Cooperative Management

Michel Petit
Etienne Montaigne
Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier
José María García Álvarez-Coque
Konstadinos Mattas
Samir Mili Editors

Sustainable
Agricultural
Development
Challenges and Approaches in Southern
and Eastern Mediterranean Countries
Cooperative Management

Series editors
Constantin Zopounidis, Chania, Greece
George Baourakis, Chania, Greece
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11891
Michel Petit Etienne Montaigne
•

Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier
José María García Álvarez-Coque
Konstadinos Mattas Samir Mili
•

Editors

Sustainable Agricultural
Development
Challenges and Approaches in Southern
and Eastern Mediterranean Countries

123
Editors
Michel Petit José María García Álvarez-Coque
Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Universitat Politecnica de Valencia
Montpellier Valencia
Montpellier Spain
France
Konstadinos Mattas
Etienne Montaigne School of Agriculture
Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Montpellier Thessaloniki
Montpellier Greece
France
Samir Mili
Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cien
Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de CSIC Madrid
Montpellier Madrid
Montpellier Spain
France

ISSN 2364-401X ISSN 2364-4028 (electronic)

Cooperative Management
ISBN 978-3-319-17812-7 ISBN 978-3-319-17813-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015937213

Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media

(www.springer.com)
Foreword

The role of cooperative management entails the formulation and execution of

operating policies that are feasible, sustainable, and sound from a financial, social,
and environmental perspective. Thus, the Book of Series on Cooperative
Management was initiated to provide an invaluable forum for generating theoretical
knowledge and advancing the knowledge on policy, economics, organisational,
financial, and marketing aspects. Within this rationality, the current book is pub-
lished with main focus on the sustainability of Mediterranean communities, which
over the last years try very much to find a sustainable way of coexistence and
economic growth. Scholarly papers appearing in this series relate to several of
cooperative management aspects, contributing in empirical analyses, methodologies
and their application, and also to policy designing.
The present book in the series is devoted to presentation of the collective work of
a research consortium funded by a EU (FP7) project: Sustainable agri-food systems
and rural development in the Mediterranean Partner Countries/SustainMED. The
main aim of this project was to examine and assess the impacts of EU and national
agricultural, rural, environmental, and trade policies in the southern and eastern
Mediterranean region, namely in the so-called Mediterranean Partner Countries
(MPCs), as well as in Turkey. Though the main focus on Mediterranean countries,
the book chapters attract a wider audience of readers since several technical and
methodological tools are used and their application is demonstrated. To accomplish
those objectives, thirteen research and educational institutions from eleven coun-
tries worked intensively for more than three years. All socioeconomic and political
issues such as resource management, income distribution, and employment and
migration trends are tackled in the book.
Hence, this book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, and policy actors
working in the fields of economics, trade, cooperative management, risk manage-
ment, and agricultural policy. Moreover, EU policy makers will gain useful scientific
insights and policy lessons on how to monitor the changing environment, to account
for the rapidly changing patterns, and to assess decisions and policies aiming to
tackle issues such as public welfare and rural poverty alleviation. Moreover, special

v
vi Foreword

attention was paid to sustainability aspects, the role of the private sector, food
security and risk management, trade liberalization, and Euro-Mediterranean
integration.
We would like to thank all members of the CIHEAM—IAM Montpellier
SustainMED research team who coordinated this attempt, as well as all the research
teams that contributed in the compilation of this book. Moreover, we extend our
appreciation to all those involved in the proof reading of this book and Springer
Academic Publications, for their assistance in producing this book.

Constantin Zopounidis
George Baourakis
Acknowledgments

The author wants to acknowledge all those who made the project and this book
possible, particularly Etienne Montaigne who was the coordinator of the
SustainMED project, other members of the coordinating committee (Fatima El
Hadad, José María García Álvarez-Coque, and Samir Mili), all the participants in
the project who co-authored the various chapters of this book, the two faithful
outside project advisers (Tomas Garcia-Azcarate and Mohamed Ben Saïd), our
‘secretary cum administrator’ (Virginie Avignon), and, last but not least, our col-
league from MAICh who served as ‘editor of the last resort’ (Eleni Stamataki,
Georgios Manthoulis). All worked very hard to make this book a truly cooperative
undertaking.

vii
Contents

1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development

in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries. . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Michel Petit

2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural

Development in Egypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Ibrahim Soliman

3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development

in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries:
The Case of Morocco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Abdelkader Ait El Mekki and Ezzobir Ghanmat

4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia: From a Seemingly

Solid Performance to Unsustainable Revealed Achievements . . . . . 83
Boubaker Thabet, Abderraouf Laajimi, Chokri Thabet
and Moncef Bensaïd

5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies Compatible

with Achieving Sustainable Agriculture in Turkey? . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Selim Cagatay, Taylan Kıymaz and Reyhan Özeş

6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies

in the Mediterranean Partner Countries: Putting
a Retrospective Overview in Context with Future Prospects . . . . . 145
Konstadinos Mattas, Konstantinos Galanopoulos
and George Baourakis

ix
x Contents

7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern

and Eastern Mediterranean Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Lorena Tudela-Marco, José María García Álvarez-Coque
and Victor Martínez-Gómez

8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain

Analysis: Fresh Orange Export Sector in Mediterranean
Partner Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Christopher Sausman, Marian Garcia, Andrew Fearne,
Melanie Felgate, Akka Ait El Mekki, Selim Cagatay,
Ibrahim Soliman, Boubaker Thabet, Chokri Thabet,
Mohamed Ben Saïd, Abderraouf Laajimi, Haitham Al Ashkar,
Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier, Samir Mili and Carolina Martínez

9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco . . . . 227

Etienne Montaigne, Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier and Leila Khefifi

10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry in Southern

Mediterranean Countries: Policy Impacts and Challenges. . . . . . . 255
Kyösti Arovuori, Paula Horne, Matleena Kniivilä, Samir Mili,
Perttu Pyykkönen and Javier Martinez-Vega

11 Food Security in MPC’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Fabian Capitanio

12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing

the Management of Safety Risk in the Fresh Produce
Sector: Contrasting Morocco and Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Jean-Marie Codron, Hakan Adanacioğlu, Magali Aubert,
Zouhair Bouhsina, Abdelkader Ait El Mekki, Sylvain Rousset,
Selma Tozanli and Murat Yercan

13 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Michel Petit, Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier,
José María García Álvarez-Coque, Samir Mili,
Konstadinos Mattas and Etienne Montaigne
Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Michel Petit Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier, Montpellier,

France
Etienne Montaigne Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier,
Montpellier, France
Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier,
Montpellier, France
José María García Álvarez-Coque Universitat Politecnica de Valencia,
Valencia, Spain
Konstadinos Mattas School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Thessaloniki, Greece
Samir Mili Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cien CSIC Madrid, Madrid,
Spain

Contributors

Hakan Adanacioğlu is an associate professor at the Department of Agricultural

Economics, Ege University. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2009 at the Department of
Agricultural Economics, Ege University. His research is concentrated on agricul-
tural marketing, agricultural market information systems, marketing of organic
products, farm management, and rural development. He has published extensively
on agricultural marketing. He has also been involved in research projects funded by
the EU and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
(TÜBİTAK) on topics such as food safety, the efficiency of marketing channels for
organic products, and the alleviating poverty in the rural area.

xi
xii Editors and Contributors

Abdelkader Ait El Mekki is professor of Agricultural and Food Economics and

Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the National School of
Agriculture in Meknes (ENA), Morocco. He graduated in Rural Economics from
Laval University, Canada, in 1992, and obtained his Ph.D. in Agricultural
Economics at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, in 2000. From 2007 to
2012, he has been appointed as Director of the Research office at ENA. In addition
to his duty as faculty member, Dr. Ait El Mekki is regularly assigned as consultant
to national and international institutions including the Moroccan government, the
World Bank, the EU, FAO, UNDP, IFAD, IAEA, USAID, GIZ, and private
organizations. His scientific interests include agriculture and food chain analysis,
international trade, policy analysis, and development economics.
José María García Álvarez-Coque is professor of Agricultural Economics at the
Universitat Politècnica de València-UPV. He is currently chairing the Research
Group on International Economics and Development, a research unit dealing with
international agricultural issues. Between 2001 and 2007, he was chairing the
Spanish Association of Agricultural Economists.
Mr. Kyösti Arovuori is an Agricultural Economist at the Pellervo Economic
Research PTT, Finland.
Magali Aubert is a researcher in agricultural economics at the French National
Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), Montpellier, France, and is a member of
UMR MOISA (Montpellier, France). Her main research interests are on the study
of the pesticide risk management in agri-food supply chains and the study of farm
dynamics especially in France, Morocco, and Turkey. Her expertise covers the
processing and analysis of large and complex databases, as well as the application
of econometric methods for qualitative dependent variables and time series.
George Baourakis is the Director of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of
Chania (MAICh) since June 2012, and the Studies and Research Coordinator of the
Business Economics and Management Department of MAICh since 1989. He is an
affiliate professor in Marketing and Supply Chain Management, at the Centre of
Entrepreneurship, Nyenrode University, The Netherlands Business School. He has
been appointed as distinguished research fellow in Food Marketing Management at
several universities. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Food
Products Marketing (Routledge), the Journal of Food Economics (Taylor &
Francis), the Journal of Computational Optimization in Economics and Finance
(Nova Publishers), and he is also associate editor of the Journal of Agricultural and
Food Economics (Springer) and co-editor of the Book Series Cooperative
Management (Springer International Publishing AG). He has published numerous
papers in internationally refereed scientific journals, presented extensively at
international conferences, and authored/co-authored several scientific and academic
books and special issues which have been distributed by renowned publishing
houses.
Editors and Contributors xiii

Mohamed Ben Saïd is a former Engineer General with the rank of full professor
at the National Institute of Agriculture (INAT), Tunisia. He holds a degree in
Agricultural Engineering from the National High Agronomic School of Toulouse
(France) and a Diploma from the Institute of International Studies and
Development—Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences (Toulouse, France). He is
the pioneer of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the National Institute
of agriculture (INAT) where he spent all of his professional career before he
moved to advisory work at the Ministry of Agriculture, and then to the Ministry
for Manpower Development where he became Deputy Minister. His research and
advisory work focus on the issues of food security and sustainable agricultural
development. Mr. Ben Saïd is involved in advisory work and counseling. He
collaborated extensively with international institutions both at the European level
and within the Maghreb. Among other things, he chaired the committee of experts
for food security for the Maghreb countries and more recently, he was a member
of the strategic committee for the SustainMED Project.
Zouhair Bouhsina is a researcher in agricultural economics at the French National
Institute of Agronomic research and is a member of UMR MOISA (Montpellier,
France). He received his Ph.D. from Lille University of Sciences and Technologies
(UST-Lille), France. His research interests focus on the coordination mechanisms
between actors of the food value chain, especially those dealing with the safety risk
in fresh fruit and vegetables chains. His previous research work focused on the
analysis of the link between innovation and labor in the food industry.
Selim Cagatay He earned his Ph.D. degree in Economics from Lincoln University,
New Zealand. He has the position of full professor in the Economics Department of
Akdeniz University, Turkey. He is the former Director of the Centre for Economic
Research on Mediterranean Countries and former Editor of the Akdeniz University
Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Journal. His main fields of
research are as follows: sustainable development, poverty, policy analysis, and
modeling. Currently, he is leading the research team “Policy Analysis and
Modeling Group (PAMG)” and is in the executive board of “Local Products and
Geographical Indications Research Network in Turkey”. He has published exten-
sively in his research fields and worked in various capacities both in domestic and
international research projects.
Fabian Capitanio is an agricultural economist who teaches as associated professor
at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy). His research is focussed mainly in
issues relating to common agricultural policy, risk management in agriculture,
credit and innovation in agriculture, climate change, and food security. He received
his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and Policy at the University of Naples
Federico II and M.Phil in Environmental Economics at the University of York
(UK). He is a scientific expert of the European Parliament and was appointed by the
Minister of Agriculture for the Commission “Legal Food”, established at the
Mipaaf for the Milan Expo 2015. He has been project leader of several funded
xiv Editors and Contributors

