Food Security Strategy 2014.

This Food Security Strategy is a 5-year nationwide sectoral document aiming at (i) enhancing the availability of food by improving local agricultural production and marketing; (ii) ensuring that families have access to varied foodstuffs at reasonable prices and on a regular basis to improve and sustain good nutritional status; (iii) establishing food and foodstuff monitoring systems covering various sectors, and strengthening national and local capacities in early warning and appropriate response; and (iv) supporting communities in need in the use of innovative and economic safety nets, raising the efficiency of water use and climate adaptation strategies linked to long-term development and achieving food security. The Vision of this Food Security Strategy is to achieve the future food secure for all people in Jordan, with a focus on the most communities suffering from food insecurity.
To help eliminate hunger and food insecurity, the Strategy mainly focuses on improving (i) availability of food; (ii) access to and affordability of food; (iii) food consumption, health, and nutritional status; (iv) reducing marginalized groups and enhancing sustainability. These policy principles will be translated into actions such as (i) guarantee continuity of strategic food reserves safely and effectively; (ii) ensure safe food production; (iii) improve the targeting of subsidized food programs; (iv) break the cycle of malnutrition and infectious diseases; (v) reduce micronutrient deficiency among affected family members of all ages; (vi) ensure pregnant women and newborns with adequate health care and necessary nutritional needs; (vii) integrate plans for adaptation to climate change and desertification with national development plans for human health, leading to improved food security and public health; (viii) promote nutrition education and awareness and strengthen nutrition programs in schools.
In order to make agriculture more productive and sustainable, the document suggests (i) the development of adaptation methods in agricultural practices according to climate changes; and (ii) the use of biotechnology innovations to provide new products and intensify production.
Rural poverty will be faced through (i) the increasing of household purchasing power and improve access to food by improving livelihoods in rural communities; (ii) enabling agricultural activities to improve the livelihood of a rural family; and (iii) improving the ability of insecure and marginalized communities and rural families to resume their lives, during and after natural or man-made disasters.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the Strategy envisages to (i) develop and maintain the infrastructure to increase the efficiency of food markets, especially vegetables and fruits; and (ii) strengthen the programs developed to support rural women and female-headed households.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, main interventions will regard (i) the development of a national emergency plan to reduce the impact of unforeseen emergencies on the livelihoods of vulnerable or less fortunate groups; (ii) the development of national plans to support marginalized groups of the population during emergencies, food price fluctuations, and environmental disasters; and (iii) to conduct research and update issues related to food quality and safety, land degradation, climate change, post-harvest practices, biodiversity, and innovative technologies in producing food promptly.