Title: Tunisia's economy hit by olive oil glut - The Washington Post
Headings: Tunisia is one of the world’s top olive oil producers. But now, it’s facing a crisis of too much.
Tunisia is one of the world’s top olive oil producers. But now, it’s facing a crisis of too much.
Content: Good harvests usually mean cash for weddings or home repairs, farmers say. But this year, they are sinking into debt. Some cannot afford to work their land, jeopardizing future crops. The crisis is having ripple effects as hard-pressed farmers are forgoing annual shopping trips for clothing or household items. Advertisement
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Claire Parker for The Washington Post
The current crisis began in Spain, where surplus olive oil from last season’s huge harvest saturated the market before this season even began. Olive oil prices around the world plummeted, and farmers across Spain staged protests. Climate change, which is causing intense droughts punctuated by seasons of heavy rain, has made Mediterranean olive production even more unpredictable. More than 90 percent of Tunisia’s olive trees are nonirrigated, leaving Tunisia especially vulnerable. Abdelmajid Ezzar, president of the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries, said low prices have hit those in the country’s poorer interior regions particularly hard. On Adel Jamaoui’s farm outside Kairouan, withered black olives litter the ground under trees that Jamaoui cannot afford to harvest.