projects, and he has written as author of dozens of articles published in major

journals in the field of agricultural economics and policy.
Jean-Marie Codron is a Director of Research at the French National Institute for
Agronomic Research, in the Department of Economics and Social Sciences, and has
served as Deputy Director of MOISA (Markets, Organizations, Institutions and
Actors’ Strategies), a public joint research laboratory of about 100 professors,
researchers, and Ph.D. students, involved in social sciences (economics, manage-
ment, and Socio-anthropology) (2004–2008). He graduated from the “Ecole
Polytechnique” in Paris in 1972, and then from ENGREF in 1975. He obtained his
Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at the University of Montpellier in 1979. He
benefited from a two-year sabbatical leave at Michigan State University, in the
Department of Agricultural Economics (1996–1998). His interest focuses on three
main lines of research: economics of contracts, economics of the firm, and eco-
nomics of market institutions with applications to “complex” food sectors (in
particular the fresh produce sector), where product quality is difficult to measure
and/or to signal to the consumer. He is an expert of the French and global fresh
produce industry and has dedicated a great part of his recent research to the safety
management issues in fresh produce chains and to contractual relationships between
exporters and importers of fresh produce. He is an associate professor at
Montpellier Supagro and teaches the New Institutional Economics course (back-
ground and application to the food sector).
Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier researcher and scientific administrator at the
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-MAI Montpellier) holds
a Ph.D. in Agro-food Economics from Montpellier I University (France). She is
involved in courses, research, and cooperation activities dealing with the agro-food
supply chain in the Mediterranean countries, agricultural policies, and Euro-
Mediterranean trade agreement negotiations. She is also a member of MOISA Research
Unit (Markets, Organisations, Institutions and Actors’ Strategies). She participated in
the scientific coordination of research programs financed by the EU Commission and
coordinated by MAI Montpellier, such as EuMed Agpol Project (FP6—2006–2010) on
“Impacts of Agricultural Trade liberalization between the EU and Mediterranean
countries” and SustainMED Project (FP7—2010–2013) on “Sustainable agri-food
systems and rural development in the Mediterranean Partner Countries.”
Andrew Fearne is Professor of Food Marketing and Value Chain Management and
the Director of Master’s in Value Chain Management at Kent Business School,
University of Kent. Since 2005, Andrew took up a position as principal research fellow
at Kent Business School, University of Kent, where he established a strategic part-
nership with retail consultants, dunnhumby, to provide farmers and small food pro-
ducers with access to crucial market and product insights using Tesco Clubcard data.
Melanie Felgate has almost ten years of experience in researching and analysing
consumer insight related to the food and beverage industry and currently works as
an analyst in the private sector. Melanie completed her Ph.D. at Kent Business
Editors and Contributors xv

School where her research focused on using supermarket loyalty card data from
Britain’s largest retailer to analyse the impact of price promotions on consumer
purchasing behaviour for red meat.
Konstantinos Galanopoulos is a professor of Agricultural Economics and Policy
at the Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace,
Greece. After studying at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (B.Sc. in
Economics), he obtained an M.Sc. in Agricultural and Food Marketing from the
University of Wales, UK, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the
University of Thessaloniki. He teaches courses on economic theory, macroeco-
nomic analysis, and agricultural economics. His particular research interests are in
the fields of agricultural production and policy analysis with applications to the
agro-food sector as well as in empirical issues of productivity analysis and livestock
management. He has published several peer-reviewed papers, served as a referee to
several international journals, and is currently Section Editor for Livestock Science.
Marian Garcia is a Reader in Marketing at Kent Business School, University of
Kent and Director of Kent Business School Open Innovation Network. Marian has
a Ph.D. in Food Economics from Reading University. Marian’s primary research
interests relate to New Product Development and Innovation Management, in
particular how SMEs use consumer insights to enhance their innovation
performance.
Ezzobir Ghanmat is an Agroeconomist holding a M.Sc. degree in Agricultural
Economics from the National School of Agriculture in Meknes. He currently works
with the Inter-professional Office of Cereals and Legumes (ONICL), Morocco.
Paula Horne is a Research Director in Forest Economics at the Pellervo Economic
Research PTT, Finland.
Taylan Kıymaz graduated from Middle East Technical University Food
Engineering Department in 1992. In 1993, he started working in the State Planning
Organization (SPO) as assistant planning expert. After becoming a planning expert
in 1997, he has been sent to the USA, Purdue University for a master degree in
Agricultural Economics by the government. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics
from Hacettepe University in 2007. He has been occupying the Head of Department
of Agriculture position in the Ministry of Development (ex-SPO) since October
2012. He has given lectures in Middle East Technical University and Hacettepe
University on food and agricultural economics and policies. He has several pub-
lications and studies related to agricultural economics and policies, the food sector,
and policy and legislative issues.
Matleena Kniivilä Ph.D. is a Forest Economist at the Pellervo Economic Research
PTT, Finland.
Abderraouf Laajimi is professor of Agricultural Economics at the National
Institute of Agriculture, Tunisia (INAT). He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics
from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and has a sound experience in academic
xvi Editors and Contributors

research and development. He coordinated several projects and research activities in

the framework of international cooperation (CIHEAM, EU-FP7, FP6, AECI-PCI,
CIDA, and FAO) including policy analysis and sustainability issues in food and
consumption analysis. He also conducted several studies with international and
national organizations. He has authored and co-authored many research papers and
scientific publications. Dr. Laajmi is an active member of international networks
particularly at the Mediterranean level and is a member of the editorial advisory
board for international scientific journals.
Victor Martínez-Gómez is associate professor at Universitat Politècnica de
Valencia, where he works at the Department of Economics and Social Sciences. He
is developing his research at the Research Group on International Economics and
Development, working on several research topics related to the agro-food trade and
agricultural policies.
Konstadinos Mattas is a professor of Agricultural Policy at the Department of
Agricultural Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His educa-
tion includes a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a
B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Macedonia, a M.Sc. in Agricultural
Economics from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural
Economics from the University of Kentucky. He has published in more than 100
international refereed journals, in collective volumes and proceedings. He has
contributed to international and Greek conferences and served as a referee to several
international journals. He is an expert in impact and agricultural policy analysis and
has extensive experience in participating and coordinating European, international
and national research projects. In addition, he has served for six years in the Board
of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Agricultural
Economists (EAAE) and the Greek Association of Agricultural Economics
(ETAGRO). He is a managing editor of the international scientific journal
“Agricultural Economics Review” and a member of the editorial board of several
international scientific journals.
Samir Mili is Senior Researcher and Head of the Agri-Food Economics Research
Group at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid. He obtained his Ph.D.
in Agricultural Economics from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 1995. His
research centres on economic and policy analysis related to agriculture and the food
chain, with particular emphasis on Mediterranean products. He has coordinated
projects and published widely in these areas including eight books and over 60
professional publications. He has extensive collaboration with Spanish and
European universities, as well as with various international organisations. He has
received several academic distinctions including the National Prize for Agricultural
Publications awarded by the Spanish Government.
Etienne Montaigne is professor of Rural Economics and Agribusiness in
Montpellier SupAgro. He is the dean of the JUR—Joint Unit of research MOISA—
Markets, Organizations, Institutions, and Strategies of Actors, which includes 110
Editors and Contributors xvii

people depending on four administrative supervision organizations: INRA,

Montpellier SupAgro, CIRAD, and CIHEAM-IAMM. Two main axes guided its
research: the market chains and market economics on the one hand, and the eco-
nomics of innovation and technological change research, on the other hand. He
analyses the economic conditions of the genesis of technological innovations
referring to the evolutionary theory. He developed the concept of “innovation
chains” driving the technological change of food product market chains. His applied
research focused on plant material biotechnologies (in viticulture and citrus
industry), enology (membrane technologies), waste water abatement techniques,
and technology transfer (flash release).
He has taught in many countries, especially in Ethiopia as part of the doctoral
program implemented in Addis Ababa University on food security. He supervises
Ph.D. students in Europe, the Maghreb and Africa, especially on dairy production
and innovation. He still is one of the specialists of the global wine industries’
economics and the European market regulation (wine CMO), with contributions on
the supply management (planting rights), the lack of economies of scales (wine-
growing), and the impact of standards on competitiveness.
Reyhan Özeş is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Economics Department of
Akdeniz University, Turkey, where she also obtained her M.Sc. degree. Her main
research fields are energy economics, input–output analysis, and bioenergy.
Michel Petit is an agriculturalist (Ingénieur Agronome, Paris 1958) having become
economist (Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1964). He was a researcher at the
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA, France), Professor at
ENSSAA in Dijon, France (1968–1988), Program Adviser in the Delhi Office of the
Ford Foundation (1975–1977), Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development
Department of the World Bank (1988–1994), where he then created and led a
special unit supporting agricultural research. He subsequently returned to France in
1998 and was Professor of Agricultural Economics at the Institut National
Agronomique Paris-Grignon, now Agro-Paristech, creating a new research and
teaching unit on public policies (1999–2003). He has now been associated with the
Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen in Montpellier (France) since 1999, where he
has published extensively on agricultural policies in the Euro-Med region.
Perttu Pyykkönen Ph.D. is a Research Director in Agriculture and Food at the
Pellervo Economic Research PTT, Finland.
Sylvain Rousset is an agricultural policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), Paris, France, and an affiliated researcher
at the National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and
Agriculture (IRSTEA), Bordeaux, France. He graduated from the Paris Institute of
Technology in 1998 and obtained his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of
Burgundy in 2004. Before joining the OECD, he was a researcher at IRSTEA, and
previously a policy analyst at the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. His
research interests focus on organizational economics, with application to
xviii Editors and Contributors

coordination mechanisms in food value chains, voluntary standards, and agri-

environmental schemes.
Christopher Sausman is a Ph.D. student at Kent Business School where his main
area of research is exploring how social capital is formed in Global Value Chains
within the context of Peru’s Alternative Development Program. Christopher
currently works as a senior researcher in the private sector, specialising in large-
scale quantitative consumer research projects in a range of sectors, including
supermarkets, financial services and utilities.
Dr. Ibrahim Soliman is currently a full professor at the Department of
Agricultural Economics of the Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University in Egypt.
He is also a member of the scientific committee for promotion of the associate and
full professors in the Egyptian Universities. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Agricultural
Economics from the Department of Economics of Iowa State University in USA, in
1978. He worked as a university staff member for 10 years in Ain Shams University
in Cairo, before moving to Zagazig University. He also was an establisher of the
Desert Development Center of the American University in Cairo where he worked
as a research professor till 1985. He acted as a visiting research professor for at the
Department of Agricultural Economics of the University of California Davis,
Stanford University, University of Maryland, Iowa State University in USA as well
as the University of Wales in the UK, and at the Beijing University of Agricultural
Engineering during the period 1981–2009, on issues related to agricultural policies
and development of middle and African countries.
Prof. Soliman worked as an economic advisor for the Ministries of Food Supply
and Internal Trade and the Ministers of Foreign Trade in Egypt in the period 1986–
2007. He is an international economic consultant of FAO, AOAD (Arab
Organization for Agricultural Development of Arab League), and Care International
and the Ford Foundation. During the period 1979–2013, he was the principal
investigator of 24 regional Projects on Agricultural Development financed by US-
AID, USDA, AOAD, and EU. He has published more than 200 research papers, 75
of them in international conferences and cited journals.
Boubaker Thabet is a former professor in agricultural and quantitative methods at
the National Institute for Agriculture (INAT), Tunisia. He holds an agricultural
Engineering degree from INAT; a master’s degree from the University of
Minnesota in Agricultural Economics; and a Ph.D. degree also in Agricultural
Economics from Oklahoma State University. His research interests are in public
policy analysis and economic development issues. During his professional career,
he collaborated with international institutions such as FAO, ICARDA, CIHEAM,
and the Ford Foundation. Dr. Thabet was a visiting professor in the Department of
Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
USA and at the CIHZAM Institutes (Montpellier, France and Chania, Greece). He
has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications and co-authored several
book chapters related to policy and/or development issues and risk analysis. He
coordinated several research projects in Tunisia and the MENA region. For seven
Editors and Contributors xix

years, he was a representative of the Government of Tunisia at the International

Olive Council, Madrid, Spain. Presently, he is an independent consultant.
Chokri Thabet is an associate professor of Agricultural Economics at the Higher
Agronomic Institute of Chott Meriem (ISA-CM), Tunsia. He followed his graduate
studies at the National Institute of Agriculture, Tunisia (INAT) and worked as a Chief
Engineer at the Ministry for Employment and Manpower Development; Tunisia. He
got his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 2003 at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure
Agronomique de Rennes, France. Over the past 15 years, his research activities have
been directed toward a better understanding of the agricultural and economic policy
reform impacts. More precisely, water management policies, trade liberalization, and
poverty issues are his main themes of interest. He coordinated several research
projects dealing with trade liberalization and environmental issues, value chain and
water pricing policies. Furthermore, he worked as consultant with UN-ESCWA,
UNECA, World Bank, and CIMMYT for those issues. He also constructed several
SAMs and CGE models for a number of countries (Tunisia, Ghana, Kenya, and
Syria). He is the author of more than twenty scientific publications and an active
member in many international networks [Economic Research Forum (ERF), Global
Development Network (GDN), and Poverty and Economic Policy (PEP)].
Selma Tozanli has a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology obtained in 1973 at
the Middle East Technical University (Ankara), a doctorate degree in Agri-food
Economics obtained in 1981 at the Université de Montpellier I, Faculté du Droit et
des Sciences Economiques, and an habilitation degree obtained in 2010 in Strategic
Management at the University of Montpellier I, Faculté des Sciences de Gestion.
Since 1983, she has been working as a researcher at the Centre International
des Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes—Institut Agronomique
Méditerranéen de Montpellier (France). Selma Tozanli specializes in the study
of the global agri-food value chains with special emphasis on the strategies of the
main players in food processing and food retailing. She also works on the food
chains and typical local food products in the Mediterranean.
Lorena Tudela-Marco is a researcher at Universitat Politècnica de Valencia. Her
work concerns areas of food economics, short supply chains, and rural develop-
ment. She has taken part in projects to do with development processes in Honduras
and Turkey.
Murat Yercan is a full professor of Agricultural Economics at the Ege University,
Turkey, in the Department of Agricultural Economics. He obtained his Ph.D. in
1996 at the same university. He received postgraduate diploma from the
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Greece. He has participated in
international short- and long-term education programs and study visits on coop-
erative management, rural development, environmental impact assessment, partic-
ipatory management of natural resources, and marketing management of organic
products. He has been involved in EU founded and nationally funded research
projects. His research is mainly concentrated on economics of collective produc-
tion, water resource management in agriculture, agricultural marketing, consumer
behavior, and rural development practices.
Chapter 1
The Challenges of Sustainable
Agricultural Development in Southern
and Eastern Mediterranean Countries

