By Thameen Kheetan

Traditional agricultural methods are no longer useful for Jordan and other
countries of the region, and new technologies and policies are needed to
feed their increasing populations, according to an international report
discussed in Amman on Wednesday.
"Business as usual is no more an option," according to the International
Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)
report, which was initiated and approved by 59 countries in Johannesburg,
South Africa, in April.

According to IAASTD officials, Jordan is "in the process of signing the
report" as the government is waiting for the final copy to be issued in
December before approval.

"We suppose that states which approved the report will address the
challenges through development projects," IAASTD Coordinator Mustafa
Guellouz told reporters in a press conference yesterday following a
discussion of the report.

IAASTD was formed by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture
Organisation at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
in 2002 to study "productivity and the impact of agricultural activities on
the environment".

The April report evaluates "the point we have reached in utilising
agricultural technology" in Jordan, said Nasri Haddad, a consultant at the
International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, which was
sub-contracted for the part of the assessment that covers the Central and
West Asia and North Africa region.

"Revenues of agriculture are very low" in these countries, Haddad told The
Jordan Times on the sidelines of yesterday's press conference, adding that
new technologies in the field would help "give farmers a fair share of their
production and sustain resources at the same time".

Haddad cited biotechnology and genetic engineering as examples of possible
technologies farmers could implement.

"For example, you need technologies to face climate change, so you can use
genetic modification to produce plants that can cope with climate change."

"But technology alone is not enough," noted the university professor,
explaining that it should be accompanied with an "enabling policy
environment" in order to cope with a worldwide food crisis.

According to National Centre for Research and Agricultural Extension
Director Faisal Awawdeh, the IAASTD report is "absolutely useful" for
Jordan. He pointed out that the report's options were "general" and each
country could benefit from it according to its own particularity.

"When you talk about water deficit and climate change, you are tackling
inherent aspects of the Jordanian situation," he told The Jordan Times
yesterday.

However, Awawdeh said the Kingdom still needed "laboratories and cooperation
with universities" as well as funding in order to introduce genetic
engineering, noting that biotechnology such as DNA fingerprinting was
already utilised in Jordan.

Muna Hindeyeh, one of the authors of the report, lauded governmental
measures regarding the water deficit, but expressed her pessimism, noting
that "we are still in real trouble" in the Kingdom, which is classified as
one of 10 poorest countries in terms of water.

Meanwhile, IAASTD Director Bob Watson sounded a note of caution, warning
that "more environmental degradation" is expected if agricultural business
continued as usual.

In a documentary screened at yesterday's event, he said this would lead to a
"world nobody would want to inhabit"
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