Final US shipment wheat grant arrives in Aqaba

AMMAN – Ambassador Alice G. Wells has joined Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Ali in welcoming the arrival at the Port of Aqaba of the second and final wheat delivery of 47,500 metric tonnes through the US Department of Agriculture’s Food for Progress Programme. 

The first shipment arrived in February to complete the donation valued at $25.1 million from the US to Jordan, a statement from the US embassy in Amman said.

The government will use the proceeds from the wheat’s monetisation to undertake a number of agricultural and irrigation projects aimed at improving agricultural productivity and stimulating economic growth, said the statement, which was e-mailed to The Jordan Times on Saturday, adding the projects are expected to increase agricultural yields and expand Jordan’s agricultural exports.

The assistance comes in addition to the over $1.6 billion in bilateral assistance allocated for Jordan in 2016, the embassy said, indicating that the recent shipment is the third US wheat grant in the past five years, following a 2011 grant valued at $19 million and a 2012 grant valued at $17 million. The US Food for Progress Programme helps developing countries and emerging democracies modernise and strengthen their agricultural sectors, according to the statement.

Jordan imports over 96 per cent of its wheat needs as domestic production covers only around 4 per cent of demand.

In 2014, Jordan imported over 1 million tonnes of wheat at a cost of more than $294 million, and imported 750,000 tonnes of barley at a cost of around $193 million.