Debt plagues farmers as union urges government action

AMMAN — The agriculture sector is facing daunting challenges after “eight consecutive seasons of losses”, according to the Jordan Valley Farmers Union.

Over 23,000 farmers are in debt and wanted by the law, President of the Jordan Valley Farmers Union Adnan Khaddam told The Jordan Times on Monday

He urged the government to take action to protect farmers and prevent separation from their families. 

“Jordanian agricultural exports are almost non-existent, as exports are only to Gulf countries,” Khaddam said, noting that “lack of markets” for Jordanian agricultural produce is one of the biggest problems facing local farmers.

The surplus of farming ends up being sold at miniscule prices, with an entire box going for only JD0.5, while one kilogramme of the same product could be sold at around JD0.6 per kilogramme in shops, he said.

Welcoming the recent statements of Prime Minister Omar Razzaz concerning a future shift in agricultural manufacture, Khaddam said that the government should translate these proposals into actions by establishing factories in the Jordan Valley.

He said that farmers can make use of their surplus products and resolve their marketing problems through theses factories.

Regarding the nature of the factories, Khaddam said that they could produce juice, pickles and even create a local brand of ketchup.

“Not only would we benefit from the extra produce and turning it into a local product through such factories, but there would also be more jobs for local communities in the area,” he concluded. 

Earlier in September, Khaddam predicted that farms will drop by 40 to 50 per cent, and with the increasing number of farmers who end up bankrupt, Khaddam said that his predictions “unfortunately came true” as the season progressed. 

Also back in September, Nawash Al Yazjeen, a farmer from the Jordan Valley, told The Jordan Times that ever since the Syrian crisis and closures of borders in 2011, the export routes to Europe and Russia have been closed, which he said is “the main and direct reason why the agricultural sector in Jordan suffers”.

Farmers are unable to practise their profession, either because of accumulated debts, the inability to export or fear of investing and then suffering losses, he said at the time.

“There is enough produce to cover the Kingdom’s needs but the surplus goes nowhere and ends up in losses,” Yazjeen said.

While agriculture sector representatives and farmers express their suffering, Razzaz said last week that the agriculture sector is “one of the Kingdom’s strongest economic sectors”, having positive impact on living conditions and national security.

During a meeting that convened the Parliamentary Agriculture and Water Committee and the Senate’s Agriculture Committee at the time, Razzaz expressed the government’s support for the Agricultural Credit Corporation, stressing commitment to increase backing to reach the phase of agro-industry.