FAO, NARC to support digitisation process of agricultural services in Jordan

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Jordan have signed a Letter of Agreement to build capacity to use the Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC mobile application through a training of trainers modality and village-level workshops in at least 6 villages.

The Agreement is in support of the “Digital Innovation of Rural Transformation in the Near East and North Africa and Digital Villages Corporate priority.

The main objective of this agreement, which is funded by FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa (RNE), is to support the digitalization process of agricultural services in Jordan by the provision of technical training to NARC’s personnel, where 30 awareness sessions will be conducted at the field level throughout Jordan to raise awareness and train farmers on the proper use of the Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC mobile application.

Once the training sessions are concluded, farmers will be properly trained to use the Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC mobile application and will understand how to follow the Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC application’s themes and advices on good practices.

Through this application, farmers will understand how to use the Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC theme on Expert to Farmer Forum, where they can post a question, upload a photo and communicate with other farmers and NARC. This will result in the farmer obtaining tips and innovative techniques from other farmers and expert advice from NARC for difficult issues.

Furthermore, farmers will have access to local weather forecasts, crop calendars sowing date and harvesting date. In addition, the farmer will be provided with advice on good farming practices on irrigation, fertilization to improve products' quality and increase productivity. This will result in a more productive farm where natural resources will be conserved.

A social media awareness campaign will be conducted throughout Jordan in order to raise awareness of the Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC mobile application.

In further support of the digitalization of agriculture in Jordan, monitoring and evaluation activities will be carried out in the agreement and insights derived to feed into national and regional digital innovation policy and strategy process.

FAO Representative in Jordan, Eng. Nabil Assaf, stated that-

“the ubiquity, portability and mobility of digital technologies are transforming agriculture and food production. Specifically, in the agriculture and food sector, the spread of mobile technologies, remote-sensing services are already improving smallholders’ access to information, inputs and markets, increasing production and productivity.“

“There is no doubt that digital transformation in agriculture is here to stay. FAO is committed to assisting governments and partners in bridging such multidisciplinary digital divides to ensure that everyone benefits from the emerging digital society.” Added Assaf.

Dr. Nizar Haddad, the Director General of NARC, expressed his felicity signing this agreement as a continuation of the joint cooperation between FAO and NARC to support the technical cooperation in developing digital technology transfer tools using the mobile application “Ma' Al Muzare'”, as he indicated that this agreement will contribute to increase the publicity and expand the base of using this application, which is considered the first smart application in agriculture in Jordan, and pointed out that there are a set of smart solutions that NARC is developing in cooperation with FAO and other international partners.

On June 23, 2021, FAO Jordan and NARC introduced Ma’ Al Muzare’ – NARC mobile application that provides digital agricultural extension and rural advisory knowledge and information to farmers. The application includes themes related to Animal Husbandry, Weather and Crop Calendar, as well as Harvest and Postharvest, AgriMarketplace and finally Expert to Farmer Forum.