The Higher Population Council has emphasized the need to amend land use legislations and address the unbalanced population distribution as a key step to empower rural women and enhance food security in Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
The Council’s call coincides with the Kingdom’s observance of the International Day of Rural Women today and World Food Day tomorrow, highlighting the strong connection between the two, as rural women form the backbone of agricultural and food production.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Council noted that under the Executive Program of the Economic Modernization Vision, the Ministry of Local Administration has been tasked with amending the land use system, completing the update of the land use map, and reviewing and revising the law regulating cities and villages and its related regulations.
These legislative amendments aim to achieve several goals, including protecting cultivated and agricultural lands in the western and northern regions, strengthening rural family economies, empowering rural women, mitigating traffic congestion caused by unbalanced population distribution, halting urban sprawl on agricultural and forest lands, and preserving the environment and biodiversity.
The Council highlighted Jordan’s strong focus on the agricultural sector, recognizing it as a pillar of economic and social stability and food security. This is reflected in initiatives under the Economic Modernization Vision, such as establishing the Supreme Council for Food Security in 2023, supporting agricultural projects, organizing rural markets and fairs, and economically empowering women to contribute to household food security.
Additionally, initiatives include establishing a national seed bank, expanding areas cultivated with strategic crops, enacting the Agricultural Risk Mitigation Fund Law of 2025, approving the Cooperatives Law of 2025 to strengthen the role of Jordanian cooperatives, and enhancing climate adaptation through efficient water use and modern agricultural technologies.
The Council noted that the rural economy faces demographic challenges, including population and urban overflow onto agricultural lands due to continued licensing of construction, and uneven geographic population distribution. Only 8% of Jordan’s population resides in the southern governorates, which comprise half of the country’s area and most of its natural and economic resources, while 92% live in the remaining half. This imbalance generates significant administrative and economic costs, including skyrocketing land prices, environmental damage from urban sprawl on fertile lands, harm to recreational areas, and difficulties in providing adequate sewage services to newly developed areas.
The Council stressed the crucial role of rural women in promoting agricultural and rural development, enhancing food security, and alleviating poverty in rural areas, noting that their empowerment is closely linked to protecting agricultural lands from licensed and unlicensed urbanization, a key measure in reducing poverty and achieving sustainable food security and development.