AMMAN - Income-generating projects worth JD4 million will be implemented in three poverty pockets in the Kingdom under a food security programme unveiled on Wednesday by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Launched yesterday by Minister of State and Minister of Agriculture Samir Habashneh, the three-year programme, which is part of the 2011-2016 National Strategy for Food Security, aims at upgrading the living conditions of families.
In a press conference yesterday, Habashneh said the JD4 million programme will be funded by several international agencies including the United Nations Development Programme and the World Food Programme.
It will be implemented by the agriculture ministry in cooperation with the ministries of industry and trade, health and education, as well as the Jordan Investment Board and the Department of Statistics.
The minister added that the programme will be implemented in Taybeh District in the northern region, Southern Shuneh District in the central region and Ayel in Maan Governorate.
In addition, Habashneh indicated that the entire programme will be implemented by specialised teams from the ministry in cooperation with local societies from the targeted areas.
He noted that a study on the needs of the three poverty pockets has already been prepared and the families who will receive the fund will be chosen soon.
"All the money will be spent on the chosen areas with nothing going as salaries and payments to supervisors and other support teams, because the programme will be implemented by employees from the ministry," the minister said.
"The programme constitutes a challenge on how to use money wisely to systemically eliminate poverty and unemployment," he added.
The project is part of the government's efforts to combat poverty and unemployment, Habashneh said, explaining that Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit recently formed a higher committee to follow up on issues related to food security, poverty and unemployment.
"The government's efforts to decrease poverty and unemployment rates have gone through ups and downs because there have been several organisations working on this with no well-defined agendas," he said.
"From now on, any project that seeks to curb poverty and unemployment has to be supervised by the recently formed committee," the minister stressed.
He explained that the programme announced yesterday and similar ones that will be implemented in other regions aim at reducing people's over-reliance on government support and guiding them, instead, to start income-generating projects of their own.
The minister said one major direct objective of the project is to eliminate "the one-time direct financial support system and replace it with a new one that is built on achieving sustainable development".
Also during the press conference, Ministry of Agriculture Secretary General Radi Tarawneh said the Food and Agriculture Organisation has extended a JD1.5 million loan to the Kingdom, which will be used in similar sustainable development programmes.
© Jordan Times 2011