Michel Petit

The development of agriculture and rural areas in Southern and Eastern

Mediterranean countries (SEMCs) faces very serious challenges. This is well
understood, as illustrated by the following statement from the meeting of the
CIHEAM Ministers of Agriculture held in Malta in September 20121 (CIHEAM
2012): “Current food consumption and production patterns are not sustainable in
the Mediterranean basin due to biodiversity loss, degradation of natural resources,
pesticide contamination, climate change, high energy and water consumption,
dietary patterns and changes in eating habits, and high dependency on imports, as
well as poverty and vulnerability of many rural and urban Mediterranean com-
munities, and particularly the erosion of the Mediterranean diet”.
This statement is quoted here because all the ingredients of the historical chal-
lenges faced today by SEMCs2 in the field of agriculture and rural development are
mentioned in this five-line summary. Another formulation of the problems faced
by SEMCs has been well summarized by Bessaoud, quoting in particular

1
CIHEAM, the ‘Centre International des Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes’ is an
inter-governmental organization, gathering 13 governments of countries located around the
Mediterranean sea (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Albania, Greece, Italy,
France, Spain, Portugal and Malta). In recent times, the Ministers of Agriculture of these countries
have met about every second year to exchange ideas, formulate diagnoses, suggest policy rec-
ommendations and identify potential areas of collaboration. Strictly speaking, the statement quoted
here was not formally adopted by the Ministers but appears in the conclusion of a seminar
organized on the occasion of the ministerial meeting. It does however represent a broad consensus
view among government circles in these very diverse countries.
2
This grouping of countries refers to countries belonging to the Mediterranean geographic area,
characterized mainly by its climate and flora, located on the Southern and Eastern shores of the
Mediterranean sea. It is made up of nine so-called Mediterranean Arab countries (MACs:
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria), plus
Israel and Turkey. Situations vary much among these countries, which limits the validity of any
general statement; yet, there are common elements and they all face more or less similar
challenges.

M. Petit (&)
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAM.M), Montpellier, France
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 1

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_1
2 M. Petit

a CIHEAM-AFD set of studies (Bessaoud and Montaigne 2009; Bessaoud 2013),

and listing the major problems to be faced: “crisis of peasant agricultures, poverty
and fragility of rural societies, advanced degradation of natural resources, major
inequalities in the access to resources: land, finances and material”.
In this introduction, we will first come back to each one of these main chal-
lenges, trying to be specific on the nature and magnitude of the challenges.
Secondly, since the main purpose of this book is to report the results of a large
research project on the sustainability of agriculture in SEMCs (the SustainMED
project), we will briefly describe the project and then introduce the chapters of the
book as contributions from the SustainMED project.

1.1 Import Dependency

Although import dependency is not the first challenge or concern mentioned in the
statement above, we choose to discuss it first here because it is indeed a major
structural feature of many countries, but mainly because it is the starting point of
most projection and foresight analyses of the region.3 The main concern expressed
then is that of a region depending on outside suppliers for the provision of its basic
foodstuff. Actually, the region depends heavily on imports for only a few com-
modities in addition to tropical products which cannot be produced locally: cereals,
sugar, oils and oilseeds, as well as dairy products. It is for cereals that the total
import bill for the whole region is the largest (more than US$12 billion in recent
years) in spite of Turkey often being a net cereal exporter. Given the importance of
cereals in the diet of most people, particularly the poorest, this cereal import
dependency is the source of a major concern with economic, social and political
ramifications. The root cause of this concern is the awareness that the demand for
cereals has been growing and will continue to do so—due mainly to demographic
and economic growth—while there are serious constraints limiting the growth of
domestic production.
As a result, IPEMED experts (Bourgeois et al. 2012) wrote at the very beginning
of their report devoted to a proposal for a new Euro-Mediterranean agricultural and
food policy: “In 2008, the agricultural and food import bill of the SEMCs reached
the abyssal figure of 57 billion dollars, that is almost three times as much as in
2000… Food insecurity in the region unfortunately keeps growing and constitutes
one of the factors of the unprecedented political crisis the SEMCs are going
through.” A similar concern is expressed by Abis (2012a, b), a keen observer of the
geopolitical situation in the region, when he writes: “The dependency of the
Mediterranean Arab countries on international markets is growing, as a conse-
quence of a multidimensional regime of constraints (ecological, demographic,
logistical) and of a stronger and stronger purchasing power of the population,

3
Cheriet (2013), Abis (2012b), Cheriet (2009).
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 3

having led to a major diversification of food demand. Between 1990 and 2010, the
volume of agricultural imports of the four North African countries (Algeria, Egypt,
Morocco and Tunisia) trebled, from 9 to 27 billion Euros. These sums represent a
considerable share of public budgets” (Abis 2012a, b).
These citations reflect the fact that food import dependency has several impor-
tant economic and political consequences. Firstly, there is a security dimension:
with the Middle East and North African regions being the most food import
dependent regions of the world, officials legitimately worry about their ability to
secure supplies in times of crisis. Indeed, the experience of the 2008 crisis showed
that governments of the region were willing to go to great lengths in order to ensure
a reasonable degree of food supply security at the national level (Lerin et al. 2009).
This leads immediately to the next dimension: the huge costs of that security, in
terms of both balance of payments and public budgets. Finally, the fact that most
governments of the region intervene massively on the markets for basic foodstuff
illustrates the high political sensitivity of the food security issues resulting from that
import dependency.
Given the magnitude of this concern, one wonders whether or not something can
be done about it. Two challenges are thus identified by this question: (1) Can
domestic production be increased? (2) Can agricultural and food imports be better
managed?
The common wisdom on production is that natural resource constraints are so
limiting that little can be done to increase domestic agricultural production. Yet, a
look at past trends over several decades suggests that the past performance of
agricultural growth in the region was not as dismal as commonly believed.
According to the Agrimonde4 exercise, which examined scenarios for world agri-
culture until 2050, based on past performances between 1961 and 2003, total
agricultural production—measured in Kilocalories (an energy equivalent)—in the
Middle East and North Africa regions, where SEMCs have a very important weight,
increased at a faster rate than the world average, less rapidly than in Asia and Latin
America but faster than in the former Soviet Union and even in the OECD coun-
tries. Similarly, according to Belghazi (2013), the share of SEMCs (minus Palestine
and Libya) in world agricultural production remained constant at 5.5 % throughout
the 1994–2007 period.5 Again here, there were significant differences among
countries: “In 2005–2007, five countries, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and
Syria, made up more than 91 % of the total agricultural production of the SEMCs
(minus Palestine and Libya). During the same period, Turkey accounted for about
39 % of the SEMC-9 agricultural GDP, Egypt for 25.5 %, Morocco for nearly
10 %, and Algeria for slightly more than 9 %. The average growth of agricultural
output between 1994–1995 and 2005–2007 was the highest for Algeria and Syria,
slower for Egypt, Israel and Tunisia and the slowest for Morocco, Jordan, Turkey

4
Paillard et al. (2010).
5
For the sake of comparison, this 5.5 % figure should be compared to the share of world population
in the SEMCs, which is about 4 %.
4 M. Petit

and Lebanon.”6 In the same vein, available evidence suggests that most of the
production growth can be attributed to productivity growth. Thus, the average land
productivity increased by a factor of about 3 in four decades, but at about
15,000 kcal/day/ha, it remained well below that of Asia and Latin America (Paillard
et al. 2010).
Another important feature of domestic agricultural production in the SEMCs is its
extreme variability from year-to-year. The yields of cereals, the main product in these
countries, depend very much on rainfall. This influence of the weather is so important
that in some countries, notably Morocco, it has a significant macroeconomic impli-
cation, as it affects the overall economic growth performance of the country.
Of course, cereals are but only one among many categories of agricultural
products, albeit a major one, and their relative importance, both in production and
consumption, is declining. Many past debates have focussed on the appropriate
level of diversification of agricultural production, particularly on how much SEMCs
should give up on cereals and specialize in fruits and vegetables, products for which
they have a clear comparative advantage on international markets. Of course, such a
choice would risk increasing the import dependency for cereals and, as further
discussed below, it would have implications for the many poor semi-subsistence
farmers located in dry remote areas, who are producers and sellers of cereals. Given
all these considerations, it should be clear that accelerating the rate of growth of
domestic production involves many challenges for public authorities in SEMCs.
The second question raised above, whether or not agricultural and food imports
could be better managed, has not received much attention by analysts and
observers, as reflected by the small number of references on this topic in the
literature. Yet, the question is important. As already indicated, governments of the
region took far-reaching decisions in response to the 2008 crisis. Analyzing those
decisions, their rationale and their impacts would be both interesting—to under-
stand how governments behave—and useful for decision makers—to assess whe-
ther or not decisions of this type could be improved, in terms of public welfare, in
future crisis situations. This is an interesting agenda for research, which however
was not tackled in the SustainMED project. Another dimension of the management
of food imports has to do with infrastructure and logistics. This was not investigated
either in the SustainMED project. For interesting reflections on this topic, showing
its importance in particular, see Abis (2012a, b).

1.2 Stubborn Rural Poverty

Poverty, particularly rural poverty, has been and remains a major issue in SEMCs.
In this respect, Israel and Turkey face a set of specific problems, less acute that
those faced by most Mediterranean Arab countries, even if they are at times

6
Belghazi (2013).
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 5

politically important. Thus, the focus of this section will be mainly on the Arab
countries. For them, the challenges associated with increasing agricultural pro-
duction, which we just discussed, are compounded by those arising from the need to
fight rural poverty, which makes the choice and pursuit of an appropriate agricul-
tural and rural development strategy particularly difficult. Rural poverty situations
vary much from one country to another. So, to be meaningful, discussions in this
section will be conducted at the national level. To illustrate the problems and the
progress made in recent decades, we will focus here on four key countries: Egypt,
Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. Those are the countries which received particular
attention in the SustainMED project. First a few figures for each country will
illustrate the magnitude of the problem and the real progress made in recent
decades:
– In Egypt, the real expenditures per capita (as measured by household expen-
diture surveys, i.e. a robust indicator) increased by 93 % in urban areas between
1975 and 2009, whereas it increased by 78 % in rural areas during the same
period. Admittedly, this represents a slow and uneven growth, but still a sig-
nificant achievement.
– In Morocco, the same indicator, real average expenditures per capita, increased
by 66 % between 1990/91 and 2006/07, the year of the most recent household
survey, the average rate of growth being slightly higher in rural areas, which
however, as further discussed below, continue to lag behind urban areas.
– Tunisia has had an impressive record of poverty reduction over the years,
cutting the level of poverty (using the national poverty line) from 40 % in 1960
to 2.8 % in 2010, according to official figures. At the same time, the growth rate
of population declined and life expectancy increased markedly while
improvements were achieved in education programs, access to health care and
basic infrastructure. The distribution of income also improved: the GINI coef-
ficient for income per capita fell from 0.434 in 1985 to 0.408 in 2008 (UNDP
2010), and average per capita expenditures for the country as a whole increased,
reaching 3872 (PPP) US$ in 2008.
– In Turkey there has also been great progress in the fight against poverty during
the last five decades. The poverty ratio, defined as the proportion of people with
income less than 50 % of the median income, decreased from about 49 % in
1968 to 34 % in 1987 and 16 % in 2008. The GINI coefficient for income per
capita decreased from 0.56 in 1968 to 0.43 in 1987 and to 0.38 in 2005.
Yet poverty, particularly rural poverty, remains a major issue in all four coun-
tries. The greatest challenge is probably faced by Egypt where the population
density is generally very high, even in rural areas, particularly in the Nile delta
(more than 900 persons per square km in 2007 in rural “Lower Egypt”, not
including the four urban governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said).
Generally speaking, the poor are concentrated in rural areas and particularly those
in Upper Egypt. Interestingly, the distribution of income, as measured by the GINI
coefficient, is less unequal in rural areas; but social well-being indicators show that
rural areas continue to lag behind, in terms of literacy and access to sanitation
6 M. Petit

