CIHEAM Press Review

 

Gender inequality and few opportunities for migrant workers mean that farmers are starting to look alike: old. These groups have ideas for how to reverse that.

The government is confronting the loss of farmland by demolishing homes and buildings constructed without permits.

Egyptian authorities are moving ahead with a big crackdown on homes and other buildings constructed illegally on farmland nationwide.

Municipal authorities have demolished thousands of structures built on agricultural land without permits and in violation of Egypt's agriculture laws.

Climate change has a direct, mea­sur­able impact on olive farm­ing in the Mediterranean region. As a result, the vast major­ity of the world’s olive oil-pro­duc­ing areas have become a test­ing ground.
In recent years, sci­en­tists have begun to inves­ti­gate how new rain­fall pat­terns, which increas­ingly resem­ble those of sub­trop­i­cal envi­ron­ments, will affect European farm­ers.

An Olive Oil Times survey reveals a season of growing uncertainties and challenges for olive oil producers.

It is an indus­try known for its hard­ships. But even the resilient olive tree and the stal­wart farm­ers used to the ever-chang­ing cir­cum­stances of nature are bend­ing under the stresses of the 2020 har­vest now under­way in the Northern Hemisphere.

Tonnes of soil excavated for the Central Link project have been dumped into adjacent fields rendering them uncultivable while fertile land disturbed by heavy vehicles has not been reinstated, farmers are complaining. 
An estimated 49,000 square metres of land, mostly agricultural, had to be sacrificed to make way for the new thoroughfare.

The Lebanese agriculture and food production industry has come under multiple threats, and the coronavirus-spurred economic contraction has exacerbated the hit already laid upon the sector by the ongoing currency crisis. Experts warn that compounding issues in the country could lead to production decreases and further price increases in the coming months.
Food prices in the country are already on the rise as inflation has begun to soar and the local currency has lost half its value against the dollar.

As the coronavirus drastically reorders society and economies, more Italians are returning to the agricultural jobs of their grandparents.

CORCOLLE, Italy — On a small farm outside Rome, workers crouched in the corridors of a cornfield and tended to stalks for the coming harvest. The ones from Morocco, Romania and Nigeria knew exactly what to do. It was the new Italian hires who needed help.

Cre­tan farm­ers said super­mar­kets cur­rently absorbs 30 per­cent of their pro­duc­tion of fruits and veg­eta­bles with the rest being unsold since many eater­ies and other food ser­vices are closed, while their coun­ter­parts in the Ilia region of the Pelo­pon­nese have already dis­carded part of their fresh crop of straw­ber­ries and zuc­chi­nis due to lim­ited demand.

Malta’s few remaining full-time farmers are living in constant fear that the island’s farming industry could soon cease to exist as extreme weather becomes the norm.
The country is in a state of drought and February is forecast to be the driest on record with just 0.6mm of rainfall recorded so far this month. George Mifsud, one of the estimated 150 remaining full-time farmers in the country, made a stark prediction about the future of his profession.

The system, developed by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and Cairo’s MSA University, uses a sensor buried in the soil to measure moisture levels and a transmitter to send the data to the user, who accesses it through a mobile app.
Even if they are away from their fields, farmers can tell whether their crops need more water or have had enough.

An agricultural lobby group has urged supermarket chains to collaborate more closely with farmers to help the country achieve better food security.
The appeal was made by Malcolm Borg, coordinator of the farmers’ association Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi, in reaction to the news that the country could have faced a serious food shortage in April had the port of Genoa shut down after workers threatened to strike.

As the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine edges closer in the EU, stakeholders are urging member states to treat the food and drink workforce as a top priority in vaccination plans.

More than half of the population of sub-Saharan Africa works in the agriculture sector, but most farmers in the region still do not have access to formal financial services. Limited access to these services makes it more difficult for farmers to take advantage of business opportunities, invest and save for the future, and insure against risks. 

The COVID-19 pandemic had brought new appreciation for the pivotal role that South Africa’s agriculture sector plays in the provision of healthy, sufficient and affordable food, according to Derek Mathews, chairperson of Grain SA.

A company that produces kunserva has promised farmers it will increase their remuneration for tomatoes by up to a fifth.
The pledge comes after farmers had threatened to cut their tomato supply if the “pittance” they receive for the produce is not improved. Vernons’ “consideration towards the hard work that goes into producing tomatoes” has earned them the endorsement of Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi (United Active Farmers), which is still calling on the other two local processors to pay farmers a “fair price”.

Italy’s Bank of the Lands and Ismea, the Insti­tute of Ser­vices for the Agri­cul­tural Food Mar­ket, have raised much more atten­tion than they expected from young farm­ers seek­ing lands and busi­nesses to cul­ti­vate.
Ismea, the insti­tu­tion behind the ini­tia­tive, noted that in the last few months, 1,709 of what are called ​“new gen­er­a­tion farm­ers” have applied to buy farm­ing lots, groves and fields placed on the mar­ket by the bank.

Food losses and waste (FLW) have been a challenge in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region since long before the COVID-19, but this calamity, that rapidly became an economic crisis, is bringing disruptions to food systems that may manifest in greater levels of FLW. Containment and prevention measures are affecting the complex web of interactions along value chains, involving producers and input/service providers, intermediaries, and consumers.

The exportation of Malta’s most important cash crop, the humble potato, has been thrown into uncertainty this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The crop is worth about €2 million a year to Malta’s farmers. But while they have started to harvest potatoes for export to countries like Holland and Germany, this year they fear a drop in both demand and prices.
The situation is “very fluid and uncertain”, according to Malcolm Borg, head of the farmers’ lobby group Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi.