Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water and few mineral and other natural resources significant for commercial use.
75 per cent of the country is a desert plateau. The western part of this plateau has a series of cleavages at the beginning of the great Rift Fault, which crosses the Red Sea and stretches into east Africa. In the past, these fissures widened the Jordan River valley and formed the steep depression, which is now the Dead Sea. As most of the country is made up of dry steppes, farming is limited to cereals, such as wheat and rye, and citrus fruits. Sheep and goats are also bred. The shortage of water is the chief environmental problem. Desertification and urban expansion have caused the loss of arable land near the Jordan River.