USAID helps the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruit and Vegetables (JEPAFV) better represent Jordanian farmers, exporters, and producers.

The main objective of the USAID-funded KAFA’A project is to improve on-farm water use efficiency and help Jordanian farmers enhance their farming practices by selecting higher value crops and find export opportunities for their products.

During the diagnostic phase of the Education and Information Production (EIP) component of the KAFA’A project, several marketing studies and stakeholder workshops were conducted to determine agricultural export potential and identify weaknesses in the institutional infrastructure that discourage or prevent farmers from exploiting export opportunities. The Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruit and Vegetables (JEPAFV) was found to be widely recognized by other donors as a potential leader in the fruit and vegetable export area. It is a well established private sector organization, whose membership consists of the large scale commercial farmers who have established successful export market linkages.

As a result of JEPAFV’s international marketing network and agribusiness expertise, JEPAFV can provide leadership to improve the economic potential of the entire agricultural sector of the country. However, managerial weaknesses and the lack of a self-sustaining financial mechanism constrain its performance.

In response to the needs identified in the marketing assessments, EIP initiated a series of training workshops on “good agricultural practices” and on European standards for agricultural imports. Participants came from both public and private sector organizations. The purpose of the training was to enhance knowledge of export quality requirements, grades and standards, and the food safety concerns of European consumers on issues such as pesticide residues.

As a first step in preparing JEPAFV to become the private sector market service provider for Jordan, JEPAFV hired a full-time Executive Director. The energy and direction provided by this director, who had experience in the Horticultural Export Promotion and Technology Transfer Project (HEPTT) funded by the World Bank, is proving to be instrumental in achieving this goal.

In addition to the marketing assessments and training workshops, EIP provided a grant to JEPAFV to expand its participation in the bi-annual Sawsana International Exhibition and trade fair. In collaboration with the HEPTT project and EU contacts, JEPAFV members utilized the opportunity presented by the presence of agricultural importers from Europe at the exhibition to sign several lucrative marketing contracts. At the same time, with encouragement from EIP, the Board of Directors of JEPAFV generated several grant funding proposals based on their institutional needs and revised their corporate business plan. In this way, JEPAFV has gained the respect of other donors, who now see it as the institutional nucleus around which to organize export expansion, producer-retailer linkages, and coordination among other national stakeholders related to transportation, input supply, farmer education, and government policy.

An integrated effort is also underway to establish and enforce stricter grading and marketing standards in local markets and to create a Product Conformity Certification for Jordanian produce. Again JEPAFV was called upon for leadership to link Jordanian farmers to foreign market contracts and to provide producers with information on export market demand, post-harvest handling, and appropriate packaging practices.

Although there is still much to be done to improve institutional sustainability, reform in JEPAFV is gaining momentum. Through multi-donor collaboration and support, JEPAFV is beginning to play an important role in adding value to the agricultural sector by serving and representing Jordanian farmers, exporters, and producers.