Friday, September 25, 2015

Addressing Regional Hunger

In light of developments in local and regional food security AC4D team members are working with partners from across the world to formulate a viable plan to enhance productivity within Jordan in support of our Refugee Feeding Program as well as expand our farmer support and training component into neighboring countries in the near future.

As we increase the number of greenhouses on our Jordan Valley farm, as well as the amount of acreage under cultivation, partners have expanded our capacity to deliver a greatly increased amount of produce to refugee families for the 2015/16 season. 

Rainfed wheat trials will commence in 2016 in preparation for regional expansion.  Trials will center around conservation tilling practices which have the capacity to more than double current production.

Our long term goal is to take what we learn and develop in the Jordan Valley and to transplant those advanced, and regionally appropriate technologies, into the most significant food production areas of the Levant and Tigris Euphrates Basin as security allows.  This expansion will allow us to continue to provide relief to tens of thousands of refugee and internally displaced families throughout the region as we enhance farmers capacity to produce more, better quality, food at lower cost for the benefit of all. 

Syrian Refugees go Hungry

The beginning of a large plot of eggplant, a staple of the Middle Eastern diet



Saturday, September 5, 2015

Food Shortage Dire Among Syrian Refugees Outside Camps

"Last week, more than 200,000 Syrian refugees woke up to the news that they would no longer be receiving the food aid that they had come to rely on. The message from the UNHCR read: “Due to the low amounts of contributions the World Food Program (WFP) is sorry to inform you that your food aid has been stopped.”

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Abeer Etefa, senior regional communications officer for the WFP in the Middle East, said the organization had done its best to keep delivering food aid to Syrian refugees but was no longer able to afford it.

“Let’s face the horrible situation here,” said Etefa. “We are facing a huge shortage of funds. We used to support around 100,000 refugees at the camps in Jordan in addition to 461,000 refugees outside the camps, but now with the low amounts of contributions we cannot.”


Link to Full Article

2015/16 - Field Prep & Big Picture Goals

As of September 1 our season officially began with deep plowing the sections of the farm that were deferred and phytoremediated (10 dollar word for planted with a useful cover crop last winter).  We are currently spreading organic fertilizer in our fields and preparing to move our irrigation network so that early season eggplant seedlings can be established while it is still hot.  Eggplant loves the heat. 

Plowing greenhouses in preparation for soil sterilization


Our big picture goals for the 2015/16 season are to continue to evaluate high value greenhouse varieties like Intruder, X3R Red Knight, Gourmet, and Sweet Sunrise peppers as well as an artichoke variety new to the Jordan valley called Jersey Knight.  These trials will be regularly highlighted at our farmer field days and through the myriad farm visits from neighboring farmers. 

Toward the end of last year our delivery team started getting requests for sweet melons from the recipients of our produce across Northern Jordan.  As luck would have it, a large quantity of Charleston Grey watermelon seeds were donated by our partners in Alabama.  Looks like sweet melons are on the menu for thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugee families across Northern Jordan!