Baqa’a, June 2 (Petra) — Director General of the National Center for Agricultural Research, Ibrahim Rawashdeh, met with representatives of a Spanish-Jordanian coalition on Sunday to explore opportunities for cooperation in studying the agricultural value chain and improving farmers’ competitiveness.

The visit came as part of the coalition’s work to conduct a specialized study on the central market’s value chain and propose improvements to enhance the competitiveness of farmers, particularly in the horticultural crops sector. The coalition comprises the Spanish company ACCIONA and the Jordanian firm Ivvest.

Discussions focused on adopting an integrated systems approach to analyze the central market framework and identify interventions to support farmers more effectively.

Rawashdeh underlined the importance of considering the shelf life of agricultural produce during transportation and storage, noting the need to improve sorting and grading processes to raise product quality and competitiveness.

He also highlighted the necessity of rigorous laboratory testing to ensure the safety of agricultural products. Pesticide residue tests are conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture’s laboratories, while microbiological and water quality analyses are carried out at the National Center through its specialized labs.

Rawashdeh emphasized the need to integrate smallholder farmers into value chain development strategies and to adopt better post-harvest practices to reduce waste and increase the market value of produce.

//Petra// AJ
02/06/2025 15:38:24