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AMMAN — Discussing the “milestones” that the Ministry of Agriculture has achieved in 2019, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment Ibrahim Shahahdeh said that the overall growth in the sector has reached over 63 per cent compared with last year.

In a recent interview with The Jordan Times, the minister reviewed the ministry’s new “agriculture as a national strategy” movement, which has been targetting the protection of the local agricultural produce and livestock sectors.

Protecting local produce

In October of last year, the ministry put into effect a by-law that protects the local production of 22 different products, completely prohibitting their import.

“In October of 2018, one kilogramme of potatoes was worth JD1.5, but in May of this year, three kiolgrammes were sold for JD1. Measuring this against 2016, when the import gates were wide open, we have saved over JD350 million,” said the minister.

Compared with 2018, the savings are estimated at JD180 million.

The growth rate of the production of various seeds during the fourth quarter of this year, compared with last year, is 300 per cent, the minister said.

“This is an unprecedented growth rate, and it is only made possible when you tell the farmer to stop playing it safe and planting tomatoes, which was the most popular choice for plantation, and start expanding,” said Shahadeh.

“If you tell the farmer to divert from the traditional, to take a risk, while guaranteeing their protection against foreign competition, this is what happens,” he added.

Exports to 20 European countries in 2019 are 30 to 50 tonnes on a daily basis, according to ministry numbers. Bell peppers, in particular, are sold at JD7 a box, bringing high profit rates for farmers, the minister pointed out.

According to Shahahdeh, the ministry did not just stop at protecting local produce, but ventured into other areas with its measures.

“Believing in the quality of our dates, we encouraged palm plantation, and now we produce 14 per cent of global Mejdool dates,” said the minister.

Livestock growth

Growth has not been exclusive” to agricultural produce, but reached livestock production as well, doubling the exports of sheep compared to last year’s numbers.

Shahahdeh said that “the profits, naturally, doubled as well, reaching around 105 million this year”.

The poultry sector has also seen its share of improvement, with ministry numbers indicating that the import of chicken has gone down from 4,000 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes.

“That is four million eggs on a daily basis,” added Shahahdeh.

Local milk is now sold at 55 piastres per kilo instead of 33 piastres, which the minister said is its “true value that has been underestimated for years, as imported milk was always given priority”.

Cutting down on foreign labour

Shahahdeh continued, saying that now, the ministry’s priority is creating jobs for locals.

“We have protected the local produce; now it is time to protect the locals themselves,” he said.

The ministry has signed agreements with three local organisations to recruit seasonal workers and train them in the field, promising them medical insurance and enrolment in the Social Security Fund.

“So far, cutting down on poultry imports has created 1,000 new jobs, as the sellers now need more local people to handle the increased workload. Soon enough, we hope that this will spread to the other sub-sectors as well.”

AMMAN — The Labour Ministry and 30 public institutions and private companies on Tuesday signed a slew of agreements to provide some 12,500 jobs for young people in productive sectors.  

One agreement was signed with the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) and private sector companies to employ 6,000 Jordanians as part of the “Country Service” programme after they receive the necessary training, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

A second agreement was signed with private sector institutions to provide 3,500 jobs directly through the national employment platform, while the third agreement was signed with universities and training institutions to create jobs at hospitals for nurses, technicians and workers. 

Attending the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said: “The most important project for the government today is creating jobs and finding the proper environment for young men and women to enter the labour market.

Razzaz said that the first draft law that the government will send to Parliament, whose ordinary session is scheduled to start next week, consists of amendments to the Labour Law that seek to organise the market and guest workers, and provide “more space” for young Jordanians. 

The premier said that the government had “mistakenly thought that creating jobs was the responsibility of the Labour Ministry or the Civil Service Bureau, which has led to high unemployment rates among youth”.

In this regard, he noted that the government has embarked on a “real” dialogue with stakeholders, such as the JAF and the private sector, to address “the state of despair and marginalisation” among youth and to start engaging them in the economic sector.

Labour Minister Nidal Bataineh said that these agreements would help in increasing production, stressing the importance of utilising the skills and capabilities of the Jordanian youth to reflect the growth rates.

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, a commission for developing vocational and technical skills was established with the membership of the ministries of labour, education and higher education, so as to link educational outcomes with the indicators and needs of the labour market. 

The minister also highlighted the importance of partnership between the public and private sectors in curbing high unemployment rates, noting that the ministry will seek to create effective human resource administrations in the private sector to guarantee sustainable growth and decent work for Jordanians. 

