Jordan: Water Scarcity: Difference between revisions

Between 1953 and 1986, the government promoted agriculture production that it thought would align with the soil and water available. However, farmers preferred to grow crops with greater commercial potential, and this led to depleted water resources and soil quality. There was an overreliance on thirsty tree crops irrigated by flooding with open canals highly susceptible to evaporation in such an arid climate; most the land was used to grow vegetables (54% of land area, 99.8% irrigated) or permanent fruit tree crops (33% of land area, 99.2% irrigated) (average numbers between 1994 and 2008). <ref name=”Kubursi” /> As one would expect from these figures, much of the estimated cultivatable land in Jordan is located outside the zone of sufficient rainfall for rain-fed agriculture. Moreover, the land area that does receive sufficient rainfall for growing food crops is decreasing as climate change renders rain patterns more unreliable and urban expansion increases (Ammam, for example, covers some of the best rain-led land in the country). And as noted already, irrigation methods tend to be highly inefficient and wasteful due to the continued use of traditional flood irrigation systems rather than modern drip and sprinkler systems.