Word: farm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Africa in other ways, too. Aid was, in a sense, the compensation offered by a new generation of white Europeans for the sins of their imperial forefathers. But for all the poverty it alleviated and lives it saved, aid was also a distortion - free food diminished the need to farm, free money diminished the need for efficiency, and both diminished the need for self-reliance or entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, a revolutionary spirit simultaneously led directly to corruption and autocracy. Many rebel movements took as the righteous reward of struggle their country, its new foreign funding - and an everlasting hold on both...
That's hardly news to El Phil, as he stands between two long rows of peach trees on his Grombalia farm, 22 miles (35 km) south of Tunis. Just four years after starting to export to Europe, Jinene Agro now gains half its profits from foreign sales. Tunisia's sunny latitude allows El Phil to ship fresh peaches and plums during the weeks from mid-March to mid-April when there's space on supermarket shelves throughout Europe. "We harvest after the end of production in Chile and South Africa, and before Europe begins," he says. "We exploit that...
Jinene Agro, for its part, is keeping folks on the farm. El Phil has lost no workers to European dreams since the night watchmen's attempted escape. The two dozen laborers he retains only earn about $11 a day, but they can make a living for their families, knowing prospects are improving. That is because El Phil is focused on adopting the higher standards that foreign markets expect. He now promotes not only the ability to harvest before European competitors, but also "traceability." His peaches, plums and nectarines are all labeled with the location of his grove, and cool-packed...
...Tunisia's agricultural exports, worth $1.2 billion, still lag behind its $1.4 billion in farm imports. North Africa's natural gifts are too often wasted, says Gunther Feiler of the Tunis office of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "There is big potential in fruits and other high-value crops," Feiler says of the entire Maghreb area. "But there are too many small farms that don't have the resources to gain access to foreign markets." Policy changes are needed on both sides of the Mediterranean. In North Africa, governments have kept prices low, fearing the political consequences...
...North African migrant workers believe such crackdowns will stop their brothers from coming. What might work better can be seen on a farm 100 miles (160 km) south of Tunis. Here the vision of a Mediterranean Union is in full flower. David Jacob is the technical manager for Agroland Tunisie, a 370-acre (150 ha) joint venture with Chanabel, a French farming conglomerate based near Lyons. Jacob is showing top officials from Tunis the new field of baby nectarine trees that were planted in January. He brought the latest techniques for hydration and pruning from France, and knows what pleases...