Agriculture Sector Green Growth Action National Action Plan 2021-2025 (GG-NAP).

This Green Growth National Action Plan (GG-NAP) for the agriculture sector is a part of the Jordanian agenda, including five other Action Plans, aiming at implementing the National Green Growth Plan (NGGP) in the main six green growth sectors (the others are Energy, Tourism, Transport, Water, and Waste). This GG-NAP identifies 17 sector sub-objectives that serve to mainstream the overarching green growth objectives into agriculture sector policies and investments, taking into consideration the close linkage between the agriculture sector and the other sectors. In particular, the five national green growth objectives (1. Enhanced Natural Capital; 2. Sustainable Economic Growth; 3. Social Development and Poverty Reduction; 4. Resource Efficiency; and 5. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation) are translated into the following 17 sector sub-objectives (i) reduce air, soil and water pollution resulting from agriculture and food production processes; (ii) increase the area of degraded lands for restoration in the rangelands ecosystem; (iii) protect the area of forested land and increase the rate of afforestation and reforestation; (iv) increase transparency and the use of evidence-informed decision making by public and private sector agriculture stakeholders; (v) improve the quantity and quality of agricultural product such that it is in line with international standards; (vi) enhance the quantity and quality of public-private-civil society exchange; (vii) increase public and private investment in technology and systems for modernizing and greening farm agricultural processes; (viii) improve the skills and capacity of farmers, rural communities, youth and women to undertake sustainable agriculture; (ix) increase remunerative and socially inclusive rural employment by supporting vulnerable members of society; (x) reduce the impact of environmental and economic shocks on the most vulnerable members of society (particularly farmers, women, youth, and rural communities); (xi) increase the practice of water re-use of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes; (xii) increase the amount of agriculture sector’s waste biomass used as a resource; (xiii) increase use of resource efficient technology to reduce consumption and cost of water, energy, and waste management on farms and in agro-processing; (xiv) increase use of high-yield, drought and salinity-resistant plant varieties; (xv) develop and implement policy and fiscal tools that encourage the take-up of adaptive techniques and technologies; (xvi) introduce the concept of climate smart agriculture on farms; and (xvii) increase carbon sequestration capacity of Jordan’s land and forest.
To make agriculture and forestry more productive and sustainable, the Action Plan aims to (i) increase the quantity and quality of agricultural extension services and explore the options for expanding access to extension services; (ii) increase effectiveness of agricultural research and innovation activities thorugh a research agenda linked to policy objectives, together with a stronger leadership to coordinate stakeholders toward specific objectives; (iii) undertake reforms to improve access to finance for small farmers; (iv) promote technically reliable, economically competitive, clean, and sustainable irrigation technology; (v) develop a flexible crop planning and variety selection methodology; (vi) empower decision makers in the MoAg with the necessary data and analysis to better organize and enforce agricultural production; (vii) increase the crop-per-drop efficiency of water used; (viii) improve resource efficiency in agricultural subsectors, starting with the olive and oil production sectors; (ix) scale up investments in soilless agriculture, specifically hydro and aquaponics; and (x) bring communities and the private sector together to identify the barriers, challenges, and investment opportunities to afforestation.
In order to enhance more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, main actions will be directed to (i) improve the olive value chain, and enhance Jordan’s market share of the international olive and olive oil market; (ii) develop a long-term agriculture sector market development strategy and action plan; (iii) establish a market intelligence system to capture full knowledge of the requirements of foreign markets; (iv) increase the value-added of agricultural products; (v) improve quality control, food safety, and hygiene of fruits and vegetables grown by increasing the quality of facilities to check the quality of products and its packaging to increase the products' value chain; and (vi) promote the market’s development by learning about organic agriculture from regional and international experts, and support the development of the market by coordinating and including producers in the process of certification and marketing of organic produce.
The increasing of livelihoods to disasters shall be faced through (i) upgrading technologies to become more resilient to climate change and reduce the vulnerability to climate change of the agricultural system; (ii) establishing a more effective mechanism for farmers to be protected from the impacts of climate change and other natural hazards, also establishing an agricultural insurance company; (iii) reducing desertification through the restoration of degraded ecosystems in rangelands and forests, and establishment of new man-made forests; (iv) enhancing biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services; and (v) supporting rural green growth and employment through ecosystems restoration reintroducing native plant and animal species while emphasizing the significance of the relationship between local communities, the land, livestock, and water resources.
As for Governance, it will be required to (i) strengthen agriculture sector governance by building a shared understanding and vision for green growth among sector stakeholders through building the capacity of government decision-makers to apply evidence-informed decision making; (ii) include the private sector and civil society actors in decision making; (iii) improve stakeholders' awareness of data for making informed decisions around sustainability and environmental, social and economic co-benefits and their ability to utilize this data in the various decision-making processes.