GAM plant nurseries eye self-sufficiency in production

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality’s plant nurseries provided 90 per cent of trees and shrubs utilised in the agricultural projects carried out this year and were “not affected” by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The municipality’s Deputy Director for Health and Agricultural affairs Mervat Muhairat said in a statement that the municipality had put a plan in motion in 2017 to become "fully self-reliant on its local production" to cover its needs of trees and shrubs without resorting to any outsource bids by the end of 2022.

She added that the percentage of the municipality’s nurseries’ production of trees and shrubs in previous years ranged between 20 per cent and 40 per cent, while 70 per cent was provided through outsource bids, noting that no bids were raised during the current year.

Muhairat highlighted that agricultural projects are still ongoing, adding that the municipality hopes to maintain the same quantity of last year, which amounted to the plantation of 36,000 trees in Amman.

Director of the Agriculture Department Muin Zureikat said that the annual production rate of trees in the municipality's nurseries usually ranges from 30,000 to 35,000 trees since the beginning of 2018. However, last year, more than 42,000 trees and shrubs were planted.

Zureikat said that the municipality owns five nurseries — two of which are dedicated to growing trees, one dedicated to growing shrubs and two dedicated to enlarging and breeding work that takes place within certain specifications, noting that trees usually need three years to be ready for planting.

The municipality is also working in cooperation with the Wadi Association to grow original plants, according to Director of Department of Parks and Combating Desertification Zaid Hadid.

Hadid said that the annual production of this combined nursery is estimated at 70,000 seedlings, with the association providing seeds and special materials for the cultivation process as well as handling the financial costs.

He pointed out that there are six greenhouses within the Ghamadan Park dedicated to the production of forest and ornamental trees to be planted in the sites of the Parks Department and Combating Desertification after they are rotated and enlarged.