In mid-August, the fields in the Jendouba region of northwestern Tunisia are full of ripe watermelons ready for harvest. However, despite being a highly appreciated fruit, its farmers fear registering losses this season. Their price has fallen by almost 50% due to rumors spread on social networks that they present a health hazard due to their high level of nitrates and pesticides.
The origin of the rumor, however, is based on a real fact: of the more than 200 pesticides authorized in Tunisia, about 50 are listed in the list of the European Union of potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic substances – which can generate changes in DNA – or reprotoxic substances – which can cause infertility problems or malformations in fetuses. For example, the Maghreb country authorizes the use of malathionwhich the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes as carcinogenic and which was banned in the European Union in 2007, or tebuconazolebanned in the EU since 2009.
“There is a serious problem in Tunisia due to the abuse of pesticides, both for consumers and for the health of farmers and those who live near the fields,” explains businessman Allala Jamai, who has launched a project to promote products organic farms and at the same time create job opportunities in Ghardimou, a town of about 30,000 inhabitants next to the border with Algeria, in the region where he was born and raised, Jendouba. It is one of those with the highest rate of migration abroad. And he wants to do it in a sustainable way by promoting an agricultural culture, far from the cycle that, from his point of view, chains farmers to a system that forces them to accumulate credits and debts in order to finance pesticides. The project includes its own brand under the name Horr, which in Arabic means “free.”
There is a serious problem in Tunisia due to the abuse of pesticides both for consumers and for the health of farmers and those who live near the fields.
Allala Jamai, Tunisian businessman
“The concepthorr‘In Tunisia it is old and applies to products that are natural, that is, that have been grown without pesticides and other chemicals,’ explains Buzaina Jamai – no relation to Allala Jamai – and who runs a laboratory independent of Jendouba. which carries out quality controls on agri-food products, with which Horr works. “Now then, [el concepto ‘horr’] is not the same as the label biowhich requires a series of higher requirements. For example, it is not enough for a farmer not to use pesticides; if his neighbor does, it can contaminate the soil and be reflected in the products. Let’s say the label bio It is more demanding,” he adds.
The use of pesticides in Tunisia is widespread. A study prepared in 2020 by the NGO Environmental Education Association for Future Generations in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that 22% of the pesticides used in the country are classified as “highly dangerous.” The result is the result of the analysis of a large sample of grapes collected in different regions of the country. Of all the samples, 94% presented levels higher than the standard considered safe by the EU in at least one substance. Another study by the National Agency for Sanitary and Environmental Control of Products (ANCSEP), carried out using a basket of foods available on the market, concludes that 13 pesticides have a dose higher than the prescribed one, and six of them do not even They are approved in Tunisia. Of these, three are considered “extremely dangerous.”
The effects of these substances on health can be very harmful and can cause serious diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, asthma, or malformations in fetuses. Although there is no study that directly relates the intensive use of pesticides in the Maghreb country to the increase in cancer cases in Tunisia, a report of the Agricultural Investment Promotion Agency assures that WHO experts consider that “this situation partly explains the resurgence of cancer-related diseases” in the country.
“It is common for farmers to come to the pharmacy with breathing problems or because their skin or eyes are itchy. Many times the reason is exposure to pesticides,” says Monia Mannai, a 42-year-old pharmacist from the town of Ghardimaou. “In this region there are unusually high rates of some diseases that could result from the use of pesticides. For example, thyroid and lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, infertility or skin eczema,” he adds.
On the one hand, farmers do not respect the recommendations for use [de los pesticidas]. On the other hand, the State does not dedicate the necessary means to accompany them
Lamia Nasri, member of the Tunisian Agriculture and Fisheries Union
According to Lamia Nasri, from the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries (UTAP), the main responsibility for the excessive use of pesticides in Tunisia falls on the State, as it is its obligation to ensure compliance with regulations. “On the one hand, farmers do not respect the recommendations for use. On the other hand, the State does not dedicate the necessary means to accompany them. But farmers cannot be held responsible. “It is the State that has to act,” he declared to the magazine Nawaat the UTAP representative on the national pesticide approval committee. According to the law, this committee is responsible for verifying the effectiveness, compliance and health and environmental impact of pesticides. At Nasri’s request, last year a total of 22 pesticides were removed from the list of approved substances in the country. But as she herself acknowledges, there is still much to do, and initiatives like Horr’s can have an important impact.
An added value for agricultural products
The goal of Allala Jamai is, precisely, to obtain healthier and sustainably labeled products. bio, which in turn will give them added value to access international markets. At the moment, a few hundred producers in the region are already collaborating with this social and solidarity economy project, but their ambition is that if the result is successful, there will be a knock-on effect and the number will exceed a thousand.
“The idea of creating an ecological value chain involves providing farmers with a whole series of services so that they can sell their organic products beyond the traditional market,” explains Allala Jamai, who had to flee Tunisia and go into exile in France to early nineties, during the Ben Ali regime, for his political and union activities and was only able to return after the 2011 Revolution, at the age of 69. Among these services is “access to the infrastructure necessary to transform their products, creating more added value and income, carrying out valorization and promotion campaigns.” marketing of the products,” explains Jamai as he walks through a warehouse he built to make his project in Ghardimou a reality.
The two-story building is divided into several parts. On the second floor, there are the offices of Ezzat, an NGO of which, at the moment, dozens of farmers and some activists interested in the project are part, and Expo Horr, the company that serves as the platform for the project and in the which has already invested close to 400,000 euros.
The ground floor houses the laboratory, a small exhibition and event room, and a large space of about 1,000 square meters where the machines for the transformation of agricultural products will be installed, which are scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks. The laboratory has been operating for several months, which has already made it possible to create some samples, such as bottles of oil, jars of jam, honey and cosmetic products, most of them for skin protection. In total, the Horr line, a name that was not given at random, will have around twenty products.
Jamai leads by example on his farm on the outskirts of Ghardimou. “No pesticides have been used here for more than 10 years,” he says proudly. The size of the farm is modest, as it does not exceed 30 hectares, but it is an example for farmers in the area. Here he grows figs and peaches. In addition, as in the rest of the area, some wild bushes also grow that produce fruits that are used to make the zaatar (combination of spices and aromatic herbs such as thyme and oregano) or sweets such as hawthorn and lotus fruit. Precisely, one of Jamai’s objectives is to organize the collection of these fruits, which he defines as an “ignored wealth” and exploit them commercially.
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