No legal mechanism preventing export of vegetables to Israel — minister

AMMAN — Minister of Agriculture Khalid Hneifat on Sunday called on traders to refrain from exporting vegetables to Israel.

 "There is no legal mechanism preventing traders from exporting vegetables to Israel but we tell them: try being a bit more moral,” Hneifat remarked during an interview with the government-owned Al Mamlaka TV. 

He said that the international and regional consequences leave "little impact" on the national agriculture sector.

The minister added that the agriculture sector has been witnessing steady progress, tanks to the "effective" national plan for sustainable agriculture, which "has defined the stages that need to be followed to lay down the foundation of a prosperous sector". 

Citing the agriculture sector's contributions to job creation, rural development, women empowerment and food security, he said the sector constitutes around 20 per cent of the Jordanian economy. 

Hneifat added that 15 per cent of workforce in Jordan works in the agriculture sector.

He also explained that the more than 60-year-old Agricultural Loan Fund has achieved "qualitative leaps over the past two years especially in 2023".

 The minister said that the fund's lending portfolio reached JD115 million in 2023, up from the JD70 million in 2021, adding that JD160 million has been given to farmers as loans over the past two years, of which JD60 million as interest-free loans for hydroponics and aquaponics growing plants.