(MENAFN- Jordan Times) AMMAN — The Ministry of Agriculture announced this week its intention to restructure itsdepartments in order to maximise women and small families' roles in rural development.
New directorates in the Ministry of Agriculture will be created, solely dedicated to rural development, with special attention to women's and families' roles and projects in agriculture, Hisham Ataamleh, head of international affairs at the National Agriculture Research Centre, told The Jordan Times on Thursday.
The ministry received approval this month regarding their restructuration project, which came in light of a current state of affairs dubbed "inefficient and costly", a recent report by the ministry said.
Two new departments will be in charge of empowering women in the agricultural sector; one focused on training purposes, while the other will include loans given out to small women-run start-ups.
"No one can deny the important role that women play in agriculture, whether as a wife or a farmer herself. Women are the backbone of this industry, as many farms cannot function without their help," said Husna Jaradat, a ministry employee in charge of projects in the Ghor region.
Similarly, two departments will be created for family-owned farms and projects.
Old departments and directorates carrying out similar responsibilities will be merged together, giving space for new departments that are 'in line with current market and social needs', according to the report.
Although departments concerned with climate change, global warming, agricultural research, water and women in agriculture already exist, the restructuration aims to make them "more efficient", said Ataamleh.
He cited an ongoing project whereby 15 women are being trained to use the "ITM" agricultural method, which aims at eradicating pests using non-chemical pesticides.
"Merging the departments will have positive consequences. Now we have people with similar expertise, yet different experiences to collaborate in the same department on different projects," stressed Raed Khalaf, who worked on the implementation of the merger.
He added: "There was opposition at first, especially regarding the chain of command, but we convinced our workers that two heads are better than one."
Another significant change will be a newly founded department directly answering to the minister of Agriculture and tasked with bringing in new investments from international organisations, finding new outlets for marketing and advertisements and working towards vertical integration are among its main responsibilities.
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