Community Participation

We want to thank all of the farmers, community group leaders and civil servants who have come to the farm to welcome us and to offer their assistance.  We have been advised, provided with discounted services and warmly welcomed by the South Shuna agricultural community over the last two months.  To be honest, we could not have accomplished what we have accomplished without the support of our neighbors. 

As an example, yesterday we were discussing our need for some higher quality early season water for planting (lower salinity water needed to establish a crop is very hard to acquire until winter because everyone needs all of the water that they can get in the heat of summer) and our neighbor said, "consider your problem taken care of, I will make a connection and fill your tank tomorrow" and he requested about half the going rate for that kind of water.  This was a very significant act of generosity on his part. 

The people around us seem genuinely interested in what we are doing and we often have visitors and groups of people who come by to introduce themselves and ask about our work.  When they find out that we are farming some new crops and that the proceeds of our work go to shared community infrastructure projects, we see lots of smiles.

A Week of Transformation

This will be a week of transformation for the AC4D trial and demo farm.  We will go from being a well prepared piece of land to a working farm in a matter of days.  Water is being pumped into our storage tank, driplines are being laid, first crops planted and with the go ahead from our partners at the Australian Embassy - greenhouses will be set up.  We will also begin solar soil sterilization on the plots where our greenhouses will stand.  This is slated to be the hottest week on record in Jordan so the whole Jordan Valley agricultural community is hoping for early season rains to get moisture back into the soil after early season plowing. 

The platform for our water pump and inorganic fertilization system.

Drip Irrigation System Assembly

Over the last two days we received delivery of the materials needed to assemble our drip irrigation system.  Today we are assembling the system.  A line of 90mm main is laid out down the center of our southern fields and smaller pipes are connected at 30 meter intervals to distribute water evenly over the whole field.  Within the next few days drip hoses and organic fertilizer will be added to the fields so that planting can begin for our early season eggplant.  We also received delivery of our water pump and are preparing to hook it into our pipe system as soon as our first water is delivered this week.

Suleiman, our foreman, is measuring lengths of pipe to ensure even water distribution across the southern field. 

  

Organic Fertilization

Fertilization is a key part of successful farm production.  Thanks to great connections AC4D was able to get several tons of chicken droppings at a heavily discounted price.  When our drip system is assembled we will add manure directly over each line of vegetables and cover both the drip line and the manure with plastic sheeting to reduce evaporation from the soil.  This "closed system" approach ensures the maximum amount of crop-per-drop of irrigation water and magnifies the effectiveness of our organic fertilizer by keeping it directly on top of the plants root systems.   Farming in this way cuts waste, both in terms of water and fertilizer, to an absolute minimum.  The only way to further intensify water efficiency is to protect the entire plant in a greenhouse.  More on that to come.

Piles of chicken manure waiting to be spread

What will you do with the produce from the farm?

The answer to this question is one of the most important ways that we generate interest in our program with our neighbors and bring about goodwill toward our project within our community in the Jordan Valley.  One of our main goals is to give the farmers around us in the Middle Ghor a sense that they have a stake and a share in our work and to invite them to drop in and see what we are doing.  This shared location for gathering and the shared goal of seeing our project succeed builds community. 

With the end goal of building community in mind we will sell our produce through a number of venues and use the money to fund a community infrastructure project.  This year we will be donating funds to fix the broken canal system from the Karama Dam that carries water to several hundred farming families in the Middle Ghor.  This infrastructure rehabilitation project will save thousands of cubic meters of water per year allowing farmers greater access to low cost water for many years to come.  

 

Plowing Finished

We undertook 3 types of plowing to ensure ideal water infiltration and soil rehabilitation.  A deep spade was used to break the surface of the land to reduce overland flow during rain events.  A disc was used to smooth out the surface of the land to make it suitable for planting and finally rows were plowed on which to lay out irrigation pipe, manure and evaporation inhibiting plastic sheeting. 

Discing the Western Fields

Why are we farming in the Jordan Valley?

Short Answer:  
To show new ideas to poor farmers to help them produce better crops.

Long Answer:
Jordan is classified as one of the ten most water scarce countries in the world with less than 5% of its land capable of producing any kind of food.  For farmers, this extreme environment severely restricts crop yield meaning less produce to sell and eat.  The rural poor live with the threat of hunger and food insecurity.  Jordan’s rural poor have little opportunity to try new farm products because the consequence of failure can be catastrophic.  Worsening soil and water quality and the fact that many do not own land excludes many small farmers from access to loans that could help them to improve their livelihoods.  Rural households also tend to be very large, often with 8 or more members under a single roof depending on a single source of income, the family farm.

Operation Mercy Jordan is intervening in the cycle of poverty to offer access to solutions for dealing with this challenging situation.  We are doing this by working with community based groups to offer  hands-on demonstration in the irrigated farming areas most severely affected by land and water degradation.  We are privileged to work alongside the men and women who are struggling to provide food for themselves and for Jordan. 

We have chosen to farm in the Jordan Valley because we believe that the best way to combat poverty in agricultural areas is to assist farmers in producing more food at a lower cost in an environmentally responsible way. We are doing that by demonstrating, at scale, innovative management practices and new crops.

Baseline Soil Analysis

Scan of the Soil Analysis done by the National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension for the AC4D Trial and Demo Farm

In most respects this analysis shows a reasonable range of values.  Potassium and phosphorous (important nutrients for plant growth) do not need to be added chemically and soil acidity is very slightly above the normal range for a loam soil. 

However, the soil does exhibit very high electro-conductivity (EC).  This was not unexpected and in fact is representative of the Middle Ghor of the Jordan Valley.  EC reflects the amount of salt in the soil. A healthy range for plant growth being at or lower than 4dS/m.  The sample taken from our land shows about nine times the healthy range, 36dS/m.  High salt content is why this region of the Jordan Valley was chosen as our test site.  One of our main goals is to find ways to help small farmers to make better profits on salt affected land with the materials available to them.  This could not be done effectively on soil that doesn't have a lot of salt in it. 

A high level of salt in the soil is a result of a number of natural and anthropocentric factors.  Firstly, using drip irrigation doesn't provide enough water to draw salts down below the roots of the plants.  Secondly, saline water has been used in irrigation contributing greatly to salts being leftover in the soil after irrigation. Finally, rainfall has not been sufficient to soak the soil to the point that the fresh rain water dissolves the salts added during irrigation and then carries them down below the root zone where they do not affect plant growth. 

The main problem that a large amount of salt creates in crop production is to inhibit plants from being able to use the nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and key trace elements that are already in the soil and necessary for good plant health and in turn good crop production.  

AC4D Farm Manager Measuring Irrigation Pond for its Cover

Measuring the Irrigation Storage Pond for a Fitted Cover

AC4D activities are advancing rapidly in preparation for planting.

This week we cleaned the trial fields and built a water storage pond.  In the coming days we will fit the pond with a waterproof plastic substrate and plow our land in preparation for the addition of organic fertilizer.  Next we will lay out our water application network and put evaporation inhibiting plastic covers over each row of vegetables before planting.  The irrigation network is designed to minimize water loss to evaporation while enhancing plant water and nutrient availability.

The goal is to produce the most crop for the least amount of water and fertilizer.  Water and fertilizer are some of the biggest on-farm expenses that smallholders incur and their judicious use can be the difference between failure and success.

Irrigation Storage Pond Complete

AC4D land is now ready for plowing and organic fertilizer enrichment.  We are on track to meet our goal of planting in early September.

Northern Fields Cleaned

Our Northern third after clearing rock debris

Clearing Debris from the Fields

Frontloader clearing large rocks in preparation for ploughing