Farmers in the Southern Ghowr area, who are already in a sit-in on the road to Aqaba, have started to receive sympathy due the accumulated debt farmers are suffering from after the losses they have undergone in tomato sales.

Some of those farmers have told AmmanNet that they receive condolences for fellow farmers waiting to be jailed, who cannot meet financial obligations because of the losses they suffer.

The gathered 200 farmers have asked the government to compensate them financially as well as to organize and expedite the import and export process in addition to returning to the old method the Ministry of Irrigation and Agriculture used to follow, which did not allow farmers to plant certain products two years in a row.

The losses the farmers are referring to have reached millions of JD’s, due to closures in the export market and the low local prices of their products. The farmers mentioned that they sell an 8kg box of tomatoes for 10-40 piaster, whereas it costs them JD1 to produce.

“Prime Minister Marouf Al-Bakhit must come and meet with us,” farmers demanded.

“The way to Aqaba is vital for the trucks of the Phosphate Company, so we will stop them from using it,” farmers said. The company has a share of the farmers’ water, yet it has not provided sufficient benefits.

Farmers’ Association has participated in this sit-in, the third of its kind within a month, represented by its president Esmat Al-Majali, who said that compensation is the only way to calm this crowd down.