Like all the other pilot areas, the local team in Jordan held a series of Focus Group meetings to identify the needs, challenges and opportunities of the local fruit and vegetables industry! Exporters, producers, researchers, farmers, officers, directors, as well as business owners and entrepreneurs participated in our meetings, covering the full agro-food value chain.
On August 1st, Jordan University of Scientific of Science and Technology (JUST) organised the first Jordanian Focus Group meeting. The event was held at Society for Scientific Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in Amman. The participants represented a blend of different stakeholders and organisations, in particularly, Jordan Dates Association, Jordan Exporters and Producers Association and Jordan Society for Scientific Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Some months later, a second meeting was held on November 27th. This time, an online event was organised due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemics. New members joined the local Focus Group. Stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture, Jordan Food and Drugs Association, National Agricultural Research Centre, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan Exporters and Producers Association, Jordan Society for Scientific Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Business Entrepreneurs, Producers, Exporters, as well as farmers provided a good representativeness of Jordanian agro-food supply chain.
These meetings were a great opportunity for discussing the initiative of trace and trust hubs as one-stop-shop for traceability and authenticity for added value food products. The event started with a presentation by Dr. Abu Al-Rub on the importance of the MED food TTHubs project, the implementation of full-path tracing practices through the whole distribution channel, and establishment of an e-platform as a centre for traceability and authenticity of agro-food products.
The presentation enabled a group discussion on the importance of establishing a traceability and authenticity business model. Participants’ insights and personal experiences revealed the need to establish one centre as a business model, as well as develop and use a platform, with close collaboration between the public and private sectors in order to implement traceability and authenticity procedures on the fruits and vegetable sector for both local and export markets.
By the end of the day, the fruitful discussions shed light on the challenges and opportunities facing this vital sector in Jordan, determined its needs, and recommended solutions to promote and enhance its performance.
Stay tuned and don’t miss all the upcoming updates!