Water Use in Jordan
AED is helping the Jordanian government establish a more profitable and less water-intensive agricultural sector through a long-term educational and communications program.
The goal of the USAID-funded Education and Information Program to 
Improve Irrigation Water Use Efficiency (EIP) is to improve irrigation methods in the agricultural sector, which consumes about 60 percent of the Kingdom's water resources. Low productivity, limited and/or unreliable groundwater supplies, and increased demand from rural populations and urban water users are but a few of the challenges the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation faces.
"The agricultural sector in Jordan can only flourish through improved farmer trust in the Jordanian government's irrigation water-use efficiency efforts," said the EIP chief of party. "AED aims to build this trust through an integrated approach that initiates knowledge transfer and strategic action."
Over the course of the program, EIP will develop activities to encourage new attitudes and behaviors among Jordan Valley and Amman-Zarqa Basin farmers, engage community-based groups in small-scale community action programs, establish a sustainable producer-level extension and agriculture service, and prepare information campaigns for decision makers and the general public.
For more information, contact Nick Wedeman in the AED Center for Environmental Strategies.
