Jordan’s youth use innovation to ensure national food security
“We are trying to create a real life ‘Farmville’ in Jordan to ensure food security for all,” said Yousef Wadi, the founder of Nestrom, an end-to-end platform that connects agricultural producers to tech experts with the aim of developing smart farming in the Kingdom.
Wadi is one of many local entrepreneurs who have implemented innovative strategies to ensure a more sustainable supply of food commodities in a country that still maintains some pockets of food insecurity despite its high status in the Human Development Index.
While notable improvements in the citizens’ access to food have been achieved due to joint efforts by the government, UN agencies and local NGOs, Jordan still remains 55th out of 113 countries in the world in the global food security index 2017.
The presence of some 1.4 million refugees on the Jordanian soil has strained even further the already scarce water and food resources. Moreover, the recurrent drought, urbanisation and desertification have made agricultural production insufficient, forcing Jordan to import for ensuring sufficient food supply, according to a recent survey by REACH and WFP.
Despite plans to address the influx of refugees, such as Jordan’s National Resilience Plan and Response Plan, national social protection strategies lack food security as a core component in their design and result frameworks, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation recently indicated.
To counter these challenges, Wadi founded Nestrom about a year ago, aiming to use technology to help Jordanian farmers enhance their production by tracing the agricultural produce from the day it is seeded up until it enters the market.
Read the full article by Camille Dupire via The Jordan Times.
[Photo by Dale Gillard | via Wikipedia]
