Jordan Valley farmers ‘exhausted’ from mounting debt crisis —Union leader

AMMAN — Jordan Valley farmers are calling on authorities to postpone agricultural loan installments due to mounting losses, which have accrued over the course of the last several agricultural seasons.

Jordan’s farmers are suffering from seasonal losses due to climate-change-induced weather disruptions. The length of the rainy season in Jordan has changed, as has the quantity of rainfall that helps water seasonal produce. Farmers also report sharp decreases in the amount of rainwater harvested. 

Compounding the dramatic changes in rain patterns are temperature extremes, ranging from severe cold and frost during the winter and unprecedented heat waves during the summer.

 “It is estimated that over 13,000 Jordan Valley farmer are stuck in debt and will be sued for their inability to pay off their debt,” Adnan Khaddam, president of Jordan Valley Farmers Union, told The Jordan Times. 

Farmers are “exhausted”, Khaddam added, noting that this year in particular, farmers suffered from horrific losses due to a sharp decrease in prices. 

Meanwhile, consumers beg to differ, claiming that this winter, the prices of fruits and vegetables were significantly higher than usual. 

According to Khaddam, the majority of the profits from produce sales go to retailers. 

“Retailers are the ones who benefit from the increase in production, but don’t reflect the reduced prices on the final price that the consumer pays,” Khaddam noted. 

“We are calling on the Agricultural Credit Corporation to postpone all installments for farmers due to the difficult financial conditions they are suffering,” Khaddam said. 

Farmer’s indebtedness has become a new challenge, in addition to many existing challenges such as marketing costs, high production costs, energy costs, water scarcity and many other obstacles that push the sector towards a “dead-end”, he said.

“The agricultural sector in the Jordan Valley has reached a dangerous and pivotal point,” Khaddam added. 

Farmers are lost, facing a choice between continuing to produce and incur losses, securing their loan installments or providing a living for their children.  

Khaddam urged authorities to take proper and timely measures to prevent the agricultural sector from falling apart, and to keep farmers “alive”. 

“Authorities are turning a blind eye on Jordan Valley farmers,” farmer Ahmad Furat told The Jordan Times. 

Furat added that increasing production costs, low selling prices, accompanied by debt installments, are a difficult combination, putting farmers on the edge of solvency. 

 “Change in rain patterns, extreme weather and water scarcity are bringing in more challenges for Jordan Valley farmers,” Furat said. 

The current situation is “forcing many to quit and stay home wait for social development aid”, the farmer added.