Farmers disappointed as Iraq agreements bring no relief

AMMAN — Farmers expressed their “disappointment” and “surprise” regarding Iraq’s reception of their goods, saying they expected to play “a more important role” in Iraq’s post-war market.

“Iraq used to be one of our biggest markets, and then we lost it for a long while, but when the borders were reopened and more than 10 agreements were signed, we expected things to return back to normal,” said Ahmed Sawaeed, a member of the Ghour Farmers Union.

Sawaeed added that “not only has Iraq’s demand for our produce not picked up since the agreements signed in November of 2018, they have actually declined”.

President of the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruit and Vegetables Saadi Abu Hammad said in February that his sector was “still witnessing stagnant export rates after the reopening of both borders”, referring to the opening of the Jaber-Nasib crossing with Syria as well.

In an interview on Thursday, he said that he “still stands by that statement, as our exports to Iraq have declined by at least 40 per cent compared with the same period last year".

President of the Jordan Truck Owners Association Mohammad Dawood said his sector’s expectations were also “surprisingly defied”.

“We thought that we would be seeing Iraqi truck number plates flooding Amman carrying produce and goods back and forth every day. Unfortunately, that has not happened, and our trucks have not been flooding Iraq either,” he said in a phone interview with The Jordan Times.

According to Dawood, Iraq’s vegetables and fruit market has been served most by trucks carrying the produce from Syria and Iran, saying Jordan’s farmers and truck drivers have been left “little pieces” of the trade’s share.