Amman, April 19 (Petra) -- Jordan’s sovereign food security apparatus has demonstrated significant resilience in the face of escalating regional volatility and a fractured global logistics landscape, underpinned by a strategic pivot toward domestic production and diversified procurement.

In a statement to the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on Sunday, Minister of Agriculture and Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council for Food Security Saeb Abdul Halim Al-Khraisat confirmed that the Kingdom’s food systems remain robust, insulated from external shocks by a sophisticated institutional framework that balances localized output with highly regulated international trade.

The agricultural sector has emerged as a primary engine of national economic expansion, posting a standout 7 percent growth rate in the final quarter of 2025. This performance has effectively increased the sector’s weighting in the national accounts, with its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product rising to 5.4 percent.

At constant prices, agricultural output reached approximately 2.26 billion dinars – a trajectory further buoyed by a 10 percent surge in exports, which hit 1.681 billion dinars as Jordanian producers successfully leveraged regional demand to offset rising domestic input costs.

Central to the government’s risk-mitigation strategy is a formidable strategic reserve that exceeds international safety thresholds. National wheat silos are currently stocked for a ten-month horizon, while barley inventories are secured for nine months.

Essential staples, ranging from oils and legumes to sugar and rice, maintain a minimum three-month coverage buffer. In the protein markets, sheep meat reserves are projected to last six months, with beef and poultry secured for an additional quarter – supported by a steady pipeline of contracted imports currently in transit.

To navigate the inflationary headwinds generated by soaring maritime freight and energy costs, the Cabinet has deployed a suite of proactive fiscal interventions.

These include a strategic six-month suspension of taxes and duties on shipping surcharges and the temporary liberalization of overland container transit to bypass potential maritime bottlenecks. These measures, coupled with targeted subsidies for military and civil consumer cooperatives, have successfully decoupled domestic food prices from the more aggressive spikes seen in global indices.

The efficacy of Jordan’s food policy is corroborated by the latest multilateral data. The 2025 "State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World" report – authored by the FAO, WFP, and WHO – notes a marked structural improvement in the Kingdom’s nutrition profile. The prevalence of undernourishment has contracted to 14.3 percent from a previous high of 17.9 percent, while the segment of the population unable to afford a healthy diet has narrowed to 10.7 percent.

This data underscores a successful stabilization of the domestic market, ensuring that despite a deteriorating regional security environment, the integrity of Jordan’s supply chains and the continuity of its essential commodities remain uncompromised.

//Petra// AA