facilities, in particular, whereas they seem to have caught up in their access to safe
drinking water.
Poverty is also a major problem in rural Morocco, as reflected in the average
monthly household income of 3900 DH (i.e. around 350 Euros at the official
exchange rate, which is probably overvalued) in rural areas, nearly 20 % of
households having a monthly income of less than 1930 DH. In spite of real progress
in the last 30 years, the UNDP human development indicator ranked Morocco the
130th country in the world in 2010, because of a high incidence of poverty in
internal rural regions, poor literacy rates and poor performance of the public health
system, as reflected for instance in high levels of infant mortality. Admittedly, the
situation of the rural population has improved recently: for instance, the literacy rate
for the 15–24 year age group improved from 58 to 79.5 % between 1994 and 2009
—a significant progress indeed—but it is only 72.1 % for girls and young women,
and still less in remote rural areas in spite of spectacular advances in the proportion
of girls attending school.
The poverty situation in Tunisia is generally less acute than in most other Arab
countries. According to the UNDP Human Development Index, Tunisia was ranked
81st in the world in 2010, the value of the index for the country having increased
from 0.436 in 1990 to 0.683 in 2010, whereas the average for Arab countries
increased from 0.398 to 0.590 during the same period. In addition, poverty seems to
be mainly concentrated in urban areas, which account now for about 75 % of the
poor population, as compared to about half in 1975. As a result, the rural poor
accounted in 2007 for only 27 % of the total poor population. Yet, as the dramatic
events of Sidi Bouzid showed, where the 2011 revolution started, rural poverty
remains a major problem. Sidi Bouzid is a town of some 50,000 inhabitants located
in the interior of the country, in a region where the economy depends heavily on
agriculture.
In Turkey the situation is less dramatic. In 2009, about 25 % of the total pop-
ulation lives in rural areas (defined as settlements with less than 20,000 inhabitants)
and about 63 % of the rural labor force is employed in agriculture. The main
problems facing rural areas have been summarized as follows: a poorly educated
and unskilled workforce; an ineffective institutional structure and a lack of efficient
farmer organizations; a scattered pattern of settlement in some regions; an insuffi-
cient development and maintenance of physical, social and cultural infrastructure; a
high rate of dependence on subsistence agriculture; inadequate diversification of
agricultural and non-agricultural income-generating activities; a high rate of hidden
unemployment and low income levels; increasing migration; and the ageing char-
acter of the rural population. In short, the situation in Turkey is less severe than in
the other three countries but the nature of rural poverty problems is strikingly
similar in all countries.
The challenge for public policies is how to face that complexity. Among poverty
alleviation policies, prime place has been given to food policies in many countries,
notably in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. The dilemma faced by public
authorities for decades has been striking. The budget share of food is very high
among the poor. Thus, keeping the price of food as low as possible is an effective
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 7

way to protect the poor. But in North Africa, many farmers are also poor and their
welfare is negatively affected by low prices for the products they sell. Hence, in
many countries of the region, public authorities have put in place a complex system
of market interventions, setting a wedge between producer and consumer prices.
Specific measures have varied through time and from country to country; they have
generally included border interventions (e.g. import taxes and physical import
controls, or, mostly in the past, public monopolies) and subsidies of various sorts.
The difference between producer and consumer prices has mainly been born by the
public budget. Admittedly, many of these public interventions have been relaxed
during the process of domestic liberalization in the 1980s and 90s. But this liber-
alization has only been very partial and the cereal markets, in particular, remain
heavily regulated. As a result, public budget costs have escalated and they will
continue to do so in the future if the policy mix is not radically changed. One can
seriously doubt that such levels of public expenditures can be sustainable in the
long term.
This illustrates one of the thorniest interactions among policy challenges faced
by countries in the region: What is the most appropriate market intervention, given
the import dependency discussed above? And what is the rural poverty alleviation
policy, given the major role given to market interventions in this domain? The link
between these two challenges is critical because agriculture remains the main
source of income for many rural poor. This is true even in cases where many of
them have no, or only limited, access to land and water. Access to these two key
inputs for agricultural production has been a source of major problems in all the
countries under study. This illustrates a close link between the challenges discussed
above and those related to the management of the natural resources which agri-
culture and other rural activities depend on, the topic of the next section.

1.3 Deteriorating Natural Resources

Soil, water and biodiversity, the main natural resources of interest here, are under
threat in many parts of the world. The pressures are particularly acute in the
Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region for a variety of reasons. In addition,
these pressures will only increase with global warming. Great challenges result for
the countries of the region. We will first briefly review here the threats to each one
of these resources.
Soil erosion seems to be rapidly increasing in many dry and remote regions
because the poor rural population cannot afford the investments which would be
necessary for prudent sustainable management of the resource. Short-term pressures
resulting from poverty and demographic growth lead to over-consumption (culti-
vating marginal lands, overgrazing, excessive collection of fuel wood). Besides,
uncertain land tenure, poor literacy, and limited access to credit constitute addi-
tional obstacles to long-term investments. In more well-endowed regions, particu-
larly in the plains, soils are more fertile and often irrigated. Several types of
8 M. Petit

degradation can however be observed: soil salinization in some places, pollution by

excessive use, or inappropriate application, of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
But there, the greatest threat to agricultural soils is urbanization—particularly dif-
fuse in coastal areas. In spite of the magnitude of these problems, sustainable
management of soils does not have in public debates and concerns the urgency
which it warrants. One reason may be the difficulty of finding appropriate indicators
of land degradation, which could be broadly understood by non-specialists and that
could communicate the seriousness of the degradation and could thus become
effective to generate policy action. This is reflected in the limited number of syn-
thetic publications on the subject. One notable exception is a report from the Plan
Bleu based on an extensive review of the literature, but dating back to 2003.7
This report makes it clear that soil degradation takes many forms and results
from a multiplicity of causes. But, as just indicated, few meaningful quantitative
indicators are available. For instance, the report quotes an estimate from FAO
indicating that 15 % of agricultural soils are under an erosion threat in the
Mediterranean region. Is this very little or very serious? Several other experiences
quoted in the report invoke both intellectual humility on the solidity of past diag-
noses and a sense of urgency in spite of past mistakes and failures in efforts to
conserve soils. First, the multiplication of catastrophic floods in cities around the
Mediterranean basin, e.g. Nîmes (1988), Genoa (1993/94), Algiers (2001), point to
the urgency of coping with huge increases in runoff water volumes following the
construction of buildings and roads on large tracts of land. Secondly, the example
of Israel (Gradus and Lipshitz 1996) illustrates how much fertile agricultural soils
can be, and have been, diverted to other uses, particularly in the early 1990s when
the country absorbed more than 600,000 migrants from the former Soviet Union in
a few years. Land use planning rules were not strong enough, or not forcefully
enough implemented, to prevent an anarchic development of construction and to
protect agricultural areas. Finally, the relative failure of soil conservation efforts in
Algeria over several decades has been well documented (Roose et al. 1998): “Over
a total of 350,000 ha treated by the DRS (‘Defense and Restauration of Soils’),
60 % were found to be degraded, 20 % had disappeared and it is not clear that
erosion was ever a threat on the rest of the surface, where terraces were well
maintained.” This disappointing impact is attributed to a complex set of interrelated
causes: started during the colonial period, the projects were not always well
designed, rarely well monitored and followed up, and did not involve the partici-
pation of the local populations. These criticisms illustrate the complexity of soil
conservation problems, which involve the interaction of several natural and social
processes. Taking these limitations into account, new methods of intervention, more
inclusive and targeting together the management of soils, water and biodiversity,
have been suggested and experimented in recent years. Not enough evidence is
available yet to assess their effectiveness. But one thing is sure: the complexity

7
De Franchis et al. (2003). It is worth noting that in our literature search, we did not find anything
comparable that was published more recently.
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 9

which these methods attempt to tackle will continue to be a major source of

challenges.
Water resources are well recognized as a source of major challenges in the
Mediterranean region, which is often presented as a world ‘hot spot’ in this domain
(United Nations Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the
World). Much has been written on the water problems in the press, in official
documents from governments and various international organizations and also in
the scientific literature. A brief synthesis, focusing on fundamentals, will be suffi-
cient for our purpose here. The starting point has to be the concept of water balance,
in spite of its limitations briefly discussed below. The basic idea is simple: since
water is critical to life, will there be enough water resources to cover water needs?
And under what conditions? This indicator reveals for instance the magnitude of
one of the water management challenges faced by SEMCs: in 2009, 108 million
people in the region were in a situation of ‘water stress’ (less than 1000 m3/hab/year
available), 58 % of whom had even less than 500 m3/hab/year (a situation defined
as “water scarcity”) (Blinda and Thivet 2009). All projection works indicate that
this situation can only worsen in the future. Looking first at water needs, it is clear
that they will increase with demographic, urban, and economic growth. Besides,
with irrigated agriculture being by far the largest user of water, much will depend
on whether or not irrigated areas increase and by how much. Two additional
considerations regarding water needs or water uses must be taken into account:
How much can water wastes be reduced or eliminated? How much can water use
efficiency be improved? Reducing wastes and improving water use efficiency are
both obviously desirable because this would improve the water balance by reducing
water consumption. But achieving either one is challenging because it implies
significant changes in the collective behaviour of water users, including new
investments, new institutional rules, and often a redistribution of benefits. This is
difficult everywhere in the world.
On the supply side, there is no simple solution either. Not much can be done
about increasing rainfall. Besides, all the available model simulations of the impact
of global warming indicate that total rainfall will decrease in most regions of the
SEMCs. Rainfall patterns will become more erratic and less evenly distributed,
which will make rainfall harvesting and storage more challenging. In some parts of
the region groundwater resources are relatively abundant. But many of these are not
renewable and some are already overexploited, as is being done on a large scale in
Libya. Several countries rely also on so-called “non-conventional” resources, such
as the treatment and reuse of waste water, reflecting the high degree of water stress
in the region. Generally speaking, it is the poorest people, in rural areas and also in
urban ones, who suffer most from water scarcity. In several countries, the pro-
portion of the rural population without access to drinking water is high by inter-
national standards.
What is the public policy agenda resulting from this difficult water situation?
Interesting answers to this question can be derived from a comprehensive assess-
ment of water resource availability and use in the region, conducted by the Plan
Bleu in 2005 (Benoît et al. 2005). Two scenarios were considered: According to the
10 M. Petit

first one, based on the extension of past trends, water use would increase
significantly by 2025, several countries would increase their use of fossil, non-
renewable resources and more than 80 million people would find themselves in a
situation of ‘water scarcity’, compared to 63 million in 2005. The second scenario,
based on reducing wastes by 50 % and increasing water use efficiency in agriculture
(to 80 %) would radically change the water balance situation. In other words, public
policies must target water demand. This does not mean that the supply side should
be given up: increasing water storage capacity remains desirable. Much more can be
gained on the demand side.
But that, of course, is extremely challenging. Reducing waste and increasing
water use efficiency would require major changes in behaviour by a variety of water
users. Social constraints of various sorts must be overcome. But the most important
obstacle to the necessary changes in behaviour is probably the social and political
reluctance to resort to economic policy instruments. Water being scarce, the
obvious economic tool to use is to raise the price of water paid by its users, be it for
irrigation purposes or for domestic use. But the social, cultural, religious, ethical,
and ultimately political obstacles to do so are overwhelming, particularly in this
region. For instance, charging poor people, with a price reflecting costs, for urban
water services, or farmers, for irrigation water, is socially and politically very
difficult. In addition, the social and political obstacles to overcome, when deciding
to build new dams, particularly ‘large dams,’ are also huge. As a result, the sus-
tainable management of water resources has been, and will continue to be, extre-
mely challenging. This challenge will be compounded in years to come by new
uncertainties and complexities. Returning to the concept of water balance will help
us to illustrate these uncertainties and complexities. Water balance assumes both a
space and time scale, e.g. how much water is available and how much is consumed8
in a given space (be it a country, a region, a watershed, etc.) during a given period
(say one year, one season, etc.). But most water management decisions (e.g.
building a dam, deciding what prices to charge for water uses, choosing a pattern of
devolution of maintenance responsibilities to water users, etc.) involve combining
several space and time scales. These combinations are always complex in real
situations. As a result, to the uncertainties regarding how much water is available at
a given place during a given time period, uncertainties which will increase with
climate change, must be added the uncertainties associated with complex social
processes involving many actors: Who is going to do what? Where? And when?
Biodiversity is also under threat in the region. The threat is serious because, in
the words of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a prestigious coa-
lition of actors at the world level: “The Mediterranean Basin Hotspot is one of the

