His Majesty King Abdullah, accompanied by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, on Sunday visited an agricultural project and the Women’s Cooperative Association in Al Disi, located in the Southern Badia region.
 
King Abdullah and Queen Rania were briefed on the agricultural project, which extends over a total area of 1022 dunums, and is implemented by a consortium of cooperatives.
 
The project, launched in 2021 upon Royal directives, was established on land provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and creates around 200 seasonal jobs for local community members, 80 per cent of whom are women.
 
Al Hussein Agricultural Cooperative and the Military Retirees Association oversee the agricultural project, while Al Tweisah Charity Association operates and manages the fishery project, which produces about 6 tonnes of fish annually.
 
Agriculture Minister Khaled Hneifat said an agricultural station in the area will be allocated to the consortium to create jobs and to establish an ecotourism agricultural project to benefit the local community.
 
The King and Queen also toured the premises of Al Disi Women Cooperative Association, established in 2010, and were briefed on the projects implemented by women in the local community, including pottery and ceramics, sewing, a play-based learning project, and a traditional cooking experience offered to visitors and tourists.
 
The project includes a plant nursery, which consists of greenhouses for cultivating and re-populating endangered plants, such as wormwood, lavender cotton, saxaul, sage, wild thyme, and orache.
 
During the tour, Their Majesties planted a saxaul tree, which is native to Jordan’s Southern Badia region.
 
The briefing also covered the Badawiyat programme, a cultural tourism project centred on a productive kitchen that serves traditional food for tourists and visitors, in addition to a circular loan fund for financing small enterprises, and a solar power project supported by the Jordan River Foundation.