AMMAN — Farmers
in the Wala Valley area, located in the south of Madaba governorate, have been
protesting for days the authorities’ inaction regarding their demands to be
given
Wala Dam water for lands classified as irrigated lands.
اضافة اعلان
Farmers complained
that the valley suffered from drought and fear losing more agricultural crops.
They threaten to hold an open sit-in in front of the WalaDam if authorities
continue to ignore their complaints.
Ali Breizat, one
of the farmers from the area, told
Jordan News that despite the fact
that protests have been going on for more than 10 days, farmers did not receive
water from the dam, with a capacity of some 3.5 million cubic metres, neither
from wells or water basins.
According to him,
the area around the dam has been cultivated and is supplied with dam water
directly, as decided by the
Jordan Valley Authority, but it would be only fair
for the dam water to be distributed to all the areas of the Wala Valley, which
have long been owned by the region’s farmers.
Farmers are having problems carrying out their agricultural operations as
usual, especially now when the planting season is in its early stages, because
they have not received water since mid-March according to Breizat.
He emphasized that
locals attempted to engage with the responsible authorities in a variety of
ways to find a solution to the situation that threatens the agricultural sector
in the Wala Valley with collapse, but have been unable to get an official
answer or reaction, except from the minister of water who said that the water
from the Wala Dam is for drinking and cannot be wasted on agriculture.
“The
Ministry of Water is putting pressure on citizens so they can finally buy Israel’s water,”
said Breizat, reiterating that “the easiest way to persuade Jordanians to approve
the arrangement to buy water from Israel is to address citizens’ needs and
pressure them through one of life’s most basic necessities, water”.
Farmer
Anwar Hawajreh told
Jordan News that the farmers attempted to find a solution
through the Ministry of Water, the governor of Madaba, the secretary-general of
the Jordan Valley Water Authority and others, but none of their efforts yielded
a result or a solution.
According to him,
the Ministry of Water emptied the Wala Dam last year, which resulted in a big shortage,
and this caused the ministry to reduce water distribution this year, fearing
more scarcity; as a result, part of the region’s crops was damaged this year,
and the other part will face the same fate by June if the water is not supplied
soon.
... failing to meet their demands will result in an increase in the number of citizens queueing for aid, making them nothing more than a burden on the government.
Secretary-General
of the
Farmers Union Mahmoud Al Oran told
Jordan News that Al Wala region produces 15 percent of the vegetables sent to the central wholesale
vegetable and fruit market during the summer season, notably zucchini.
He emphasized the
need to pay attention to and benefit from this region’s output, which is an
auxiliary component of the lowlands, in order to boost the country’s food
security.
Oran went on to
say that “the government should learn from previous lessons about the paucity
of imports to the central wholesale markets and seek to incorporate technology
and modern agriculture into the economy as much as feasible”.
He said that the
residents of Wala Valley have been “primarily dependent on the agricultural
sector for more than half a century, and failing to meet their demands will
result in an increase in the number of citizens queueing for aid, making them
nothing more than a burden on the government”.
No official from the
Ministry of Water or the Jordan Valley Authority
Jordan News tried to
contact could be reached.
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