AMMAN — Jordan
is seeking to improve water efficiency in the agricultural sector and will launch
a project in that regard later this year in collaboration with international
agencies.
اضافة اعلان
Three Cabinet
ministers met Sunday for discussions on the project entitled, “Building
resilience to cope with climate change in Jordan through improving water use efficiency
in the agriculture sector”.
Minister of
Agriculture Khaled Hanifat, Water and Irrigation Mohammad Al-Najjar, and the
Environment Muawieh Al-Radaideh weighed up plans for the implementation of the
$33 million project, which targets southern governorates.
Of the total
projected amount, $25 million is a grant from the South Korea-based Green
Climate Fund (GCF).
The remainder is
co-financing by ministries of environment, agriculture, and water and
irrigation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the UNDP.
Lawrence
Al-Majali, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, told
Jordan News that the project’s administrative stratagem has begun. He explained that
included developing an executive plan of action, creating job opportunities, and
locating office spaces in the three respective ministries.
Majali emphasized
that the project aims at finding the most viable water technique to obtain the
highest possible amount of water for drinking and agriculture, mitigating the
effects of climate change, and achieving food security within various Jordanian
cities.
Nabil Al-Assaf, a
FAO Amman representative who also attended Sunday’s meeting with the ministers,
told
Jordan News that the project will support Jordanian farmers to
adopt innovative techniques and practices that will increase their ability to
produce better.
Assaf maintained
that the project will reduce poverty, promote sustainable agriculture, and
decrease food insecurity and hunger. It will also ensure the availability and
sustainable management of water by reducing the withdrawal of surface and
groundwater.
It will also
ensure higher quality for the surrounding water and the ability to cope with
the risks posed by climate change through a range of related strategies and
activities, Assaf added.
“Women play a
prominent role in the project’s activities to enable them to adapt to climate
change, reflecting a gender-sensitive approach to climate-smart farming,” he
maintained.
In 2017, FAO and
the Jordanian government agreed on the project, which will kick off this year,
according to Assaf. The delay in carrying out the project seems related to
allocating funds for it.
Assad said FAO
acts as an accredited entity of the GCF, responsible for project supervision
and implementation. FAO will work jointly with UNDP, the Ministry of
Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Water and
Irrigation, Assaf noted.
Water expert
Dureid Al-Mahasneh told
Jordan news that Jordan should take advantage of
“this opportunity to confront climate change, and we must make a greater effort
to think and follow a long-term approach to confronting climate change”.
“Water harvesting
is an urgent necessity,” he said. “As we know, Jordan faced a great challenge
as a result of drying up dams, a rise in temperatures, which caused a 90
percent evaporation of water reserves.”
Mahasneh stressed
the need to strengthen the law to “protect water harvesting areas from unjust
attacks”, a reference to water theft from the network.
“We hope that is a step
towards expanding water harvesting projects and giving water projects a
priority in Jordan,” he said.
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