Ahmed Dawood refers to the agricultural land that came to inspect its yield of tomatoes, and the fruits died before ripening due to the scarcity of water, saying: “Look how it died from extreme thirst, we lost almost everything this season.”
In one of the wateriest countries in the world, David stands on a cracked land with white spots on its soil. “If there were water, these tomatoes would be this size,” said a Jordanian-born Pakistani farmer (25 years old), who speaks fluent Arabic, to Agence France-Presse, opening his fist.
The young man, who wore jeans and a shirt and wrapped his head with a piece of cloth to protect from the sun, tells how his parents arrived in Jordan in 1976, and they are part of a community of 3,200 Pakistanis who began moving to the Kingdom since the 1960s, on the way back from performing the Hajj to Mecca.
Ahmed rents his 50 dunums (five hectares) of land from its Jordanian owners in the modern valley, south of the Dead Sea, about 80 km southwest of Amman, in an area rich in vegetable and fruit farms. But this year’s drought is a real scourge.
“Every year we suffer from the problem of water shortage, but this year things are worse. The water comes two or three times a week, and it is very weak, so we cannot water our crops or fill our tanks,” he says.
All farmers in the modern Ghor suffer the same problem. Due to drought, hollows form in the area, pits appear, and the soil collapses under the feet of farmers tilling their land by hand due to poor soil.
On a nearby farm, Ibrahim Daghimat (43 years) sat in a blue pickup truck, to protect himself from the sun’s rays, as he watched eight girls harvesting green beans.
Daghimat says, “My land is 90 dunums of land planted with pepper, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, flower and cabbage, about 60 dunums of which I have not benefited from anything. I do not even own the wages of workers, while the state did not compensate us with anything ».
A 5-month crop .. This will be added to the problem of drought, the price of selling vegetables has decreased dramatically, with Jordan’s exports of fruits and vegetables declining by 20% last year, due to the closure of borders and the shortage of customers such as hotels or restaurants, which suffer due to the restrictions imposed by the “Covid-19 pandemic ».
“This is the crop of five months of fatigue, effort and exhaustion,” David confirms with sorrow, lifting a stump full of unripe green tomatoes with his hand. In two weeks, we will have to raise and burn it to prepare the ground for the next season. ”
Daoud works on the farm with four of his brothers and their children, who are estimated at 30 people who live in miserable makeshift homes near the farm, called “Larache,” which are made of wooden or iron structures and are clad with thick plastic.
“This is not my problem alone,” he says, “The same applies to the lands of four of my uncles and uncles, each of whom planted 50 dunums of tomatoes, onions and melons, most of which were damaged due to the heat and lack of water.”
Near these farms, the Dead Sea, which is threatened with drought, has lost a third of its surface area since 1960, and its water level is dropping at a rate of one meter per year.
Jordan, which makes up 80% of its land in the desert, has long suffered from water shortages.
“This year, our water situation will be critical and difficult,” Omar Salama, spokesman for the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, confirmed to AFP.
According to Salameh, “the annual per capita share of water decreased from 3,400 cubic meters in 1946 to less than 100 cubic meters now, due to reduced rainfall, climate changes, population growth, and successive refugee crises.”
He explains that «the amount of rain that fell this year amounted to about 4.5 billion cubic meters, not exceeding 50% of the rain that fell last year, and 60% of the annual rainfall. He continues, “As a result, the storage of water from the three dams designated for drinking purposes decreased by 80 million cubic meters compared to last year.”
He confirms that “the quantities of water that Jordan needs annually for all uses are estimated at 1.3 billion cubic meters, but the available amount ranges between 850 and 900 million cubic meters.”
In total, Jordan will suffer a shortage of 40 million cubic meters of water intended for drinking purposes this summer. And he calls for the safety of the population to “rationalize their consumption and not to waste.”
According to experts, Jordan is going through one of the most severe droughts in its history, while “the worst is yet to come.” Rainfall may fall by nearly a third by the year 2100, while the average temperature is expected to increase by 4.5 degrees.
In order to cope with the water shortage, Jordan asked Israel last month to supply it with an additional 8 million cubic meters of water. He normally gets 55 million cubic meters of water from Israel annually.
An Israeli source clarified that Israel will provide the kingdom this year with an additional “three million cubic meters”.
As for the environmental projects coordinator at the United Nations Development Program in Jordan, Sami Tarabay, he said, “It is necessary to search for solutions at the regional and international levels, especially since Jordan is a country that is affected more than it affects the issue of climate change in terms of rates of greenhouse gas emissions.”
And stresses the importance of increasing Jordan’s share in financing to face the consequences of climate change, establishing “joint water basins with neighboring countries, and regional cooperation in establishing a climate database, to be the basis for activating an early warning system for climate risks.”
The quantities of water Jordan needs annually for all uses are estimated at 1.3 billion cubic meters, but the available water ranges between 850 and 900 million cubic meters.
The amount of rain that fell this year amounted to about 4.5 billion cubic meters, not exceeding 50% of the rain that fell last year, and 60% of the annual average.
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