Farming in the - WordPress.com

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Analysis of the agricultural situation in Azraq Basin
German-Jordanian Programme “Management of Water Resources”
The main income for the family often
comes from the farm. Some owners
receive a retirement pension or have
a child sending money. The household
sometimes lives below the poverty
line 48 . For some families salt production
is still a complementary income.
Income of the farm is not important
for the owner, who has another
source of income (e.g., a shop in
Azraq, a small business like a
transportation company...).
Remark
Representativeness
of our sample
Some farms have been abandoned due to changes in water tariffs (in South
Azraq); the future of some farms is threatened (Al Aoshaq, Ain El Beda) due
to high price of diesel (but electricity is coming), the added cost of water,
or because farm are affected by the water level drop.
There is a growing problem of land division due to inheritance: some farm
shares are abandoned when family members cannot reach an agreement,
therefore land is progressively divided.
15 out of the 36 surveyed farms in Azraq belong to this type (42%), which
would mean that 250 farms in Azraq belong to this category. It is representative
of the reality, as there are many small farms in South Azraq, Al Ratami,
Al Aoshaq. In total, it would represent 11% of irrigated agricultural land in
Azraq 49 .
5.1.2. Specialised
Professional investors:
Most of these farms were created
in the 1990s and planted with
olive trees, some also planted fruit
trees but were not successful: in
the 2000s, some planted grapes to
diversify; while only 3 years ago,
some farms started to plant alfalfa.
It is not combined with livestock.
The oldest farms are in Al Aoshaq,
few in Ain el Beda, while the more
recent farms are in Um al Masael.
Farms extend to the maximum
area that can be irrigated by the
well(s). Many farms still don’t have
legal land and/or well. Many are
in the process of legalisation as
a prerequisite to be connected to
the electricity network. They are
managed by a full time manager,
mainly of Egyptian origin. Some
have good technical knowledge.
48 Poverty is described as the percent of the population living on less than $2.15 a day at 1993 international
prices (Development Data Group, The World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators 2002).
49 According to MoA (data 2010), the total cultivated land under irrigation in Azraq is 88,028du.