The Jordanian Minister of Agriculture and the Director-General of ACSAD / Discussions
The Jordanian Minister of Agriculture, Eng. Khalid Al- Hanifat, and the Director-General of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands ACSAD Organization, Dr. Nasr Edin Obaid, have discussed the cooperation affairs between the two sides and the ways to enhance and develop them in various fields related to the agricultural sector, the joint projects, climate change, the precipitation decrease impact, and the most important scientific and practical procedures to deal with crops productivity under the climatical changes.
Both sides also discussed during the meeting, which took place in the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture, expanding the rangelands, the agriculture frames in the drylands, the optimal utilization of saline water, water harvesting, and the treated water in developing the joint projects.
Al- Hanifat confirmed the necessity of developing cooperation methods within the national afforestation project and transferring experiments in the field of water harvesting, especially under the precipitation decrease situation and concentrating on sustainability elements where groundwater will be excluded because of its importance and scarcity and the tendency to invest in recycled water, fossils, and purification plants of the companies within the afforestation project for the desert line.
Al-Hunaifat stressed the importance of benefiting from ACSAD expertise through conservation agriculture, which saves water and provides the higher percentages of production; in addition to find innovative solutions in dealing with the precipitation decrease that reaches some 40% in the south, moreover, the water harvesting programs and a number of joint projects.
In his turn, Dr. Nasr Edin Obaid confirmed the importance of completed cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture in all fields that serves the agricultural sector and support the success of water harvesting and national afforestation axes. He emphasized ACSAD ‘s readiness to provide expertise and consultation to contribute to the studies and research in improving sustainable agriculture programs, particularly in the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and generally in the Arab region.