8
A further complication must be acknowledged here. The concept of consumption may not be fully
adequate for water, since water use, be it by the human body or by domestic animals or by crops,
does not really destroy the water, which is returned to the atmosphere or to the soils or to water
streams after use. But it remains that managing the resource for subsequent use most often requires
new human efforts and investments. As a result, reasoning in terms of consumption and of demand
is appropriate in many instances.
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 11

most extraordinary places on Earth and is remarkable for both its high level of
biological diversity and its spectacular scenery. Approximately 13,000 of its 30,000
plant species are endemic, or unique, to the hotspot, and many more are being
discovered every year” (CEPF 2010). Similarly, Médail and Quézel (1997) pointed
out that “about 10 % of the known higher plant species were found in the
Mediterranean region on a surface only equal to 1.6 % of the world total land area.”
There is a surprisingly wide and strong consensus on both the causes behind the
threats and on what should be done to protect and conserve biodiversity. Population
growth and the strong pressures exerted by tourism, which is massive and still
growing, particularly in coastal areas, are seen as the main culprits, straining the
limited resources, particularly water, leading to overexploitation, and degradation,
even destroying natural habitats. Here again, it is expected that climate change will
exacerbate these negative pressures. Thus, the link with the degradation of other
natural resources is strong. The same is true for the solutions which are proposed.
Thus, the first two strategic directions of the CEPF are formulated as follows:
– to promote civil society involvement in integrated coastal zone management
– to establish the sustainable management of water catchments and the wise use of
water resources
For the IUCN, protecting species and protecting ecological sites requires “the
integrated management of the environment (ecosystemic approach)” as well as
major “communication and training” efforts.9 In other words, the challenges faced
to conserve biodiversity are very similar to those resulting from the imperative
obligation to sustainably manage soil and water.

1.4 Worrisome Demographic Trends

All the challenges identified above, regarding national food security in a situation of
growing import dependency, stubborn rural poverty, and degradation of natural
resources, are compounded by very worrisome demographic trends. Indeed, in spite
of the demographic transition, in which several SEMCs are definitely engaged, total
population continues to increase, many young people begin to enter the labour
market, creating a huge gap between national labour demand and supply, and—
most importantly for our purpose—the total rural population continues to increase
in most of the region. We will briefly review these trends before drawing impli-
cations for agricultural and rural development policies.
All the demographic parameters of importance for agriculture and rural devel-
opment were reviewed in Mediterra 2008, the tenth annual report of CIHEAM,
devoted to a prospective exercise on food and agriculture in the region.10 Although

9
Cuttelod et al. (2008).
10
Hervieu et al. (2008).
12 M. Petit

conducted several years ago, the analysis remains valid and relevant. The following
paragraphs are directly drawn from that report. In 2005, the total population of the
Mediterranean Basin reached 454 million, i.e. 7.0 % of world population, well on
track to a doubling in 50 years (1970–2020). But most of the recent growth took
place on the Southern and Eastern shores of the Basin. And this trend is expected to
continue in the foreseeable future. Between 1990 and 2020, the population is
expected to increase by 14 million inhabitants in the North and by 130 million in
the South and the East. Another mega-trend is urbanization. Between 1970 and
2005, total urban population doubled; between 1990 and 2020, urban population in
the South and East is expected to increase from 108 to 214 million people, i.e. a rate
of growth placing the Maghreb countries (i.e. North Africa) on top of all regions in
the world on this score. Yet, rural population continues to increase, even if its share
in total population declines. And this, of course, has major implications for agri-
culture: What are the employment perspectives? And, given the particular condi-
tions of access to land and water resources, for what level of income?
Yet the demographic transition, primarily based on lower infant mortality and
lower birth rates, is well engaged in several countries. For instance, in Egypt and
Morocco, two countries where poverty remains a tremendous challenge, infant
mortality rates are expected to decrease by two thirds between 1990 and 2020. Life
expectancy is also increasing and is expected to reach 75 years in all SEMCs.
Fertility rates have begun to decline, particularly in the Maghreb countries where
the number of children per woman is near 2.1, whereas it is still much higher in
Egypt, Syria and Israel. Another striking feature of this demographic transition in
SEMCs is that it is taking place very quickly, portending major shifts in the age
composition of the population. Yet, because of the strong demographic growth in
recent years, the population of the working age has increased very rapidly and job
creation linked to economic growth has not kept pace with demographic growth.
This trend will continue in the coming decades. Thus, it is estimated that the
number of net entries into the labour market in the Arab Mediterranean countries
between 1995 and 2025 will be between 80 and 85 million, i.e. a huge increase in
the supply of labour.
As already indicated, these demographic trends and perspectives have major
implications for agriculture and rural development. Contrary to what happened in
Europe and other developed countries during the past century, the modernization of
agriculture cannot be driven in SEMCs by a rapid decline in agricultural employ-
ment and a massive substitution of capital for labour, with the size of farms
increasing. In this region, the number of hectares per agricultural worker, already
very small, will continue to decrease, which will make any increase in the average
productivity of labour very difficult and will dampen the possibility of improved
agricultural income per person working in agriculture. Hence, it will be important to
diversify the sources of income for rural households, thereby increasing the urgency
of non-agricultural job creation in rural areas, a great challenge indeed, given what
was just said about the huge increase in the total supply of labour in the whole
economy.
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 13

1.5 Erosion of the Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet is famous worldwide, particularly since it was celebrated by

Ancel Keys and his wife Margaret (Keys and Keys 1975). It is often viewed as a
model of excellent nutrition to be copied or emulated. Giving prime place to
cereals, vegetables, olive oil and fermented milk, and supplemented by small
quantities of meat and red wine, this century-old diet turns out to be respecting the
most important recommendations of modern medicine, concerned with the exces-
ses, in terms of calories and fat content, found responsible for the obesity epidemics
with all their deleterious public health consequences: diabetes, heart disease, etc.11
Indeed, this ideal diet corresponds more or less to the traditional food habits in
many SEMCs. As such, it is both an asset for SEMCs and a source of opportu-
nities.12 But the situation is not so rosy, as nostalgia would suggest from past
patterns.
Food habits are changing in the Mediterranean region as elsewhere in the world.
With rising income, people consume fewer cereals and more and more livestock
products, which contributes to the deterioration of the nutritious quality of their
diets. This change seems to be happening everywhere, including in the SEMCs.
Palma and Padilla (2012) provide a thorough analysis of these changes, focusing on
the Mediterranean diet and comparing Mediterranean countries with a set of other
countries in the world, including notably the USA, Japan and New Zealand. They
used first a Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI), which is based on “the ratio of
Kcalories provided by so-called ‘Mediterranean’ food groups to those provided by
‘non-Mediterranean’ foods” in the average national yearly food consumption. The
first category includes such products as olive oil, cereals, herbs and spices, fruit and
vegetables, nuts, fish and wine, while meats, all other oils, sugar and alcoholic
beverages other than wines are included in the second category. On this basis, they
found notable differences among SEMCs: Lebanon has a very low MAI, while it is
very high for Egypt, followed by Morocco and Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey having
an average MAI. They also confirmed that, generally speaking, SEMCs are moving
away from the typical Mediterranean diet.13 They completed their analysis with the
use of another indicator, the Diet Quality Indicator (DQI), which is based on

11
The significance of this recognition was illustrated by the fact that the Mediterranean diet was
inscribed by UNESCO on the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of
Humanity”. Quoting UNESCO: “The Mediterranean diet constitutes a set of skills, knowledge,
practices and traditions ranging from the landscape to the table, including the crops, harvesting,
fishing, conservation, processing, preparation and, particularly, consumption of food. The
Mediterranean diet is characterized by a nutritional model that has remained constant over time
and space, consisting mainly of olive oil, cereals, fresh or dried fruit and vegetables, a moderate
amount of fish, dairy and meat, and many condiments and spices, all accompanied by wine or
infusions, always respecting the beliefs of each community.”
12
For a detailed analysis, see Mombiela et al. (2012).
13
Note that this deterioration is also accelerated by the development of large retail stores which
tend to be more interested in mass production of food.
14 M. Petit

“scores attributed to levels of consumption of certain foods, in relation to … WHO

and USDA (healthy nutrition) recommendations”. On that basis, they found “a
marked decline in food quality, especially in the Mediterranean.”
What are the implications of these worrisome trends for public policies? This
question is not trivial because the fact that Egypt and Morocco score best on the
MAI, while they are the two countries with the most serious rural poverty problems,
suggests that this index is ambiguous. But there is no doubt however that a dete-
rioration in the nutrition quality of the diet portends serious public health problems,
associated in particular with the spread of obesity. This concern justifies enhanced
attention to food safety measures and institutions (Malorgio and Solaroli 2012), as
well as a major education effort on healthy nutrition. In addition, the link with
agricultural and rural development policies, illustrated by the motto of the
Mediterranean Diet, ‘from landscape to the table’, adds another dimension to the
complexity of the challenges identified above.

1.6 The SustainMED Research Project

Entitled “Sustainable agri-food systems and rural development in the Mediterranean

Partner Countries”, and supported by the European Commission within the 7th
Framework Program for Research and Development, the SustainMED project
undertook to examine and assess the impacts of EU and national agricultural, rural,
environmental and trade policies in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region,
namely in the so-called Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs), as well as in
Turkey. The impacts to be analysed were very diverse, including socio-economic
structural changes, employment and migration trends, income distribution and
poverty alleviation, resource management, trade liberalisation, as well as com-
mercial relations with major trading partners (in particular the EU) and competi-
tiveness in international markets. The rationale for such a wide research agenda was
the realization that trade liberalization alone, which has been the linchpin of Euro-
Mediterranean cooperation for decades, will not be sufficient to promote sustainable
development in the Mediterranean region.
The research consortium put in place for this project gathered 13 research
institutions from 11 countries (see table below), building on the well-established
networks of MAICh and IAMM, two institutes of CIHEAM. The project has
focussed on four MPCs (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Syria—the latter was sub-
sequently dropped because of the political events in that country), as well as
Turkey. A wide range of complementary methods and analytical tools were used,
including quantitative modelling, structured surveying, indicator building and
qualitative data analysis, in order to provide (i) orders of magnitude of the impact in
MPCs of changes in important policy parameters, and (ii) qualitative insights into
processes which will be important for the future welfare of MPCs but which cannot
be fully captured by quantitative indicators. The research done under this project
has been mainly of an applied nature, focussing on a few major socio-economic
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 15

issues and policy domains: the poverty situation and how to reduce it; sustainability
issues, the role of the private sector; food security and risk management; trade
liberalization; and Euro-Mediterranean integration. These are the topics covered in
this book.

