‘Kingdom seeks to boost poultry, sheep exports to Gulf’

AMMAN — Jordan eyes increasing its exports of sheep, live poultry and poultry products to Gulf Arab markets, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Sunday.

The Kingdom is expected to start within months exporting sheep and live poultry to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, according to the ministry’s spokesperson, Nimer Haddadin.

“Minister of Agriculture Khaled Hneifat met today with Qatari Ambassador Bandar Al Attiyah to discuss facilitating the export of produce, sheep and poultry to Qatar,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times over the phone.

He noted that a technical team from the UAE has recently concluded a visit to the Kingdom to finalise preparations for importing live poultry and eggs from Jordan.

“The team visited border crossings and checked on the country’s poultry farms. It has also met with a number of poultry farmers. The technical team was impressed with the state-of-the-art poultry farms in Jordan,” Haddadin said.

He expected the country to start exporting poultry to the UAE by early next year, noting that the ministry seeks to open new market portals for owners of poultry farms to support the JD2 billion sector that generates income for 15,000 families.

There are 2,689 poultry farms in Jordan. A total of 85.4 per cent are for the production of broiler chickens, 10.4 per cent for egg-laying hens and 4.2 per cent for breeder chickens, according to the ministry.

Official figures also indicate that the Kingdom has 80.5 million birds in 4,972 complexes spread over 2.7 million square metres across the country.

Also on Sunday, dozens of poultry breeders picketed the Agriculture Ministry to protest the plummeting prices of local poultry, which are now below cost price, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The protesters said the products of major companies are hurting their business, urging the ministry to protect local products.

Hneifat met with the protesters and discussed their grievances, promising to look into their demands, according to Petra.