AMMAN — The head
of the
Jordan Valley Farmers Union, Adnan Khaddam, urged the Ministry of
Industry, Trade, and Supply to immediately rescind its recent decision to set
price ceilings for some vegetables, claiming that “the decision is unfair to
farmers”.
اضافة اعلان
Khaddam told
Jordan
News that the increase in the prices of some types of vegetables and fruit “is
due to the increase in production inputs, in addition to the fact that farmers
face many difficult conditions, including a 50 percent shrinkage of
agricultural areas”.
He added that while
“the government lent support to many sectors, it did not prop up the agricultural
sector, which is in constant decline”.
“The government
gave us loans, and they were not easy loans either. I hope the government will
support us, and that the value of farmers and what they provide to the
community will not be underestimated,” said Khaddam.
Head of the Jordan
Farmers Association
Ibrahim Al-Sharif told
Jordan News that farmers feel for
the consumers, “because we are primarily citizens and consumers before being
farmers”, but that the rise in the prices of some vegetables and fruit is a
matter that “has got out of control”, and the “reasons are many and have
accumulated”.
Among the reasons
for the high prices, Sharif said, are: the farmers’ back-breaking job, which
makes them, at times, reluctant to work the fields; a decrease in supply; the
several waves of frost during this year; the increase in the price of
production inputs, especially fertilizers, whose price per tonne increased by
300 percent.
He added that “we
must strive for self-sufficiency, and this is what
His Majesty King Abdullah
emphasized more than once. The government must know that importing does not
work, rather, it will cause many losses”.
Sharif stressed
that when the situation permits, there are no price hikes; “we should never
forget that sometimes the price of cucumbers reaches 20 fils per kilo, which
means that we do not mean to raise prices, but the matter is linked to several
factors”.
As for setting
price ceilings, Sharif said that “the government should give me my rights and
protect me before punishing me in this way”.
That does not mean
that rumors that farmers will stop supplying the central market with produce is
true, he said.
“The farmer is a
patriotic person who loves his homeland and the citizens, and this is why I
hope a meeting with the industry minister will help us reach solutions that
satisfy all parties,” Sharif said.
Farmer Bassel
Ramadneh told
Jordan News that “the government still underestimates the value
of farmers”, stressing that “when the government sees the importance of farms
on the ground, more equitable decisions will be taken”.
“Many farmers have
given up farming, and I cannot blame them; they cannot incur more losses in
light of the continuous rise in production inputs and the lack of cash in their
pockets,” he said.
He warned that “if
the situation remains as it is now, the matter will be out of their control,
they will be unable to continue production in the coming days, even if they
want to”.
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply spokesman Yanal Al-Barmawi told
Jordan News that the decision to set
price ceilings for several vegetable varieties was taken to “ensure the
stability of prices”, which, upon inspection at the central vegetable market,
were found to fluctuate.
To decide the price ceiling, an average of the
highest and lowest prices at the central market is reached, to which “a
reasonable profit margin is added for the merchant, so that the price is fair
to both merchant and consumer”, he said.
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