List of participants
Participant no. Participant organisation name Short name Country
1 Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen CIHEAM- France
(Co-ordinator) de Montpellier IAM.M
2 Ecole Nationale d’Agriculture Meknès ENA Morocco
3 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CSIC Spain
Científicas
4 Institut National Agronomique INAT Tunisia
5 Kent Business School—University KBS United
of Kent Kingdom
6 Mediterranean Agronomic Institute CIHEAM- Greece
of Chania MAICh
7 Pellervon taloudellisen tutkimuslaitoksen PTT Finland
kannatusyhdistys r.y.
8 Università degli Studi di Napoli UNINA Italy
9 Universidad Politécnica de Valencia UPV Spain
10 National Agricultural Policy Center NAPC Syria
11 Zagazig University ZU Egypt
12 National Institute for Agricultural Research INRA France
(INRA-Montpellier)
13 Akdeniz University AU Turkey

1.7 Outline of the Book

After this introductory chapter reviewing the main agricultural and rural develop-
ment challenges faced by SEMCs, the diagnosis of the problems will be further
specified and elaborated in four successive country chapters devoted to the cases of
Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, followed by one chapter reviewing past
agricultural and rural development policies in SEMCs. This will be followed by a
series of thematic chapters analyzing specific sets of issues and policies, regarding
respectively trade, value chains, food security, food safety, and sustainable man-
agement of natural resources. Finally, a concluding chapter will come back to the
main lessons learnt regarding the challenges introduced above and discussed
throughout the book.
16 M. Petit

References

Abis, S. (2012a). Logistique et sécurité alimentaire en Méditerranée. Food security in the

Mediterranean (pp. 110–129). Fondation de Malte: La Valette (Malte).
Abis, S. (2012b). Pour le futur de la Méditerranée : l’agriculture (150 p). Paris (France):
L’Harmattan. (Bibliothèque de l’IREMMO).
Belghazi, S. (2013). Scenarios for the agricultural sector in the Southern and Eastern
Mediterranean (37 p). MEDPRO Report No. 4, March 2013. http://www.ceps.eu/ceps/dld/
7814/pdf.
Benoît, G. (dir.), Comeau, A. (dir.), Chabason, L. (2005). Méditerranée : les perspectives du Plan
Bleu sur l’environnement et le développement (427 p). La Tour d’Aigues (France): Editions de
l’Aube. (Monde en Cours).
Bessaoud, O. (2013). Aux origines paysannes et rurales des bouleversements politiques en Afrique
du Nord : l’exception algérienne (No. 215, pp. 9–30). Maghreb Machrek. April 01 2013. http://
www.cairn.info/resume.php?ID_ARTICLE=MACHR_215_0009.
Bessaoud, O., Montaigne, E. (2009). Quelles réponses au mal-développement agricole ? Analyse
des politiques agricoles et rurales passées et présentes. In S. Abis, P. Blanc, F. Lerin, M.
Mezouaghi (Coords.). Perspectives des politiques agricoles en Afrique du Nord (pp. 51–91).
Paris (France): CIHEAM/AFD. (Options Méditerranéennes : Série B. Etudes et Recherches).
http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/b64/00801109.pdf.
Blinda, M., Thivet, G. (2009). Ressources et demandes en eau en Méditerranée : situation et
perspectives. In Sécheresse (Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 9–16). January 01 2009. http://www.jle.com/e-
docs/00/04/49/C6/telecharger.phtml?code_langue=fr&format=application/pdf&titre=Version%
20PDF.
Bourgeois, L., Cheriet, F., Rastoin, J.-L., Boualam, F. (collab.). (2012). Pour une politique
agricole et agroalimentaire euro-méditerranéenne (86 p). Paris (France): IPEMed. (Construire
la Méditerranée).
CEPF. (2010). Mediterranean basin biodiversity hotspot (251 p). Arlington (Etats-Unis): Critical
Ecosystem Partnership Fund. http://www.cepf.net/where_we_work/regions/europe_central_
asia/mediterranean/EcosystemProfile/Pages/default.aspx.
Cheriet, F. (2013). Prospectives céréalières en Méditerranée : scénarios à l’horizon 2030.
Economie rurale (No. 335, pp. 53–67). May 01 2013.
Cheriet, F., Rastoin, J.-L., Mohavedi, N. (2009). Partenariats stratégiques pour la sécurité
alimentaire en Méditerranée (PSAM) (84 p., 57 p., 58 p.) Paris (France): IPEMed. (Construire
la Méditerranée). http://www.ipemed.coop/fr/-r17/collection-construire-la-mediterranee-c49/
partenariats-strategiques-pour-la-securite-alimentaire-en-mediterranee-psam-a1395.html.
CIHEAM. (2012). Actes de la 9ème réunion des ministres de l’agriculture, de l’alimentation et de
la pêche des pays membres du CIHEAM. In Proceeding of the 9th meeting of the ministers of
agriculture, food and fisheries of CIHEAM’s member countries (154, p. 9). Paris (France):
CIHEAM. Réunion des Ministres de l’Agriculture des Etats Membres du CIHEAM, La Valette
(Malte). September 27 2012. http://www.ciheam.org/images/CIHEAM/PDFs/Cooperation/
9rmc-actes.pdf.
Cuttelod, A., García, N., Abdul Malak, D., Temple, H., Katariya, V. (2008). The Mediterranean: A
biodiversity hotspot under threat (14 p). Gland (Suisse): IUCN. http://cmsdata.iucn.org/
downloads/the_mediterranean_a_biodiversity_hotspot_under_threat.pdf.
De Franchis, L., Ibanez, F. (carto.), Benoit, G. (dir.). (2003). Les menaces sur les sols dans les
pays méditerranéens : étude bibliographique (70 p). Sophia Antipolis (France): Plan Bleu.
(Les Cahiers du Plan Bleu; n. 2). http://planbleu.org/sites/default/files/publications/cahiers2_
sols_fr.pdf.
Gradus, Y., Lipshitz, G. (Eds). (1996). The mosaic of Israeli geography (516 p). Beer-Sheva
(Israël): Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press.
1 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 17

Hervieu, B. (dir.), Abis, S. (coord.), Blanc, P. (coord.), de Jouvenel, H. (collab.), CIHEAM.

(2008). Mediterra 2008: The future of agriculture and food in mediterranean countries (356
p). Paris (France): Presses de Sciences Po. (Mediterra). http://www.ciheam.org/index.php/fr/
publications/mediterra-le-rapport-officiel-du-ciheam/mediterra-2008.
Keys, A. B., Keys, M. (1975). How to eat well and stay well the Mediterranean way (488 p).
Garden city N.Y. (Etats-Unis): Doubleday.
Lerin, F., Lemeilleur, S., Petit, M. (2009). Volatilité des prix internationaux agricoles
et alimentaires et libéralisation en Afrique du Nord. In P. Blanc, F. Lerin, S. Abis, M.
Mezouaghi (coords.). Perspectives des politiques agricoles en Afrique du Nord (pp. 9–49).
Paris: CIHEAM/AFD. (Options Méditerranéennes : Série B. Etudes et Recherches; n. 64).
http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/b64/00801108.pdf.
Malorgio, G., Solaroli, L. (2012). Policies and regulations in the mediterranean: Complementarity and
coherence. In F. Mombiela (dir.), S. Abis (dir.), CIHEAM. Mediterra 2012: The mediterranean
diet for sustainable regional development (pp. 443–464). Paris (France): Presses de Sciences Po.
Chapter 21, Part 8: Public policies and measures. http://www.ciheam.org/images/CIHEAM/
PDFs/Publications/Mediterra/2012/vo/en/Mediterra_2012_CHAP_21_WEB_EN.pdf.
Médail, F., Quézel, P. (1997). Hot-spots analysis for conservation of plant biodiversity in the
Mediterranean Basin. In Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (Vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 112–
127). http://www.jstor.org/stable/2399957.
Mombiela, F. (dir.), Abis, S. (dir.), CIHEAM. (2012). Mediterra 2012: The Mediterranean diet for
sustainable regional development (500 p). Paris (France): Presses de Sciences Po. (Mediterra).
http://www.ciheam.org/index.php/en/publications/mediterra-2012.
Paillard, S., Treyer, S., Dorin, B. (2010). Agrimonde : scénarios et défis pour nourrir le monde en
2050 (295 p). Versailles (France): Editions Quae. (Matière à décider).
Palma, G., Padilla, M. (2012). The “mediterraneisation” of food fashions in the world. In F.
Mombiela (dir.), S. Abis (dir.), CIHEAM. Mediterra 2012: The Mediterranean diet for
sustainable regional development (pp. 133–151). Paris (France): Presses de Sciences Po.
(Mediterra). Chapter 6, Part 2: Food and sociocultural dynamics. http://www.ciheam.org/
images/CIHEAM/PDFs/Publications/Mediterra/2012/vo/en/Mediterra_2012_CHAP_6_WEB_
EN.pdf.
Roose, E., De Noni, G., Lamachère, J.-M. (1998). Spécial érosion (41 p). Montpellier (France):
ORSTOM. (ORSTOM Actualités; n. 56). http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_
textes/pleins_textes_7/b_fdi_51-52/010015610.pdf.
UNDP. (2010). Human Development Report 2010 (229 p). New York (Etats-Unis): United
Nations Development Programme. http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-
2010.
Chapter 2
Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable
Agricultural Development in Egypt

Ibrahim Soliman

2.1 Introduction

Sustainable agricultural development seeks not only to preserve and maintain

natural resources, but also to develop them, as future generations would have much
more demand quantity-wise and quality-wise for agricultural and food products.
Such goals should ensure a balance with the development of livelihoods enjoyed by
the individuals concerned. Livelihood should not be restricted to an indicator of
sufficient income levels but should also include public health concerns and edu-
cation standards. The objective of this study was therefore to diagnose the chal-
lenges facing sustainable agricultural development in Egypt.
The analysis examined six dimensions: trade trends with an emphasis on agri-
cultural trade; rural poverty indicators and causes; degradation of agricultural
resources (soil and irrigation water); agricultural labor employment in relation to
migration and the technological packages adopted; public health criteria; and
education indicators. The final section was allocated for a profile of the strategy
towards rural development.
The deficit in the trade balance showed an increase due to the deterioration of
Egyptian exports in the world market, in particular the EU, due to the impacts of
non-tariff barriers. Inequalities and rural poverty showed the extent of the unequal
distribution of agricultural resources. They also demonstrated whether or not
income generated from agriculture was capable of alleviating poverty in small-scale
farming households and whether or not poverty in rural Egypt runs deeper than in
urban areas. The appraisal of the degradation in natural resources focused on
agricultural land and irrigation water. Whereas the agricultural land resources

I. Soliman (&)
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture,
Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 19

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_2
20 I. Soliman

analysis concerned social and economic attitudes as well as the deterioration in soil
fertility and quality, the analysis dealt with the types of quantitative and qualitative
waste in irrigation water resources.
Worrying demographic issues were examined via migration trends and unem-
ployment indicators as well as through the labor force and employment by sector.
Public health indicators showed that the imbalance between access to piped water
and the sanitation network in rural regions was the worst of all Egyptian regions.
While piped water reached 97 % of rural households, only one-third of them have
access to the sanitation network and only 13 % of rural households in Upper Egypt
had access to sanitation in 2008. The public health indicators recorded 30 beds and
13 doctors for every 10,000 citizens in major cities, there were fewer than 20 beds
and 2 doctors per 10,000 citizens in rural towns. Surprisingly, there is a higher ratio
of nurses to doctors in rural regions than in urban regions in Egypt. This implies a
lack of doctors in rural regions and the preference of rural women to work as nurses
in the vicinity of their home villages for social reasons, in particular the fact that
other employment opportunities in rural areas for women are rare. Literacy rate
estimates would appear to show that the lowest literacy rate is in rural Upper Egypt
at about 57 % and that the highest rate is in urban Lower Egypt at around 79 %. The
literacy gap between rural and urban areas in Egypt nevertheless fell from 45 % in
1995 to less than 21 % in 2010.
The study was concluded with the definition of a profile for a strategy aimed at
rural development in Egypt including a proposed program to alleviate poverty.

2.2 Trade Balance Degradation

This section presents some of Egypt’s major agricultural trade performance criteria,
including export flows, with a special focus on EU markets and the impacts of the
revolution of January 25, 2011.

2.2.1 Egyptian Exports to the World Market

The old regime in place before the revolution of January 25, 2011 had introduced a
development strategy built on a series of 5-year plans implemented since 1982. The
last of these was the sixth development plan (2007–2011). Among the main
objectives of that plan was the task of increasing export value with a view to
overcoming the considerable trade deficit, in particular with regard to food.
Table 2.1 shows significant annual growth in the value of total exports of about
16.6 % over the period 2007–2011. It was nevertheless smaller than the
21.3 % annual growth in the value of total imports. The Egyptian agricultural
exports to the EU represented less than one-fifth of the agricultural imports from the
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 21

Table 2.1 Average annual growth rate of Egyptian foreign trade flow 2007–2011
Trade flow Average annual growth 2007–2011 (%)
Imports from the rest of the world 21.3
Exports to the rest of the world 16.6
Imports from EU-27 7.8
Exports to EU-27 7.8
Agricultural imports from EU-27 21.4
Agricultural exports to EU-27 4.3
Sources Compiled from: (1) Eurostat (Comext, New Cronos), IMF (DoTS)

EU market to Egypt. Therefore, it can be assumed that the agricultural trade balance
between the two markets developed in favor of the EU and not Egypt over the final
5-year development plan (2007–2011).
The profile of Egyptian exports over the period 2007–2011 shown in Table 2.2
provides some important indicators. Although total agricultural exports increased
significantly over the period, it decreased from US$2887 million in 2010 to US
$2774 million in 2011 while its share in total exports decreased from 11 to 9 %. It
seems that the onset of the revolution of January 25, 2011 had a negative impact on
agricultural exports. A dramatic fall in all categories of Egyptian exports, both
agricultural and non-agricultural, was observed between 2011 and 2012, as shown
in Table 2.3. The ratio of export earnings to import expenditure (either the total
trade or the agricultural trade) also decreased over the period 2011–2012
(Table 2.3). This trend implied that the outflow of imports is much more than the
inflow of exports, which means increases in the drainage of foreign currency
associated with a shrinking of tourism activities. The expected result is a further fall

Table 2.2 Share of Egyptian agricultural products in total exports

Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Total exports in million US$ 16,181 26,204 23,102 27,324 30,611
Agricultural products, without cotton 1048 1875 2819 2887 2744
Total (%) 6 7 12 11 9
Food industries 224 536 758 1355 1274
Total (%) 1 2 3 5 4
Leather and its products 84 86 108 182 151
Total (%) 0.52 0.33 0.47 0.67 0.49
Cotton and textiles 768 1858 2210 3094 3211
Total (%) 4.7 7.1 9.6 11.3 10.5
Exports of agricultural origin 1076 2480 3076 4631 4636
Total (%) 6.6 9.5 13.3 16.9 15.1
Source Compiled and calculated from CAPMAS, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and
Statistics (2013), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt
22 I. Soliman

Table 2.3 Influences of January 2011 revolution on Egyptian exports (value in million US$)
Year Exports to the world market Exports to the EU-27
Jan–Sep Jan–Sep Growth Jan–Sep Jan–Sep Growth
2011 2012 Rate (%) 2011 2012 Rate (%)
Total exports 23,038 21,958 −5 7630 6485 −15
Total imports 43,486 51,690 19 13,072.8 15,441.4 18
Exports/imports (%) 53 42 58 42
Exports of agricultural 2273 1936 −15 525 449 −15
products, without cotton
Imports of agricultural 5473 5910 8 627 612 −2
products, without cotton
Exports/imports (%) 42 33 84 73
Source Compiled from CAPMAS, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (2013),
Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Fig. 2.1 Monthly changes in Egyptian exports (2011–2012)

in foreign currency monetary reserves. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 confirm the monthly
increase in the deficit of the aggregate Egyptian balance of trade over the period
January 2011–July 2012.

