The scarcity of water resources, even for supplementary irrigation, small and fragmented landholdings that cannot support an average family, and dwindling productivity: these are some of the challenges facing farmers relying on rainfed agriculture in Jordan’s Southern Highlands region. Forced to buy water for irrigation, smallholders resorted to reducing their plantation size or even abandoning agriculture. Added to these challenges, smallholders have limited access to technical and financial support for both agricultural and non-agricultural activities. It is easy to see why smallholders lacked the motivation to invest in meagre improvements in productivity, as they found themselves trapped in a cycle of escalating poverty as land degradation was compounded by climate change.