Main features of farming systems in Mafraq area in Jordan [evaluation of existing farming practices and identifying problems associated with them; steps in developing experimental program for device of a new farming technology applicable in the area]
1988
Oglah, M. (ICARDA, Aleppo (Syria)) | Jaradat, A.A. (Jordan Univ. of Science of Technology, Irbid (Jordan))
The total area of Jordan is 94.8 km2, of this area only 9% receives more than 200 mm of rainfall and can be considered productive agricultural land. The marginal zone this survey has been conducted in occupies an area of 0.6 million ha receiving 200-300 mm as annual rainfall. Farmers who live in this area are still practicing traditional farming relying on min inputs. The survey was conducted in an area comprising 85 villages west of Mafraq. 55 farmers distributed in 19 villages, randomly selected were interviewed. Results indicated that 47.3% of the sample consider the low rainfall as a major agronomic problem while 16.4% have a shortage of agricultural machinery. Dominant crop rotations in the area were continuous barley and barley/fallow - 45.5% and 27% respectively. It has been found that 71% of the sample do not change the rotation under any conditions. Concerning inputs only 30% of the farmers treat their seeds chemically before sowing and 3.6% and 12.7% use fertilizers and herbicides in barley crops. The average number of households was 11.3 owning 157.5 dunums of arable lands as an average. Of this area 61.5 dunums were grown to barley in the season 1987/88. The total cost of cropping one dunum of barley was JD 4.62 and 6.76 if it is harvested by combine or manually, respectively. Concerning livestock 83.6% of the sample own sheep. The flock size was 61 sheep and 12.6 goats in the spring of 1988 which indicated that the proportion of each head of sheep is less than one dunum of barley crop. Existing low production in agriculture then may be due to the traditional farming practices and to low inputs
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