By Rakan Mehyar
We left Amman at 4 o'clock in the morning heading south towards Wadi Rum for the weekend. We were driving along the Desert Highway when Tala suggested stopping by her uncle's apple farm nearby in Shobak. We all thought it would be a good idea to take a little break after driving 200 kilometres, so I took the exit towards Al-Shobak.
Driving in the middle of the desert and with directions from Tala, I found myself driving through a large field of fruit trees, mainly apple trees organized in perfect rows. To be honest, I was quite surprised to find such farms in such an arid region like that. For most Jordanians, the only thing that is known in Shobak is the crusader castle. Some tourist groups tend to stop by the castle because it is close by on their way to Petra - the most visited site in Jordan. Well, apparently the high altitude and the relatively cold weather conditions of Al Shobak make it a perfect environment for apple trees; of course without the ground water it would have been impossible to grow and for these farms to survive.
Surrounded by apple trees, we reached the gate of one of five apple farms in the region. We entered, stopped the car at the farm house and started our walking tour around the farm. With Tala and her three sisters (Dana, Tamara and Nada) telling endless funny stories about their childhood in the farm, I felt the farm come to life.
From far away I could see two big buildings at the corner of the farm. After reaching them they turned out to be an apple factory. The first one was a huge refrigerator where all the collected apples were stored in wooden boxes. We asked Abdo - the agricultural engineer in charge - to show us in. You simply cannot imagine the beautiful rich fresh apple smell which you experience once you walk into the fridge - refreshing and intoxicating at the same time.
Just next to this huge fridge is the apple factory... using a fork lift the wooden boxes are brought from the fridge to be dipped into water and washed through a mechanised production line, then segregated by the farmers according to certain standards and categories, put into boxes and sent to the central fruit market to be distributed to local markets and also exported to international markets.
The local farmers were very welcoming and seemed to be happy to see us there watching and appreciating what they do. Funnily enough, they didn't recognize Tala and thought she was a tourist visiting the farm; well I really can't blame them for that because Tala was taking a lot of photos of them and their apples.
After talking to some of the farmers I learned that they live in the farm itself - with set working hours and weekends off. They seemed relaxed and clearly loved their jobs. Abdo has worked on this farm for more than twenty years; he now lives there with his wife and three children.
The beauty of those red glowing apples and the friendliness of the farmers have definitely left a great impression on me. Such a high quality local product would make any Jordanian feel proud.
After the morning tour, we went into the farm house where we sat to have breakfast with the owner of the farm. He was talking about the Shobak area in general and about the poor village communities living there. He expressed his disappointment of Jordanian's attitude towards working in farms. In a somewhat sad tone he remarked that "I really do not understand how they claim a high rate of unemployment in Jordan when most of our country’s labour is imported!"
Apparently, all the farmers who work at the farm are non-Jordanians including Abdo - the agricultural engineer in charge of the farm.
It came to my knowledge that some of the farm owners had tried to attract members of the impoverished local community around Shobak to work at the farm; he even offered them higher wages than expatriates, but nobody showed up. It is quite ironic, he said, how they prefer to live on a JD80 monthly government aid, rather than working on a farm and earning triple as much.
I also learnt that one of the farms had approached women in a nearby community and asked them to come to the farm and take the apple grade which is not suitable to eat but is perfect for jam production - making apple jam is a very simple and inexpensive process; those village women can make a decent income selling apple jam - but guess what? They were offered the apples for free and promised all the available produce, but no one showed up!
With the economic boom which the country is going through, I feel our local society is going backwards... this is an alarming issue.
It is very sad indeed... all the wasted potential of our land and people... makes you wonder... what are we missing? Where are we going wrong? Whose fault is it? Where is the government on such issues? Or are they so busy attracting foreign investments into the country before using the existing local resources to its full potential?
But wait a minute; is it really the government's responsibility? Shouldn't they stop getting involved so much and instead encourage people to help themselves? Let's assume that this is the case; but with the obvious lack of education and awareness among these less fortunate communities, how could they survive? Whose role is it to educate them? Whose role is it to assure the applications of sustainable development principles in the country? Who is going to teach this kid to walk so he can learn to run and catch up?
The apple farm issue at Al Shobak is just one example of the overall picture but let us stay in the apple farms of Al Shobak and try to come up with solutions and explore the potential of such a place. How can we make better use of the farms and its resources? How can we apply sustainable development principles there?
Tala had an interesting idea:
"Those five apple farms can coordinate efforts (with the cooperation of the government and the media) to hold an Apple Festival each year; this can be a national attraction for both locals and tourists to go participate in collecting apples and making jams, apple pies, etc... a great occasion for those Ammanians who miss the countryside experience... a great opportunity for families living in cities to take their kids and let them experience farm life and village-like entertainment...at the same time it is a excellent opportunity for local village people to interact with the world and sell their products to those local and international tourists". Tala also said that people abroad make garlic festivals..."Why can’t we have an apple one?"
She added "This is besides establishing a village-style bed and breakfast lodge between the farms... to be run by the local community... which could bring eco-tourism to the area... this project is one of my little dreams".
A famous guy once said "if life gives you lemon, make lemonade". What would you do if life gave you apples?!
