sector’s productivity.

Speaking during a press briefing held at the Prime Ministry, Minister of Agriculture Khalid Hneifat said that that financing the plan, at a cost of JD389 million, came in full partnership with the private sector.

The plan aims at achieving an added value to the agriculture sector through several measures and projects, generating jobs to young people and women in the rural areas through interest-free loans and empowering the farmers to expand the Kingdom’s green spaces, he said.

The plan’s key objectives focus on reducing production cost, support farmers to obtain concessional loans, opening new export markets for Jordanian products, breaking the monopoly chain, and helping farmers get good prices, which are fair to the public at the same time, he said.

The plan focused on developing new irrigation mechanisms, notably those related to water harvesting to reduce the amount of irrigation by 30 per cent, he said.   

He added that the four-year plan would generate a total of 32,000 jobs, some 8,000 jobs a year, in addition to temporary jobs, some 6,000 a year, as part of the afforestation projects, in partnership with the private sector.   

He added that 2022 will witness the launch of 10 investment opportunities in the private sector’s agricultural stations.

The plan included the afforestation of 100km of the Desert Highway, which would help in offering 6,000 temporary jobs, in addition to 2,000 dunums that would offer 3,000 temporary jobs, he noted.

He also highlighted that in 2022, the government will also allocate about JD35 million as interest-free loans for agricultural projects, noting that last year’s JD35-million loans have helped in generating 6,000 permanent jobs.

A total of 12 entrepreneurial projects in the agriculture incubator will be supported, 5,000 projects related to women empowerment will be implemented and training on agri-tech tools for 360 young Jordanians will be provided as part of the plan, he added, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.