The Agricultural Credit operation started during the Ottoman State rule; the Ottoman Agriculture bank in Jordan had three branches at that time; namely Kerak, Salt, and Irbid.
When the local administrations’ rule had been announced in 1920, each branch became an independent entity; this situation existed till early April in 1921 when those branches were shifted to operate for a temporary period under the Ministry of Finance. Then, the General Directorate of the Agricultural Bank was established in April 1922 and those branches were shifted to operate under it. Accordingly, agricultural loans used to be delivered through branches or through the administrative governors.
A rate of 1% of agricultural products used to be levied with the taxes as a share of "farmers’ benefits". Thus, the Government of Jordan decided at that time to set this share at JD 3500 to be paid by the Treasury to the Agricultural bank on an annual basis. This share was then raised to JD 15000 with an addition of JD 7500 designated for the West bank as from 1953.
In order to revive the status of the Agricultural Bank at that time, the Government decided in 1953 to allocate JD 50000 per year to be paid by the Treasury to the Agricultural Bank for five consecutive years. This allocation was decided with the aim to increase the Bank’s capital and enable it to operate on an adequate level. Progressively, that capital reached JD 970415 by the end of 1959/1960.
On behalf of the Government of Jordan, the Construction Council established in 1952 the agricultural credit project. Loans delivered by the project totaled about JD 1742379 by the end of 1959-1960. The project, thus, contributed to the implementation of some agricultural projects especially in the front villages and the West Bank of the Kingdom. In 1952, the Government also established the Cooperative Construction Department which delivered agricultural loans to rural lending societies that they oversaw their establishment. Those loans had been provided by the allocations that the Council of Construction used to provide for this purpose. Loans delivered to agricultural cooperatives totaled about JD 357845 by the end of 1961.
Credit sources had been multiple; no clear credit policy with clear objectives and aims was in existence; and those credit institutions lacked the specialized technical staff to coordinate their operations. In order to unify the agricultural credit sources and set a credit policy based on sound scientific, economic and technical bases as well as securing an effective monitoring of the loans spending for their purposes and objectives, the Government decided to merge the three institutions in one called "Agricultural Credit Corporation" [ACC]. The Law of ACC No. (50) issued in 1959 nullified all the previous credit institutions and shifted their assets, liabilities, debts, and liquid money to ACC which started its actual operations on 1.8.1960. The Institution is the main official source specialized in agricultural finance
