Agriculture Minister Reviews ARDI Project Achievements, Discusses 2025 Plan

(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)

Amman, Dec. 31 (Petra) – Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Hneifat, held a meeting on Tuesday with the Steering Committee of the ARDI (My Land) Project to review its 2024 achievements and discuss the project's action plan for 2025.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the ministries of Planning, Finance, Labor, and Environment, as well as the Jordan Valley Authority, the Vocational and Technical Skills Development Commission, the National Center for Agricultural Research, the Agricultural Credit Corporation, the Agricultural Engineers Association, and the Jordanian Farmers Union.
During the meeting, Hneifat noted that the project had exceeded its targets, achieving 116% in water harvesting initiatives and 106% in water harvesting in the Badia region. Additionally, the project registered 45,000 farmers in the farmers' registry, trained 1,000 farmers through field schools on climate-smart practices, and completed an adoption evaluation study of climate-smart pathways among farmers.
He highlighted that the project developed mechanisms for providing subsidized loans for water-efficient agricultural projects and supported export-oriented agricultural initiatives through agricultural alliances. Regarding agricultural product traceability, the project conducted a study on the legal and procedural frameworks required to establish a national traceability program. The project also trained 2,000 unemployed individuals in agricultural skills aligned with job requirements, providing them with professional practice certificates from the Vocational and Technical Skills Development Commission.
Hneifat emphasized the importance of the 2025 action plan for the ARDI Project, which includes increasing the budget for water harvesting, doubling the number of water collection wells in the Badia, and focusing on cooperative societies, particularly in e-marketing and developing rural products.
He also stressed the importance of targeting women-led cooperatives, implementing epidemiological surveys for foot-and-mouth disease, linking vaccination programs, and incorporating virtual reality in agricultural extension training. The plan also involves launching the national agricultural extension platform and continuing the training program for unemployed individuals in professions aligned with job opportunities.
The 2025 plan aims to expand the project's scope to meet the agricultural sector's priorities, focusing on helping farmers adapt to climate change. Specific targets include increasing the capacity of water collection wells from 450,000 cubic meters to 870,000 cubic meters, increasing water harvesting in the Badia from 10 million cubic meters to 15.3 million cubic meters, expanding the number of farmers benefiting from loans for water-efficient agricultural technologies from 1,400 to 1,860, and increasing the number of farmers trained through virtual training to 2,000.
Hneifat underlined the need to focus on cooperatives by finding funding sources for the Cooperative Development Fund, supporting 10 cooperatives in e-marketing, 12 agricultural alliances in post-harvest technologies for export crops, and 35 cooperatives in rural development and women's empowerment, particularly cooperatives producing rural products. He noted that the estimated cost of expanding the "ARDI" project is $108 million.
Mahmoud Al-Rabie, Director of the Project Implementation Unit at the Ministry of Agriculture, reviewed the achievements of projects funded by the World Bank. These included equipping veterinary hospitals in the northern and southern regions, developing agricultural stations, and integrating mechanization into their operations.
He added that 200 employees were trained in English language skills, and 50 employees received training in environmental assessment and occupational health and safety. A database for agricultural projects was established, and the agricultural directorates in governorates and districts were provided with computers and photocopiers to operate project databases and digital maps for water harvesting in the Badia. Additionally, diagnostic equipment for foot-and-mouth disease virus strains was purchased, and a national agricultural extension platform was launched to enhance farmers' communication with advisors and researchers. The seed laboratory at the National Center for Agricultural Research was also funded to support vegetable seed production companies.

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