Princess Basma Bint Ali inaugurates Smart DESERT Company

AMMAN — Under the patronage of HRH Princess Basma Bint Ali, the Smart DESERT Company was inaugurated on Wednesday at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC). 

The event was attended by the French Ambassador, Alexis Le Cour Grandmaison, the Head of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Jordan, in addition to representatives from the Jordanian Government, the international and Arab organisations, civil society, farmers, the private sector and representatives from the local community, according to a statement made available to The Jordan Times. 

The Smart DESERT Company is a non-profit company established with funds from AFD to economically empower farmers and home-based business owners by marketing their crops and products, linking them with local and global markets and providing them with technical advice.

During the event, the company signed partnership agreements with the Hashemite Fund for the Development of Jordan Badia, Al Sarhan Municipality, Dar Abu Abdullah, The Jordanian-Palestinian Agricultural Marketing Company, the Mafraq Development Corporation and the National Agricultural Research Centre, to connect farmers and home-based business owners with local and global markets by purchasing, packaging, marketing, storing and delivering their products to customers, which will improve their year-round sustainable income generation.

Ali Hayajneh, project manager from IUCN, said: “Two of the most important challenges facing the agricultural sector in Jordan are marketing the crops and products of small farmers and price fluctuations. The Smart DESERT project company will sign off-take agreements with farmers and project beneficiaries with medium and large market buyers in addition to guiding them on best practices to remotely controlling farm conditions.  

Thabet Haswa, director of Smart DESERT Company, said: “Agricultural production plans begin with studying the local and regional markets to support the farmers in proper planning, which should lead to year-round income generation. The Company will increase agricultural diversity by marketing less traditional, high-value, crops and meeting consumer trends. Today, we signed several agreements that will initiate agricultural projects aimed at serving local communities, realising the vision of His Majesty vision and the goals of the Smart DESERT Project.”

The Smart DESERT Project is funded by the Minka Peace and Resilience Fund, dedicated to reducing vulnerabilities and long-term effects of the Syrian refugee crisis in host countries. The Government of France, through the AFD, allocated a 10 million euro grant to the Smart DESERT Project.

The Smart DESERT project aims at creating a paradigm shift in the agricultural sector in Jordan by improving the regularity of the Jordanian and Syrian beneficiaries’ income throughout the year in the North-East Badia Highlands through the diversification of production, the adoption of better farming practices and support for employment. 

The project also aims to support the improvement of working conditions for agricultural workers and will focus on smart farming, efficient irrigation, proper crop selection, use of non-conventional water resources and meeting market requirements. 

The project is implemented by IUCN in partnership with Blumont, Horizons for Green Development, Greentech, and Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management. 

The Smart DESERT Project will reach young entrepreneurs and trainees through direct and indirect capacity-building programmes, and support 500 agricultural home based businesses and 200 farms in the North-Eastern Badia Highlands.