AMMAN — Head of
the General Union of Jordanian Farmers Odeh Al-Rawashdeh called on Prime
Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh to exempt farmers who borrow from the
Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) from paying interest.
اضافة اعلان
Rawashdeh told
Jordan
News that he makes the request in the name of all farmers, “who are still
facing the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic”, adding that exempting them
from paying loan interest for the next five years will help farmers get back on
their feet.
“The agricultural
sector is at its worst, and the government does not provide any solution,” he
stressed.
Based on the ACC
annual report for 2021, the regulated loan volume by debt securities for 2021
stood at JD54 million, benefited 12,627 farmers, and helped establish and
improve around 12,375 agricultural projects in the Kingdom.
According to the
report, 8,014 farmers were new borrowers, making up 64 percent of the total
number of borrowers.
Rawashdeh said that
the agricultural sector “no longer has the ability to bear more losses and
debts”, adding that companies that provide them with production requirements
refuse to give farmers any new products due to the accumulation of losses.
He said that the
union was surprised by the refusal of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to
exempt farmers from paying interest rate on loans, but that “a request has been
sent to the prime minister to reconsider this decision”.
Ibrahim Al-Sharif,
head of the
Jordan Farmers Union, told
Jordan News that interest rates
“constitute a huge burden on farmers”, reiterating that farmers have been
asking to be exempt from repaying loans since last year’s storm “was disastrous
on farmers”.
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