Like many countries, Jordan is seeking ways to address growing concerns over food insecurity. Last year the government launched a new National Food Security Strategy which identifies specific actions to make food systems stronger and provide employment. Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world and is adopting bold measures to boost efficiency and balance supply and demand of the precious resource.
Around a quarter of Jordan’s poor rely on agriculture for their income. Although primary agriculture contributes only 5.6 percent of GDP, when related value chain activities are included, the broader agri-food sector contributes about 20–25 percent of GDP.
One priority is boosting skills and training a new generation of farmers and agricultural specialists to use techniques that require less water and plant crops that are more resistant to drought and other climate-related threats. Fatima Abu Akleek, a 22-year-old graduate of the Jordan University of Science and Technology, has been trained in hydroponics and fish farming.
She is currently working at the Faisal Plant nursery in Jarash, a mountainous area northwest of Amman. Akleek is putting her new skills into practice. At the plant, fish grow in one tank and plants in another, with the nutrients produced by the fish converted into a non-chemical fertilizer product which then feeds the plants. By using this byproduct from the fish, the use of chemical fertilizers on vegetables is averted.
Another engineering graduate from the same university, Lina Madlboh, is also working on hydroponic and aeroponic farming, which cultivates plants in a mist environment, eliminating the need for soil. Alongside her family, she is growing the pricy saffron spice, using a closed incubator to preserve saffron bulbs which are cultivated indoors and not subject to extreme weather or soil-borne diseases. Such farming results in higher yields but requires intensive daily care and Madlboh’s family have hired local youth to help tend the saffron.
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