October 12, 2012 JORDAN OFFICIALS ASSESS NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY SITUATION Government and Development Community Work

to Prevent Hunger in Jordan ACDI/VOCA and the Jordan National Centre for Research and Development (JNCRD) recently conducted a workshop to assess the nations food security situation. Government officials, academicians and representatives of the development community attended along with Jordans Prince Hassan Bin Talal, who provided insights into the importance of food security in Jordan. This is a vital topic. The workshop was one of the first on food security in Jordan, and it was embraced by the development community as well as the government, said ACDI/VOCAs Noubia Gribi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa region. Food Security in a Desert Country a Vital Topic Jordan is characterized by a scarcity of land and water, and fragmentation of land holdings. According to the UNDP, agriculture contributes only about 3 percent of the GDP, and that percentage is in decline. Even with farmer-oriented incentives and the best farming practices and technology, Jordan will need to continue importing grain. In addition, a subsistence-based model of food security, whereby households could at least meet their own cereal requirements, has limited potential. To add to the challenge, Jordan continues to receive tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, and food security in the camps has become an issue. The World Food Program and other entities are currently helping to meet those needs. UNDP is also on the scene and has asked ACDI/VOCA to help draft a food security strategy. United Front in Preventing Hunger in Jordan The workshop was a collaboration between JNCRD and ACDI/VOCA through its USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program, which has been active in Jordan since November 2009. What is remarkable is that the government and various international entities such as UNDP, IFAD and others have found unanimity in addressing the problem and are working diligently to launch the new food security program, Gribi said. Summary: In Jordan, the diet is mainly based on wheat, rice, vegetables, and foods of animal origin (milk/dairy products, and meat). Dietary diversification has improved and is currently quite high. Over the last decades, there has been a significant increase in the supply of foods of animal origin, vegetable oils and sweeteners, the latter exceeding the upper limit of recommendations. These changes are reflective of the nutritional transition that Jordan has been moving through, most notably in urban areas, where the diet and food consumption habits are shifting towards a westernized style. The dietary energy supply is well above the population energy requirements and the prevalence of undernourishment is at a very low level. This largely desert country has very little arable land and water is a very scarce resource. As a result, local agricultural production is extremely low, except for fruit and vegetables, and the country is heavily dependent on imports for most food commodities. Coupled with rising food prices on global food markets, this dependency raises the question of economic sustainability.