Jordan - Al Hanifat: Rainfall rates in the Kingdom have decreased as a result of climate change by 40%

Arab Weather - The Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Al-Hanaifat, discussed during his meeting today, Tuesday, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Qu Dongyu, aspects of the organization's continuous support to Jordan to face challenges, especially in the field of food security.

During the meeting, Hanifat presented the stages of achievement within the national plan for sustainable agriculture, and the development axis of the agricultural sector

He referred to the state's efforts in confronting the Corona pandemic, and the supply chain crisis, as Jordan did not suffer from any shortage of goods with continued productivity, according to the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, especially His Majesty's decision to store wheat, which had the greatest role in strengthening the Kingdom's capacity. to face challenges, stressing His Majesty's interest in the agricultural sector and the development of the national strategy for food security, and its action plan, which represents a road map to confront the problem of food security

Al-Hanaifat praised the strategic role of the “FAO” and its continuous cooperation to support projects in Jordan to face challenges with the presence of successive pressures as a result of the increasing refugee, climate change, and the effects of the post-Corona pandemic, especially dealing with the problem of food security.

He stressed the importance of agricultural extension as it links the ministry with farmers, which requires support from the "FAO" to provide appropriate training for agricultural extension workers.

Al-Hanaifat pointed out that rainfall rates in the Kingdom decreased as a result of climate change by 40 percent, which increased the problem of water scarcity in the Kingdom, indicating that the ministry faced this challenge by intensifying water harvesting projects as much as possible.

And he indicated that Jordan's marketing of its agricultural products was greatly affected by the closure of 75% of the kingdom's wild borders, due to its impact on the situation of neighboring countries, pointing to the ministry's need to support the marketing axis within the national plan for sustainable agriculture launched since the beginning of this year, which focused on establishing an infrastructure Developed infrastructure for the agricultural sector

For his part, the Director-General of FAO said, "We will work together to establish a regional observatory for food security in cooperation with the countries of the region," noting the importance of using modern agricultural methods such as mechanization and digitization; To enhance the resilience of the sector, in addition to the importance of global sustainable production related to water, soil, seeds, fertilizers and sustainable management to enable the sector to withstand and be competitive in foreign markets, and to enhance the role that Jordan can play to meet challenges related to food security locally and regionally.