AMMAN (Source: Raed Omari Jordan Times (MCT)- — Local businessmen are encouraged to enter joint ventures with their Russian counterparts and avail of the abundant opportunities for investment in wheat cultivation in Russia, an agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.
Ministry of Agriculture Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin told The Jordan Times yesterday that the ministry had received a letter of approval from the Russian authorities for Jordan’s request to invest in wheat cultivation in Russia, a water-rich country with ample quantities of arable land.
He added that the approval letter came as the result of meetings former minister of state and minister of agriculture Samir Habashneh had held with representatives of the private sector in Moscow, who expressed willingness to enter joint ventures with Jordanians in wheat cultivation.
In October 2011, Habashneh and other ministry officials met with their counterparts from Romania, Russia, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan to discuss acquiring pieces of land to be developed for wheat cultivation by Jordanian investors.
“The projected wheat cultivation investments in Russia will be solely implemented by the private sector,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times over the phone yesterday, adding that “the ministry will soon meet with Jordanian businessmen to educate them on the venture and the opportunities for investment in wheat cultivation in Russia”.
In addition, Haddadin noted that there is an intention to establish a joint Jordanian-Russian firm that will be run by the private sectors in the two countries and supervised by the agriculture ministry.
“The anticipated investments will be implemented in the southern territories of Russia, largely around the city of Sochi on the Black Sea — Russia’s largest transport hub,” he said.
As a result of the insufficiency of local wheat production and the unsuitability of the Kingdom’s environment for growing the staple crop, mainly due to the severe lack of water resources, Jordan imports over 90 per cent of its wheat needs from the US, Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, he said.
Haddadin added that Jordan’s major exports to Russia are vegetables, olive oil and dates.
Earlier this week, the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruits and Vegetables said the Russian authorities had agreed to exempt Jordanian agricultural exports from customs fees by 25 per cent in the summer and 100 per cent in the winter.
When the agriculture ministry started negotiating with officials from several European and Central Asian countries to allow Jordanian businesses to invest in wheat cultivation in October last year, Jordan Agriculture Engineers Association President Abdul Hadi Falahat questioned the feasibility of the projected investments, saying: “Even if they are implemented, they will not yield the envisioned results.”
“Such projects will be implemented by businessmen and thus will be governed by the market mentality that is primarily focused on increasing profits and not achieving food and social security,” Falahat said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.
He explained that Jordan is far from achieving self-sufficiency in wheat production due to the severe lack of water resources and the shrinking of agricultural lands due to the expansion of urbanisation and infrastructure development activities, but it can at least increase its production of the strategic produce to reach reasonable levels.
He noted that Jordan can increase its production of wheat by giving farmers in the Jordan Valley and Disi region, where water resources are plentiful, incentives to cultivate wheat and drafting a law that regulates the use of agricultural land.
According to the Department of Statistics, Jordan produces around 5 per cent of its needs of wheat while the rest is imported from other countries, mainly the US.
The Kingdom imported 98 per cent of its wheat needs in 2009 and 96 per cent in 2010.
___
©2012 the Jordan Times (Amman, Jordan)
Visit the Jordan Times (Amman, Jordan) at www.jordantimes.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Source: Raed Omari Jordan Times (MCT)