2.2.2 Egyptian Exports to the EU

The EU market is the world’s biggest market for Egyptian agricultural product
exports. In 2011, Egypt increased exports of agricultural, processed agricultural,
fish and fishery products to the EU, with a total value of US$9404 million, i.e. 15 %
more than in 2010 (Table 2.4). More than 80 % of these products benefit from duty-
free and quota-free access to the EU market. The main agricultural products
exported by Egypt to the EU are fresh table grapes, potatoes, sweet oranges, beans,
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 23

Fig. 2.2 Monthly changes in Egyptian imports (2011–2012)

onions and strawberries (IMF 2013). If other agricultural products exported to EU

markets were taken into account, the role of the European market would be vital to
Egyptian trade. Surprisingly, Egypt pegged its currency value to that of the US$
rather than the euro. While the annual growth rate of total Egyptian imports and
exports from and to Egypt and the EU was 7.8 %, Egyptian agricultural exports to
the EU recorded a growth rate of only 4.3 %, i.e. less than one-fifth of the com-
parable rate of agricultural imports from the EU, which was 21.4 % over the period
2007–2011.

2.2.3 Impacts of Non-tariff Barriers

It would appear that non-tariff barriers (NTBs) have a considerable impact on the
competitiveness of Egyptian agricultural products on the EU market (Bassiony
2012). The study applied the gravity equation model as a common approach to
assessing the impact of domestic and foreign policies on Egyptian trade patterns
using cross-sectional data for the year 2010. The results showed that the impacts of
NTBs were significant with a positive sign. This indicated that NTBs have a strong
trade impact on Egyptian agricultural exports of vegetables and certain roots, tubers,
fruits (including fresh oranges), nuts, peeled citrus fruits, melons and cotton. The
positive sign may indicate the revealed competitiveness (RC) of these products on the
EU market. Egyptian exporters should therefore satisfy EU requirements with regard
to non-tariff barriers to raise their share on the EU market. This paper examined six
types of measures: sanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, licenses, quotas,
prohibitions and financial measures, applied in EU countries. Moreover, it examined
the export-related measures applied by the Egyptian government.
 24

Table 2.4 Egyptian exports to the EU markets (value in million US$)

Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Exports to Total Exports to Total Exports to Total Exports to Total Exports to Total
the EU-27 Egyptian the EU-27 Egyptian the EU-27 Egyptian the EU-27 Egyptian the EU-27 Egyptian
markets exports (%) markets exports (%) markets exports (%) markets exports (%) markets exports (%)
Total exports 9146 57 10,704.2 41 7946 34 9404 34 12,363 40
Agricultural 619 59 579 31 679 24 666 23 707 26
exports
without cotton
Food 99 44 108 20 74 10 169 12 151 12
industries
Leather and its 51 60 74 86 70 65 121 66 127 84
products
Cotton, 652 85 1022 55 892 40 1036 33 1195 37
textiles,
clothes
Exports of 1420 67 1794 41 1714.7 29 1991.6 26 2180 30
agricultural
origin
Source Compiled and calculated from CAPMAS, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (2013), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt
I. Soliman
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 25

All agricultural products sold in the EU, either imported or locally produced,
must comply with EU requirements in terms of food safety. This involves an
integrated approach (from farm to fork) covering food and feed safety, animal
health and welfare as well as plant health. Consequently, in the case of food
products of animal origin, only establishments that comply with these requirements
are approved with a view to exporting to the EU (Delegation of the European Union
to Egypt 2013). Therefore, the available approach to expand agricultural product
exports from Egypt to EU markets are to comply with these requirements, otherwise
such constraints would restrict efforts to develop Egyptian exports.

2.3 Inequalities and Rural Poverty

To assess the poverty level and performance indicators, the study used data from
successive household budget surveys conducted by Egypt’s Central Agency of
Statistics and Public Mobilization (CAPMAS) between 1975 and 2009. These
surveys allowed some major indicators for the standard of living in rural and urban
regions of the country to be estimated (Table 2.5). The table shows that while food
price levels rose at an annual rate of 9.4 % in rural regions between 2000 and 2005,
it increased at an annual rate of 2.1 % in urban regions. This shows the bias of the
Egyptian government in favor of urban areas at the expense of rural areas with
respect to food price subsidy policy and market control functions.
Table 2.5 also shows that the parity current income (the ratio of rural annual per
capita income to urban income)1 rose from 55 % in the year 2000 to 84 % in 2005
at the current price level. However, at the constant price level of 2000, this ratio
decreased from 55 % in 2000 to only 39 % in 2005. This was due to a rapid
decrease in the real annual rural per capita income at 9 % while it decreased by only
2 % in urban areas. Consequently, the standard of living in rural regions was much
lower than in urban regions and worsened over time due to price inflation, which
reflected less economic growth and more poverty depth in rural than urban regions.

2.3.1 How Large Are the Inequalities in Agricultural

Resource Distribution?

In general, the Egyptian farming system has two major features. It is highly
intensive in production and too fragmented in farm size pattern. The first Egyptian
land reform law was enacted in September 1953. It limited land holdings to 84 ha

1
Instead of annual income, total annual expenditure was used as the household budget surveys
were unable to measure income precisely.
26 I. Soliman

Table 2.5 Indicators of standard of living in Egyptian rural and urban regions
Economic indicators 2000 2005
Urban Rural Urban Rural
Average value/kg of food consumed 2.73 1.43 2.97 2.29
Annual food price inflation rate (%) 2.10 9.40
Annual per capita expenditure (L. E.) 2653 1455 2769 2328
Expenditure (rural/urban), where 2000 = 100 (%) 100 55 100 84
Annual growth rate between the two successive periods (%) 0.90 7.71
Real annual per capita expenditure (L. E.) 2653 1455 2391 928
Expenditure (rural/urban), where 2000 = 100 (%) 100 55 100 39
Annual economic growth rate between 2000 and 2005 (%) −2 −9
Source Estimated from Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), “The
Household Budget Survey of Egypt”, from the surveys of 2000 and 2005, Cairo, Nasr City, Egypt

(200 Feddan2) for a family (parents and children under 21 years of age) and to 41 ha
(100 Feddan) for a single person. The second law was passed in 1969, adjusting the
size of land holdings to half the limit established by the first law, i.e. 40 ha per
family and 20 ha per single person. The period between the two laws saw another
presidential decree, referred to as the nationalization decree enacted in 1961, which
placed all firms under state management, including those in the agricultural sector.
Tenant farmers benefitted considerably from the land reform law, which established
numerous barriers protecting them from landowners when the latter wanted to
repossess their land from the tenant. Furthermore, the law set land rent at 7 times
the land property tax. Under that past regime the tenants used to bequeath the rented
land by dividing it between their sons and daughters, thereby exacerbating land
fragmentation through increasingly small farm sizes. However, the land market was
completely liberalized in 1997 when the land reform law was cancelled, a fact
which had a dramatic impact on land holding patterns.
Tables 2.6 and 2.7 present the relative frequency distribution of agricultural land
holdings in Egypt from the period before the Egyptian Revolution in July 1952 until
the year 2000, covering all structural changes in the land holding policy of Egypt.
Unfortunately, no recent data on farm structure is available beyond 2000.
Estimates of the GINI coefficient and the Lorenz curve are two parameters used
to assess the equality and justice of wealth and resources in an economy. The GINI
coefficient is useful in illustrating the principal factors that characterize equality and
inequality in nation states and communities within these states. When focusing on
social equity, the GINI coefficient serves as a useful guide (Litchfield 1999).
Expressed as a percentage, the GINI coefficient ranges between zero, which means
full equality of the probability distribution of the variable concerned, and 100 %,
i.e. full inequality (Lui 1997). The GINI coefficient was therefore estimated by this

2
1-Feddan = 4200 m2.
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 27

Table 2.6 Distribution pattern of agricultural land holdings before and after land reform low
Land holding category (Feddan) Before 1952 After the 1st reform
law, in 1953
Numbers (%) Area (%) Numbers (%) Area (%)
<2 94.3 35.4 94.4 46.5
2− 97.1 44.2 97.0 55.3
4− 98.8 54.9 98.6 66.0
8− 99.6 65.8 99.6 79.7
21− 99.8 73.0 99.8 86.9
42− 99.9 80.3 99.9 94.1
84+ 100 100 100 100
GINI coefficient 61.1 49.4
Source Compiled and calculated from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (2009)

Table 2.7 Distribution pattern of agricultural land holdings (1969–2000)

Land holding Contemporary to the After the 2nd land reform In 2000, after the
category nationalization Acts in law in July 1969 law of land holding
(in Feddan) 1961 liberalization
Numbers (%) Area (%) Numbers (%) Area (%) Numbers (%) Area (%)
<2 94.1 52.1 95.8 56.3 90.4 47.8
2− 96.7 60.6 98.1 66.0 96.7 63.4
4− 98.8 71.2 99.2 75.8 98.9 75.2
8− 99.6 84.7 99.7 85.0 99.7 85.5
21− 99.8 91.8 99.9 91.5 99.9 89.5
42− 100 100 100 100 100 100
GINI 43.3 40.3 44.9
coefficient
Source Compiled and calculated from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (2009)

study for the frequency distribution of farm holdings of agricultural land in Egypt
over the period running from before 1992 until 2000.
The estimated GINI coefficient of land holding distribution shows that the lower
the GINI coefficient, the greater the fragmentation in terms of land holding size.
Before the first land reform law (during the Egyptian royal era), it was about 61.1 %
before falling to 49.4 % after the first land holding law was introduced, indicating a
shift towards greater equality. After the nationalization decrees of 1961, the GINI
coefficient fell even further to 43.3 % due to the absence of economic incentives to
establish large farms with stagnation in the land market. The absence of incentives
was the result of several factors. Among these is the fact that the land reform law
prevented owners from repossessing land from the tenants, even if they did not pay
their rent on a regular basis. The rent was set at a too low rate—only 7 times the
land tax, which was in itself very low at US$7–10 per hectare. By the time the
second land reform law was introduced in 1969, the GINI coefficient had decreased
28 I. Soliman

Table 2.8 Share of small farms in land holding patterns of Egypt

Category of farm area (Feddan) No. holdings (%) Farm area (%) No. cattle (%) No. buffalo (%)
<1 34.72 6.17 16.81 21.54
1 to less than 2 26.11 12.49 20.07 26.92
2 to less than 3 18.87 15.47 19.03 23.67
3 to less than 4 8.35 9.84 10.50 9.32
4 to less than 5 3.64 5.36 5.71
Sub-total 5.63 71.77 87.16
5 to less than 6 49.61 8.16 6.32 6.12
6 to less than 7 1.58 4.62 2.84 2.63
7 to less than 10 1.10 4.62 1.97 1.61
10 to less than 15 0.50 2.95 1.00 0.85
15 to less than 20 0.51 4.26 0.85 0.69
20 to less than 30 0.34 4.52 0.77 0.59
30 to less than 50 0.16 3.54 0.40 0.28
50+ 0.04 17.73 0.11 0.07
Total 100 100 100 100
Source Compiled and calculated from the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt (2010)

even further to 40.3 %. In the year 2000, i.e. three years after the liberalization of
the land market following the cancellation of the land ownership limits and the
decision to allow land rent to be determined by the market mechanism, the GINI
coefficient had rebounded slightly around 45 %, i.e. towards less equity. Therefore,
land holding patterns changed to reflect a much higher centralization of larger farm
sizes. Small farms, therefore, still account for the majority of agricultural land
holdings in Egypt. By Egyptian standards, small farms measure less than 5 Feddan
(less than 2 ha) (Soliman et al. 2012). Table 2.8 shows that 91.68 % of holdings are
smaller than 5 Feddan, accounting for 49.61 % of land, i.e., less than 10 % of the
owners hold almost half the agricultural land area. Nevertheless, small farmers hold
the majority of livestock in Egypt, i.e. 71.77 % of cattle and 87.16 % of dairy
buffaloes. Livestock is seen as a sort of capital intensification on small farms to
generate a daily income for the family (Soliman et al. 2012).

