Farmers stage sit-in at Agriculture Ministry to highlight demands

Farmers stage sit-in at Agriculture Ministry to highlight demands

AMMAN “” Farmers gathered at the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday to stage a sit-in demanding that government take measures to alleviate their continuing losses, especially since the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

The demands included allowing the hiring of foreign workers in the sector and lowering the fee of foreign worker recruitment from JD520 to the earlier JD120, Najeh Al Karaki, the spokesperson for the sit-in, told The Jordan Times on Sunday over the phone.

They also include cancelling the "peak hours“ and "fuel price difference“ items from the electricity bills and cancelling all taxes on fertilisers' production inputs as well seeds and agricultural chemical products.

Additional demands included reducing fees imposed on agricultural exports to 25 per cent, at JD2.5 per tonne, and 50 per cent in the central market, at JD5 per tonne.

"Four members of parliament intervened and we had a meeting with the minister of agriculture that was very fruitful, and we will meet again tomorrow at 9am to discuss the problems of the sector with the ministers of agriculture, water, labour and industry, trade and supply, and possibly the manager of the central markets in Amman,“ Karaki said.

Farmers have suffered through the coronavirus crisis, notably "The Dragon“ storm