During a press conference on the sidelines of the event, Bataineh highlighted the importance of directing guest workers towards jobs that see low turnout by Jordanians and preventing more foreign workers from entering the Kingdom while benefitting from those who are already in the country. 

He added that the country srvice programme has “noble goals” and is part of the national employment pact that the government has prepared together with the private sector, with the aim of empowering the Jordanian youth, Petra added. 

AMMAN — The Orphans Fund Development Corporation’s (OFDC) net profits during the first nine months of 2019 have increased by 13 per cent. OFDC revenues totalled some JD9.09 million by the end of September, in comparison with about JD8.19 million for the same period of 2018, showing an 11-per cent increase. 

OFDC investments during the January-September period climbed to more than JD 198.12 million compared with JD187.4 million during the same period in 2018, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Highlighting the corporation's role in economic development, Chief Islamic Justice Abdul Kareem Khasawneh, OFDC's chairman of board of directors, said that the corporation over the last few years has contributed in generating 740 jobs and 5,389 housing units.

AMMAN — A number of representatives of international security forces arrived in the Kingdom on Tuesday to participate in the 12th Amman Security Colloquium.

The specialised annual forum will see the participation of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Secretary General Thomas Greminger, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies  Abdullah Al Khalifa and Iyad Alawi, former vice president of Iraq, as well as Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the former Iranian chief nuclear negotiator.

The delegations came from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, the US, the EU, Australia and South Korea.

AMMAN — Representative of the ICT sector at the Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Haitham Rawajbeh on Tuesday discussed with Saudi businesspeople ways to boost Jordanian-Saudi cooperation.

Rawajbeh said that Jordan has qualified human resources with entrepreneurial ideas that can be used to establish projects with Saudi Arabia, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During his meetings with Saudi businesspeople on the sidelines of the Jordanian-Saudi Business Forum in Amman, which opened on Monday, Rawajbeh called on them to invest in the ICT sector in Jordan and benefit from the available incentives, including tax exemptions and "advanced infrastructure".

He noted that the JCC will hold a meeting with Saudi embassy staff to discuss cooperation between Jordanian companies and their Saudi counterparts in the digital economy field.

AMMAN — The government is currently drafting a number of policies and laws that seek to create an “effective institutional framework” for the management of government investments and to enhance the institutional legal framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs), Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mohamad Al-Ississ said on Tuesday.

The minister added that the new draft PPP Law has been completed and is awaiting the completion of pertinent legal procedures, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. Al-Ississ’ remarks came during a Jordan Strategy Forum roundtable, which tackled the World Bank’s  Doing Business 2020 study. 

AMMAN — Education Minister-designate Musa Maaytah on Tuesday checked on the health condition of student Muhammad Qatamin after his school gate fell on him while he, along with other students, was cleaning the yard of their school in Tafileh.

Maaytah, while visiting Qatamin at the King Hussein Medical Centre, was briefed by doctors on the student’s health condition and told that he is in fair condition, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The minister praised the efforts of all stakeholders in offering the necessary medical care to the student. 

AMMAN — The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) responded to the Ministry of Agriculture's request to assess the community-based fire and flood management in Jordan through the support provided from FAO Regional Office under the "Regional Initiative of Food Security and Nutrition", according to an FAO statement.

A group of experts in fires and forestry from the FAO Regional Office visited Jordan on a mission for three days (November 3-5), including a one-day training workshop on Community-Based Forest Fire Management and Flood Early Warning Systems, in which a group of policy and decision makers and experts gathered to discuss the National DRR Strategy 2019-2022 which highlights fires and floods as the country’s prominent natural hazards.

The workshop targetted technical officers from responsible institutions, in addition to introducing and enhancing the understanding of community-based practices for preventing fires and flooding, the statement said. 

AMMAN — Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti on Tuesday met Emirati military attaché Col. Mubarak Mansouri, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The two officials discussed enhancing cooperation and coordination on issues of interest to both countries’ armies.

AMMAN — Public Security Department (PSD) Director Maj. Gen. Fadel Hmoud and UK Ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to organise cooperation in training fields and the exchange of expertise in a way that helps develop the skills of the department’s personnel.

Hmoud said that Jordanian-UK relations are “deep-rooted” in various fields, and the police sector, which has witnessed several joint projects, is part of such ties, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Oakden commended the strategic relations between the two countries, which reflect on cooperation between the British police and the PSD. Neil Basu, Senior National Coordinator for Counterterrorism Policing in the UK, reviewed aspects of cooperation under the memo, among them police training and consultations.