Amman, Feb. 20 (Petra) - Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday signed an agreement to equip a grading, packing, sorting center and provide cold storage facilities for nearly 12,000 tons of citrus and vegetables, at a cost of JD5 million to plug the local production-demand gap round the year.

According to a ministry statement, the agreement was signed by Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Hneifat with head of the Jordan Valley Citrus Agricultural Cooperative Association, Ahmed Ghizawi and Representative of the Jordan Cooperative Corporation, and Mayor of Sharhabil bin Hasna Municiaplity, Mohammad Maraiha.

The agreement comes in response to the Royal vision to modernize and develop various sectors, and aligns with the National Plan for Sustainable Agriculture 2022-2025.

The plan aims to develop the Kingdom's agricultural sector and modernize the value chain for agricultural products, to contribute to increasing the capability to innovate, develop services and encourage exports.

The ministry said ??development of the citrus sector in the northern Jordan Valley and various production areas came due to the sporadic gaps in the production-supply chain during agricultural seasons.

These discrepancies lead to price differences, which prompted the ministry to find a supply-demand balance and provide a "sustainable" stock that contributes to increasing level of food security and providing additional job opportunities, the statement said.

On its goals, the agreement aims to stimulate investments in water productivity technologies to enhance "sustainable competitiveness" and identify local value chains loopholes to identify "promising" commodities and infrastructure gaps.

The cooperation also seeks to develop "readiness" to implement "appropriate" financing tools to stimulate private investment to enhance competitiveness and improve income generation opportunities for farmers' alliances.
//Petra// AG

20/02/2025 15:16:39