Planet-Friendly Farming Takes Root in Drought-Hit Tunisia

This picture taken on April 27, 2023, shows an agricultural field in Cap Negro in northern Tunisia. (AFP)
This picture taken on April 27, 2023, shows an agricultural field in Cap Negro in northern Tunisia. (AFP)
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Planet-Friendly Farming Takes Root in Drought-Hit Tunisia

This picture taken on April 27, 2023, shows an agricultural field in Cap Negro in northern Tunisia. (AFP)
This picture taken on April 27, 2023, shows an agricultural field in Cap Negro in northern Tunisia. (AFP)

Saber Zouani lost his job as a waiter when the Covid pandemic ravaged the Tunisian tourism sector, so he decided to try something new and started a permaculture farm.

Now he grows all the food he needs and has become a pioneer of the style of ecological agriculture that is gaining fans worldwide, including in his North African country.

Many hope it will help Tunisia weather the impacts of climate change and wean it off its reliance on global supply chains, including grain and fertilizer imports from war-torn Ukraine and Russia.

In his western home town of Cap Negro, Zouani, 37, proudly showed off his three-hectare (seven-acre) farm, set up to mimic natural ecosystems in line with ideas popularized in the 1970s by Australian ecologists.

Permaculture, as an alternative to industrial agriculture, aims to work in harmony with the environment, keep soil structures intact, and do without artificial inputs such as chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

"No, these are not weeds," said Zouani, a biotechnology graduate, pointing to nettles and dandelions growing wild all around his rows of onions, peppers and radishes.

When he harvests his vegetables, he said, he puts the excess green matter back onto the soil to slow evaporation -- hoping to keep the ground as moist as a forest floor covered with fallen leaves.

'Create living soil'

Such methods are especially useful in Tunisia where an unprecedented drought has parched the countryside and left water reservoirs at dangerously low levels this spring.

At his farm, Zouani captures precious rainwater in a pond and only sparingly waters his plants, which are all grown from his own seeds.

Zouani also keeps cows, sheep, goats and chickens and composts their droppings to create soil enriched with the nitrogen-rich natural fertilizer.

"We need to create living soil, attract earthworms, fungi and all the nutrients for our plants and trees," said Zouani.

Permaculture, he said, draws on farming methods and wisdoms of centuries past -- "returning to our roots, to the traditional methods used by our grandparents".

Zouani said he earns around 300 dinars ($100) a month from selling farm produce, with enough left over to make him, his brother and their elderly parents self-sufficient.

In two or three years, he hopes to make "a decent income" and turn his farm, named "Om Hnia" in honor of his late grandmother, into an eatery and eventually a rural eco-lodge.

Zouani started off more than two years ago with the help of the Tunisian Association of Permaculture, which gave him initial training and then financial support for basic equipment.

The group's "Plant Your Farm" project aims to create 50 micro-farms over five years, of which around 30 are already up and running, said its president Rim Mathlouthi.

'Bring back biodiversity'

The goal, Mathlouthi said, is to "demonstrate to the authorities and other farmers that permaculture is a profitable and efficient agricultural system which brings back biodiversity when the soil is depleted from ploughing and chemical inputs".

She said the initiative, with funding from Switzerland and others, even covers Tunisia's sun-baked arid regions and aims to entice jobless young people to cultivate abandoned family land.

It also hopes to help change a model "where the Tunisian farmer loses money because he is constantly spending, for a very small yield, on seeds, fertilizers and pesticides", said Mathlouthi.

Permaculture also aims to help Tunisia adapt to the searing drought that has badly impacted a farm sector centered on wheat, barley and other water-intensive cereals.

"Crises such as water stress or the Ukraine war are opportunities to promote solutions such as agro-ecology and permaculture," said Mathlouthi.

To help Tunisia's new eco-farmers sell their organic produce and spread the word on permaculture, the association has promoted farmers' markets and created a "citizen food" label.

Families flocked to a recent workshop at a school in the northern city of Bizerte, where they learnt green farming techniques and sampled their tasty produce.

"These are healthy products," enthused father-of-three Salem Laghouati, 44. "It's important to know what you're eating."

Maissa Haddad, a 49-year-old schoolteacher, said she was proud to be "educating children on permaculture" and teaching them that it is "beneficial for our planet and our lifestyle".



Deadly Floods Bring Relief to Moroccan Farmers

Residents walk on a flooded street in Morocco's Ouarzazate city on September 7, 2024. (AFP)
Residents walk on a flooded street in Morocco's Ouarzazate city on September 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Deadly Floods Bring Relief to Moroccan Farmers

Residents walk on a flooded street in Morocco's Ouarzazate city on September 7, 2024. (AFP)
Residents walk on a flooded street in Morocco's Ouarzazate city on September 7, 2024. (AFP)

When powerful thunderstorms hit Morocco's arid south, they brought deadly floods but also provided some relief to farmers as the country grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years.

The torrential rains at the weekend triggered floods that killed at least 18 people in areas of southern Morocco that straddle the Sahara desert.

While the rain was devastating in part, it also brought some relief to farmers growing crops like almonds, dates and cereals.

"These rains will bring a breath of fresh air" to the south, said agronomist Mohamed Taher Srairi.

"But it has not rained elsewhere, and the country remains under a heavy structural drought."

The unusual rainfall resulted from a tropical air mass shifting northward, according to Lhoussaine Youabd, spokesman for Morocco's General Directorate of Meteorology.

Experts say climate change is making extreme weather, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense.

Morocco is one of the world's most water-stressed nations, with frequent droughts affecting a third of the population employed in agriculture.

Near areas of the northwest African country lashed by the weekend's rain, water levels in dams have risen and groundwater is expected to replenish.

The four Draa Oued Noun dams, which supply areas impacted by the floods in the Ouarzazate region, saw water levels increase by 19 percent to 191 million cubic meters, according to Youssef Ben Hamou, director of the agency managing the barrages.

The region of Ouarzazate, located in Morocco's south, sits between the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara.

Water levels of the large Ouarzazate dam climbed to 69 million cubic meters, roughly 70 percent of its capacity, while levels at the Fask dam rose by 10 million cubic meters in just 24 hours.

- Rains bring hope -

"The rains have proved to be a boon for the region, because these reserves will be able to ensure drinking water supply which remains a priority," said Ben Hamou.

Mohamed Jalil, a water resources consultant, said the downpours would help to replenish soil saturation levels, although that usually requires rainfall over time after a long drought.

"This will bring respite to the oases, particularly for agriculture," he said.

The psychological impact of the long-awaited rains was also significant, he said, especially after a harsh, dry summer.

The massive rainfall had "brought hope" to the drought-hit area, he said.

The Moroccan government has pledged financial aid to the flooded areas.

During a visit to Ouarzazate this week, Agriculture Minister Mohammed Sadiki announced the allocation of $4.1 million to repair damaged infrastructure, support agriculture and help those affected by the floods.

Although no further downpours are expected in the immediate future, climatologists warn that Morocco must better prepare for weather disasters driven by global warming.

Moroccans should be ready "for new phenomena whose frequency and violence are unknown, given the effects of climate change", said Mohamed Said Karrouk, a climatology professor at Hassan II University in Casablanca.