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Wheat subsidies in Jordan may be too little too late

The Jordanian government is trying to encourage domestic production after purchasing 97% of its wheat on the international market last year.
Workers harvest barley in Amman June 6, 2009. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN AGRICULTURE) - RTR24CJO

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s Cabinet on July 14 agreed to raise the price that the government pays for local farmers' wheat from 425 Jordanian dinars ($600) to 450 dinars ($635) per metric ton (2,205 pounds). After months of campaigning by domestic producers and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Cabinet took a long overdue step to boost the country’s wheat production.

Besides offsetting rising costs of wheat seeds, the government also hopes to boost local output by paying far more than the international market price ($286), with “the ultimate goal of helping wheat farmers,” Agriculture Ministry spokesman Nimer Haddadin told Al-Monitor in an interview.

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