At last the government has decided to give incentives to farmers to resort to renewable energy sources to help them with their irrigation needs and their business in general.
The Agricultural Credit Corporation is now offering low-interest, easy-term loans to farmers to move away from fuel-generated energy and use solar power.
The idea is to encourage farmers to install solar panels on their farms to generate electricity, which would lower costs of production and contribute to reducing the extent of energy crisis in the country.
The corporation should also promote the use of water pumps powered by solar energy. That would be of great help both to the farmers and the country’s economy.
All over Africa, Asia and South America, farmers are shifting to solar energy to power their water pumps, instead of relying on fuel-generated electricity.
Our agricultural corporation might consider coupling its promotion of solar panels for farms with encouragement to use solar-powered water pumps, a process that should be relatively easy and less costly across the board.
All that would be required would be to install solar panels to generate electricity so that there is no more need to extend power grids over long distances. This would greatly decrease the dependence on fuel-generated electricity.
That it is taking so long to introduce solar and wind energy to farming in Jordan is indeed puzzling.
The country should be at the forefront of nations introducing sustainable forms of energy since it is endowed with an abundance of sun and wind all year around.
The reasons it is lagging behind in the field of renewable energy need to be addressed, and fast.
A special session dedicated to this issue in Parliament would be in order and timely.
