Tamar, Israel
On Tuesday the 24th of June, representatives from the Jordanian South Ghor Municipality, Tamar Municipality in Israel and Themar Agricultural Cooperative Society from Jordan in collaboration with EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a “Model Farm”. The Model Farm will serve as a center for cross border knowledge sharing regarding different aspects of crop selection and cultivation practices such as irrigation, fertilization, and plant protection. It will also serve as a venue for cross border training programs that target local farmers and aim at improving the sustainability and profitability of the local agricultural sector in addition to tackling and solving environmental problems such as house flies that pose a health threat to the residents of the region.
The event that was attended by the Israeli Mayor Dov Litvinoff and Jordanian Mayor Ahmed Elouneh in addition to representatives from the Jordanian Ministry of the Environment, took place in the Municipality building of the Tamar Regional Council. The event included a tour at Arava Agricultural Research and Development Center that introduced the participants to the best technologies and agricultural practices implemented.
FoEMEs Jordanian Director Mr. Munqeth Mehyar commended the move towards signing the MoU. He commented that such collaboration will reflect positively on the Jordanian agricultural sector since the Model Farm will function as a center for cross border knowledge sharing to solve pending
environmental problems. He added that the Model Farm will also serve as a training hub for local farmers to allow for the exchange of agricultural best practices which will improve sustainability and profitability of the local agricultural sector.”
In his turn, Mr. Dov Litvinoff emphasized the importance of cooperation in the Peace valley stating that the inhabitants of the valley will benefit greatly.
The MoU is expected to cement the farmer’s commitment in the region for the advancement of the project that will benefit all concerned parties as well as residents of the Southern Dead Sea Area.
This post is contributed by Samar M. Salma, FoEMEs Media Officer, PR & Projects Coordinator at the Amman Office.