Salt, Her Highness Princess Basma bint Ali, chairperson of the board of trustees of the Hashemite Fund for the Development of the Jordan Badia (HFDJB) and Head of the Royal Botanical Garden, on Thursday attended Food Security in Jordan: Reality and Future Vision Conference held at Al-Ahliyya Amman University (AAU).
Her Highness also inaugurated AAU’s building of College of Agricultural Technology, which offers a smart and innovative program to grant a bachelor’s degree in agricultural biotechnology and genetic engineering.
Speaking at the event, AAU’s Dean of Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Dr. Reda Khawaldeh, referred to Jordan as a developing country that suffers from various environmental and economic challenges, such as water scarcity, climate changes, and high freight costs, which contribute to food security crisis.
Khawaldeh said pillars presented by His Majesty King Abdullah II in 2020 Borlaug Dialogue are a roadmap to guide global countries to confront crises and their impact on food security.
In this regard, he referred to launching the National Strategy for Food Security and its implementation plan , which led to institutionalizing food security in Jordan.
This step was reflected in advancing Jordan’s performance on the Global Food Security Index, as it ranked 47 globally, jumping from its 62th place before 2021, he said.
The strategy’s priorities sought to adopt 2021 as the year to meet food-related challenges, he said, adding that Jordan’s second bicentennial is hoped to make the Kingdom a regional and strategic center, in terms of providing logistical services, storage and agricultural production, irrigation systems and transfer of modern technologies.
For his part, Deputy Head of the National Center for Security and Crisis Management (NCSCM), Brig. Gen. Hatem Zoubi, said the center is in charge of issuing early warning on the required current strategic and basic commodities and forecast supply chains related to strategic stocks.
He noted a constantly updated dashboard is in place on Jordan’s food situation to ensure related security.
Source: Jordan News Agency