Ministry to allow hiring foreign workers anew in agriculture sector

AMMAN — The Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday announced plans for allowing the recruitment of new foreign workers in the agricultural sector.

The scheduled step is aimed at increasing the number of guest workers in the agricultural sector as more lands are expected to be cultivated this year, following the reopening of the Karameh-Turaibil border crossing late last month, according to sector insiders.

Ministry of Agriculture Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin said that the ministry, in cooperation with related ministries, is planning to allow the recruitment of new foreign workers in the agricultural sector.

The government announced in June last year that it had stopped the recruitment of new guest workers in an effort to regulate the labour market and study the number of guest workers in Jordan. 

The decision had angered segments of the agriculture sector, pushing the government to later grant exceptions for the sector and announcing earlier this year that it would be unifying guest workers’ permit fees.

The guest labourers' fees were unified at JD300. Before the decision, work permits were costing employers between JD180 and JD700, depending on the sector. The government said that the decision was meant to streamline the market.

“The ministry is examining the plan to allow the recruitment of more guest workers; it is unclear yet when it will be official, however, it is expected that the need for additional guest workers will surge as cultivated lands will expand this year with the reopening of the Jordanian-Iraqi border and resuming the export of agricultural produce,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times.

The Turaibil border crossing is regarded by farmers and exporters of fruits and vegetables as the gateway for Jordanian produce to reach the Iraqi market. 

The government decided to close the crossing in the summer of 2015 after Daesh militants seized control of some areas near the borders. Since then, the country’s exports of fruits and vegetables to Iraq have dropped by 70 per cent.

Adnan Khaddam, president of the Jordan Valley Farmers Union, said that allowing the recruitment of guest labourers in the agricultural sector has been among the union’s main demands from the government to uplift the “deteriorating sector”.

“With exports of fruits and vegetables resuming to Iraq, more lands will need to be recultivated as demand will increase, especially during winter,” Khaddam told The Jordan Times.

The farmers’ representative stressed that allowing the recruitment of guest workers in the agricultural sector is one of the tools to save the sector, which he said is “ailing” due to the lack of sufficient marketing portals and repeated heatwaves during the summer.

“A total of 60-65 per cent of land in the Jordan Valley was not cultivated this past year and the lack of agricultural workers is to blame,” Khaddam highlighted.

There are around 1.4 million guest workers in Jordan, a million of whom are illegal, according to Labour Ministry figures.