Farming in Jordan is suffering from water scarcity, climate change, urban sprawl and conventional farming that make around 65 percent of the overall agriculture output, said the agriculture minister.
Minister of Agriculture Khaled Hneifat told a conference in the Balqa University in As-Salt city the farming is a “vital” sector, highlighting the raw numbers indicate the sector’s contribution to the GDP stands at 3.8 percent; however, its actual input hovers around 20 percent of GDP.
He said in the conference, dubbed “The Improvement of development and General Services in 100 Years,” that his ministry is working on improving the farming sector that has been contributing despite the challenges it faces, not least of which is water scarcity.
The Agriculture Credit Corporation budget was expanded to JOD100 million, Hneifat said, adding JOD10 million will be allocated for the “temporary employment” project to create “thousands” of temporary employment opportunities.
The ministry is also planning to establish a Jordanian-Palestinian advertisement corporation and build three factories.
Source: Jordan News Agency