Organic farmers find fertile ground

Organic farmers find fertile ground

TUNIS: Proudly displaying her freshly picked pomegranates, Tunisian farmer Sarah Shili says going organic is “the future of farming”-and as demand surges in North Africa and beyond, the sector is blooming. Shili runs Domaine Elixir Bio, a 94-hectare farm near Tunis that produces organic-certified vegetable, fruit and cereal crops in a way she said “respects nature”.

The farm’s revenues have surged thanks to strong demand and the growth of online sales, multiplying five times in as many years to hit 100,000 euros in 2020. That is despite the higher price of organic products in a middle-income country where many people’s wallets have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and years of economic crisis. Indeed, with export demand also on the rise, Shili says the main challenges are on the supply side. “We lack water, like all farmers, and to get organic seeds and plants we have to do everything ourselves,” she told AFP.

Despite the challenges, the sector has surged in Tunisia since the turn of the millennium. In 2001, just 16,000 hectares were dedicated to organic farming-a figure that has multiplied 20-fold over two decades. The number of producers and venders has grown at a similar pace to some 8,000,