AMMAN — Amid a dry summer and the economic fallout of
COVID-19, Jordan’s agricultural exports are “declining alarmingly”, according
to Saadi Abu Hammad, former chief of the shuttered vegetable and fruits
exporters association.
اضافة اعلان
Whereas
Jordan used to export 900,000 tonnes of agricultural
products per year a decade ago, in 2020 the country only exported 380,000
tonnes, he explained in an interview with Jordan News.
“Jordanian farmers get taxed by the government, taxed by the
Saudi Arabian borders $550 for each tonne, and (face) incredibly high shipping
fees because the government wanted to fix the transportation sector, and forgot
about every other sector,” Abu Hammad said.
He added that other countries like Lebanon, Egypt, and
Turkey reward their farmers with $400 per tonne of exported agricultural
product, while Jordanians get taxed instead of rewarded, making the
agricultural scene in Jordan a “sad reality.”
Notably, agriculture is linked to the country’s ongoing
water problem: while agriculture consumes 56 percent of Jordan’s fresh water,
it only directly constitutes 3 percent of the Jordanian GDP, according to a
2019 report from the West Asia-North Africa Institute.
Agricultural expert Mousa Alsaket told Jordan News that the
issue of expanding exports never seems to be solved, because “with every new
ministerial cabinet, each and every agricultural minister suggests establishing
an agricultural marketing company, but it was never done.”
“East Europe used to be our top exporting destination, but
now with the Syrian borders being closed, we had to find alternative exporting
destinations,” Alsaket said. “Gulf countries became our only alternative
solution, but Egyptian vegetables are flooding the Gulf’s markets, because
they’re cheaper and shipped way faster than Jordanian vegetables.”
Alsaket added that a national agricultural marketing company
would provide fast and high-quality packaging and shipment of agricultural products,
because these products spoil quickly. In addition, it would provide prices
competitive with Egypt’s.
The expert also suggested that one of the reasons Jordanian
vegetables are expensive are because of a hike in the price of foreign workers’ permits, a hike in water and
electricity prices, and merchants “monopolizing” fruit and vegetables prices.
“The price of one kilogram of tomatoes in Ghor is JD0.10.
Once the shipment reaches Amman the price insanely multiplies into JD0.90 per
kilogram,” he said. “Merchants increase the prices arguing that the packaging
prices are expensive, which is not true at all. If these are the prices in
Jordan, try to imagine the prices offered to the Gulf, not to mention shipment
fares.”
Fayyad Al-Zyoud, chief of the Olives Exporters Association,
told Jordan News that the government established an agricultural marketing
company called the Agricultural Marketing Cooperation, but it was shut down 10
years ago because of “rapid changes in the market”.
“The agricultural scene was flourishing 10 years ago; the
marketing company was doing fantastic,” he said. “But with the Arab Spring
movement, and borders being closed, everything changed and that company shut
its doors.”
Zyoud added that Jordan is in “desperate need” of a new marketing
company, because “all the Arab counties are easily producing fruits and
vegetables, but the quality and packaging is the only thing that will allow
Jordan to compete with the market.”
On Monday, Abu Hammad met with Minister of Agriculture
Khalid Alhanafiyat, to examine the obstacles blocking an increase in the flow
of agricultural goods to foreign markets, and sought to open up new markets for
agricultural products.
In addition, Alhanafiyat has focused on the importance of
establishing an agricultural company that will ensure enhanced competitiveness
of agricultural products in traditional foreign markets, and markets of greater
global economic value.
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National News
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