Hneifat to meet UAE ambassador over reported vegetable ban

AMMAN — Minister of Agriculture Khaled Hneifat and United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Amman Bilal Al Budoor are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the UAE’s “reported” ban on some types of Jordanian vegetables, according to a ministry official.

Hneifat will meet with Budoor to verify reports circulated over the weekend claiming that the Gulf state’s ministry of climate change and environment had banned importing seven types of vegetables from Jordan, ministry’s spokesperson Nimer Haddadin said.

The official stressed that the circumstances and validity of the reported decision were still unclear. He invited technical delegations from the UAE to visit the country and check its laboratories, farms and testing measures of exported fruits and vegetables.

News reports indicated that the ministry of climate change and environment in the UAE had announced a decision to indefinitely ban the import of seven of Jordan’s main vegetable exports as of mid-May.

Information circulated indicated that the reported ban was put in place due to increasing levels of chemical pesticide residues in Jordan’s agricultural products.

The vegetables reportedly banned include all types of zucchini, sweet pepper, eggplant, cabbage, green beans, cauliflower and lettuce.

The UAE’s reported decision also stipulated that imports of any fruit and vegetables, besides the aforementioned, be coupled with certificates from the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture indicating that the produce was free from pesticide remnants.

“We reassure and confirm that the quality of Jordan’s fruits and vegetables is high…, hundreds of tonnes of produce are being exported to Arab and European countries on a daily basis,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times.

Jordan Exporters and Producers Society for Fruits and Vegetables said that the UAE is one of Jordan’s biggest importers of fruits and vegetables, with over 150,000 tonnes of produce exported annually, while the Jordan Valley Farmers Union expressed fears over a possible halt of exports to the UAE, indicating that its market is the agriculture sector’s “last straw of survival”.