Amman: Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC), Khaled Hneifat, approved the allocation of JD5 million from the 2025 lending plan to the Rural Financing Program. The program targets residents of Jordan's rural areas, desert, and impoverished communities, aiming to propel development in those regions and create permanent job opportunities.

According to Jordan News Agency, the decision was made within the framework of the Economic Modernization Vision and the National Plan for Sustainable Agriculture and the axis of rural development, with goals to empower women and develop ways to market agricultural products. Hneifat stated that the program aims to enhance the quality of projects designed to provide local employment opportunities, secure appropriate profits, and open marketing outlets and services for agricultural activities.

The program focuses on unemployed women and youth in Jordan's rural and desert areas. The financing volume will be JD10,000 with an interest rate of 2.5%. Hneifat highlighted that the projects primarily target olive products, grain, palm dates, and the establishment of outlets to sell and market vegetable and fruit products, as well as specialized bakeries.

Additionally, the projects aim at production kitchens, the manufacturing of scented candles, and wooden, stone, and pottery antiques. They also focus on chocolate and ice cream production that relies on agricultural products, he pointed out. The minister emphasized that the projects also seek to manufacture, recycle, and market agricultural waste while promoting livestock and poultry products.

Furthermore, the initiatives target the manufacturing of production inputs used in the Kingdom's agricultural industry in its various forms.