AMMAN: The agricultural sector in Jordan looks set to benefit from efforts to develop alternate export routes to replace those closed by the Syrian conflict. The industry is also pegged to see an influx of labour, as the Jordanian government and international stakeholders work to incorporate more Syrians into the local workforce.
Despite high domestic production, food exports continue to be impacted by the closure of key trade routes between Jordan and its neighbour to the north, Syria. Jordanian authorities closed the last official border crossing at Jaber in April 2015, when Damascus lost control of the area. Prior to the war, the crossing had been a major trade route, providing an outlet for Jordanian goods on the one hand and a conduit for inter-regional trade between Turkey, Europe and the GCC on the other.
Even before the border closure, the conflict in Iraq and Syria had stalled much of Jordan’s agricultural exports; 400,000 tonnes, or close to half of Jordan’s exported fruits and vegetables, had been destined for these two markets, with another 70,000 earmarked for Lebanon and Turkey combined.
“Before the war, Jordan used to export more than 250,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables every year to Syria and Europe,” Zuweir Jweihan, president of the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruits and Vegetables, told local media in January. “After the war started, the largest amount of agricultural produce never exceeded around 60,000 tonnes.”
Jordanian authorities have been looking for alternate outlets for domestic produce, including sending supplies south to their GCC neighbours. “Agricultural produce exported to the Gulf countries is expected to surpass exports during the same period last year,” Nimer Haddadin, spokesperson from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), told local media earlier this year. “A total of 50 refrigerated trucks carrying 900 tonnes of fruit and vegetables are heading to the Gulf states every day, which will positively affect farmers.”
The Gulf market currently consumes around 83.2% of Jordan’s fruit and vegetable output, the MoA noted. Strengthening trade ties with its GCC neighbours may be a prudent first step but is not a complete solution, according industry stakeholders. While summertime demand is strong in the Gulf states, consumer appetite is weaker in the winter, which could expose Jordanian farmers to seasonal oversupply.
“The problem is where to export the fruits and vegetables which we produce during winter,” Zuweir said. “Jordan’s annual production of fruits and vegetables stands at around 2.5m tonnes, 75% of which is produced in winter, and half of that is destined for exporting.”
