Food
Bittersweet harvest as Tunisian orange farmers swamped by record crop
Tue, 2017-01-10 11:30
Tunisian farmers have warned that thousands of tonnes of oranges might have to be destroyed if more buyers cannot be found for the country’s bumper harvest.
According to Mohamed Ali Jandoubi, who heads the Groupement Interprofessionel des Fruits (GIF), an association of citrus fruit growers, farmers have harvested 550,000 tonnes of oranges so far this year.
“Over the past five years we reached a ceiling of 400,000 tonnes. This year we’ve harvested 550,000 tonnes. It’s huge,” said Jandoubi.
Half of the crop could be destroyed if not enough buyers were found, the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fishery recently warned, with only 10% of the harvest expected to be exported.
[Full article here | Photo by Rafael Castillo]