2.3.2 Does Agricultural Income Alleviate Household Poverty

on Small Farms?

Table 2.9 presents the household income structure in both rural and urban regions in
Egypt. While agricultural activities are the main source of income in rural areas, i.e.
about 62 %, such activities represent only 16 % in urban regions (some urban
citizens hold agricultural assets in rural areas). While income from wages and
salaries accounts for almost one third of urban household income, this figure is only
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 29

Table 2.9 Role of agriculture in rural household income in 1999/2000

Source of income Urban Rural All sample
Agricultural income Owned agricultural land 9.57 44.53 28.06
Agricultural machinery 2.38 2.92 2.66
Agricultural projects 1.74 1.13 1.41
Farm animals 2.13 13.39 8.09
Sub-total (1) 15.82 61.97 40.22
Other sources of income Residential buildings 6.38 1.62 3.86
Financial activities 19.54 10.71 14.87
Commercial projects 24.05 7.52 15.31
Sub-total (2) 49.97 19.85 34.04
Wages and salaries (3) 34.21 18.18 25.74
Total (L.E./household/year) 100 100 100
Source Calculated from Had-hood, Mashhour (1999)

18 % in rural regions. The remainder of the income is derived from residential

building rent, commercial projects and financial activities. Such sources represent
about half of an urban household’s income but only one-fifth of household income
in rural regions. In other words, until the end of the last century, the opportunities
for non-agricultural sources of income in rural areas were much more limited than
urban. However, it would appear that the size of the agricultural share changed
drastically during the first decade of the current century.
As shown in Table 2.8, the small-scale farmers represent the majority of agri-
cultural landholders in Egypt. Poverty measurements should therefore focus on this
category of the agricultural community in Egypt. Accordingly, a recent farm sample
survey consisting of 120 small-scale farm holdings from 4 villages in the Sharkia
Governorate, where the University of Zagazig is located, was conducted under the
supervision of the author. The purpose of this survey was to investigate small-scale
farmers’ economics for the agricultural year 2010/2011. Table 2.10, presents the

Table 2.10 Sources of small farm income

Source of income L.E./year US$/year %
Sale of crops 4478 740 18
Income from livestock business 8296 1371 33
Income from poultry business 236 39 1
Working for other farmers 876 145 3
Salaries from non-agricultural jobs 10,145 1677 40
Remittances from working abroad 1200 198 5
Total income 25,231 4170 100
Source Estimated from a new sample survey of 120 farms, supervised by the author for the
agricultural year 2010/2011 in four villages of the Sharkia Governorate
30 I. Soliman

annual average of the share of agricultural and non-agricultural income in the

earnings of small-scale farms. It showed that while 52 % of the total annual income
of a farm household was generated by agricultural activities, 48 % was derived from
non-agricultural activities. This would imply that the share of agricultural income
decreased in 2010/2011 in comparison to the results presented in Table 2.9 for the
year 1999/2000, i.e. from 62 to 52 %. It would also appear that small-scale farmers
could not generate higher agricultural income due to the limited land endowments
available. It is quite clear from Table 2.10 that whereas the sale of arable crops
provided only 18 % of annual household income, livestock provided 33 % and
poultry provided 1 %. Livestock activities rather than crops have therefore become
the major source of agricultural income for the majority of farm households in
Egypt. Among non-agricultural income sources, wages from non-agricultural jobs
represent the majority, i.e. 40 % of annual small-scale farm household income,
followed by the share of remittances from working abroad (5 %) and finally
working for other farmers (3 %).
Accordingly, the increase in the non-agricultural population in rural areas will in
time prove to be a major burden on the national economy of Egypt. In other words,
rural communities will become residential regions for employees rather than mainly
being home to farmers and agricultural workers as it was fifty years ago.
According to the small-scale farms survey mentioned above, the average
household size was 5.2 people per farm. Considering the poverty threshold of US
$2/capita/day determined by the World Bank, the author assessed the extent to
which the annual earnings of small-scale farm households were sufficient to surpass
the poverty threshold. Summing all income sources from agricultural activities
earned by small-scale farming households, including working as a laborer on other
farms as shown in Table 2.10, the daily per capita income would not surpass US
$1.2, i.e. there would be a poverty gap of 40 % between the minimum income level
of US$2/capita/day and actual agricultural earnings. It had not only that but agri-
cultural income sources provided US$1.03/capita/day, which would hardly even
exceed the absolute poverty line. However, the average daily per capita income per
household (agricultural and non-agricultural) would be US$2.2, a little (10 %)
above the poverty threshold (US$2/capita/day).

2.3.3 Is Poverty in Rural Egypt Less Deep Than

in Urban Areas?

While the gross national product (GNP) per capita expresses a national average of
wealth, it does not provide an insight into the levels of actual wealth distribution to
individuals within the state. Accordingly, the GINI coefficient illustrates the prin-
cipal factors that characterize equality and inequality for communities within states,
serving as a useful guide focusing on social equity. GINI coefficients can be put to
good use as a means of assessing the impacts of economic and social reform and to
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 31

forecast trends towards civil violence and rural to urban migration rates (Litchfield
1999). Consequently, that study estimated GINI coefficients from the household
expenditure surveys that were conducted in Egypt between 1974/1975 and 2009/
2010 (CAPMAS). The estimates concerned both urban and rural regions.
The poverty rates, as shown in Table 2.11, indicate the concentration of the poor
in rural areas, particularly those in Upper Egypt. Even though rural regions are
poorer than urban ones, the inequality in income distribution is less marked in rural
areas than urban regions in Egypt. Nevertheless, greater income distribution
equality associated with a lower income level than in urban areas is a disadvantage
as it means that poverty is widespread and deeper in rural areas than in urban areas.
The estimate of the rural/urban parity food price ratio, shown in Table 2.12,
shows that the level of food prices had apparently decreased between 1975 and the
end of last century. This was due to a very low rate of inflation in food prices in
rural regions in comparison to urban regions over the period 1990–2000. Although
the last decade of the 20th century was an era of drastic changes in the Egyptian
economy, shifting from a centrally-planned economy to a free market system, it
seems that rural regions resisted food price inflation due to a high rate of con-
sumption of farm-produced products. The consumption of home-produced items is
valued at cost price. The monetary burden of such a cost represents only the inputs
purchased (Soliman and Eid 1995).
However, the rural/urban parity food price ratio increased rapidly during the last
decade (2000–2010). The food price inflation rate in rural regions exceeded that

Table 2.11 Income distribution and poverty in urban and rural Egypt
Region Expend/capita Income share GINI Poor persons Wages of poor
(EGP) of the lowest coefficient (%) (of total households (%) of
40 % of population %) total employees
people (%) Ultra Total Income Total
poor (%) (%) (%) wages (%)
Urban 5832 20.10 35 0.50 6.90 43.50 4.60
governorates
Lower 3556 26.30 23 2.00 14.20 41.00 10.30
Egypt
Urban 4327 15.10 27 0.80 7.30 38.40 4.90
Rural 3275 32.30 20 2.50 16.70 41.40 12.50
Upper Egypt 2916 23.40 28 12.80 36.90 41.00 27.70
Urban 3879 12.80 33 6.30 21.30 41.60 14.70
Rural 2501 43.7 23 15.60 43.70 40.90 34.60
Egypt 3712 22.30 31 6.10 21.60 41.30 15.20
Urban 4843 20.70 34 2.60 11.00 41.40 7.20
Rural 2924 26.00 22 8.50 28.90 41.20 21.80
Source Estimated from CAPMAS (Center Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics of Egypt) (2010b),
Household Income Expenditure and Consumption Sample Survey (HIECS) of 2008/2009
 32

Table 2.12 Trend of food price level inflation rate in rural versus urban Egypt
Region Urban Rural Rural/urban
Comparative Average value/kg Food prices Annual food Average value/kg Food prices: Annual food prices: inflation parity food
indicator of food consumed index (%) prices inflation of food consumed inflation rate between two successive price (%)
rate (%) index (%) periods (%)
1975 0.14 100 – 0.12 100 – 86
1990 1.55 1107 16.0 1.39 1158 16.3 90
1995 1.74 1243 2.3 1.25 1042 −2.1 72
2000 2.73 1950 9.0 1.43 1192 2.7 52
2005 2.97 2121 2.1 2.29 1908 9.4 77
2009 3.40 2431 3.4 3.13 2606 7.8 92
Source Estimated from CAPMAS (2010b)
I. Soliman
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 33

observed in urban regions by a relatively large margin. This was due to heavy
subsidization of food items devoted to urban regions compared to rural areas. It was
also due to the urbanization of wide tracts of rural land adjacent to cities, thereby
increasing the demand for food commodities in these newly urbanized rural regions.
A third reason may stem from the changes in rural consumers’ behavior towards
simulating the behavior observed in urban regions due to the expansion of com-
munication tools, commercial promotions and the media.
Egyptian statistics lack a continuous estimation of CPI for both urban and rural
regions. Therefore, as food consumption expenditure represents more than 50 % of
total household expenditure in most Egyptian households, the estimated index
presented in Table 2.12 was applied to obtain the real annual per capita income in
both urban and rural areas over the period 1975–2010. As shown in Table 2.13,
dramatic changes occurred in the Egyptian economy during the period 1975–1990,
moving from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy without a
proper institutional policy view (Hazell et al. 1995). These changes generated
severe disadvantages, which outweighed the few advantages. In reality, both urban
and rural communities suffered from reduced purchasing power with negative
economic growth in both communities. The great expansion in foreign investments,
mainly from the West, was combined with significant positive economic growth
between 1990 and 1995. Real income and economic growth then deteriorated until
2010, in both the urban and rural communities, due to a distortion of the applied
economic policies. Successive governments over the period 2005–2010, i.e. until
the January revolution, focused attention on the rent and paper economy, a fact
which was only reflected in certain categories of urban communities, while the rural
regions did not derive any benefit from this policy. The urban households in the
categories which did benefit therefore enjoyed advantages in terms of economic
growth while the rural real economy deteriorated. Accordingly, the new regime
should emphasize rural development to bridge the rural/urban development gap as
quickly as possible.
Sørli et al. (2004) claimed that the lack of economic and political opportunities
among the communities within a certain country provide a fertile soil for frustration
and opposition. They added that poor countries or groups within a nation, trapped in
poverty, have a greater propensity for violent conflict with a higher probability of
conflict breaking out than the global average. Bloomberg and Hess (2002) stated
that “reduced levels of domestic economic activity tend to create incentives for
increased external and internal conflict, which in turn reinforces low levels of
domestic economic activity”. Therefore, a conflict-poverty trap emerges where
conflict plays a role in reducing capital accumulation and the lack of capital
accumulation results in further conflict. Nevertheless, there is a recognized causal
relationship between inequity and violence with Collier (1999), concluding that
even if economic inequity is significant in causing civil war, the “Collier and
Hoeffler model of civil war” lacks the means of measuring its influence.
 34

Table 2.13 Income level and income distribution in rural versus urban Egypt
Region Urban Rural
Year Annual per capita Annual Real annual per Economic Annual per capita Annual growth Real annual per Annual
expenditure (EPD) growth capita expenditure growth expenditure (EPD) rate (%) capita expenditure economic
rate (%) rate (%) (EPD) growth rate (%)
1975 103 – 103 63 – 63
1990 1058 15.5 96 −0.50 703 16.1 61 −0.25
1995 1793 10.6 144 8.24 1038 7.8 100 9.92
2000 2653 7.8 136 −1.17 1455 6.8 122 4.06
2005 2769 0.9 131 −0.83 2328 9.4 122 −0.02
2009 4843 11.2 199 8.48 2924 4.6 112 −1.69
Source Estimated from Table 2.5 and CAPMAS (2010b)
I. Soliman
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 35

2.4 Degradation of Natural Resources

Each community has granted a stockpile of natural resources and human resources.
Man has generated a new economic factor—capital—using natural resources
together with technology to satisfy the growing quantitative and qualitative
demands of the population of such a community. The expanded demands therefore
exacerbate the scarcity of these limited natural resources. The Egyptian economy
has suffered considerably from the impacts of this economic process as a result of
the policies adopted over the past five decades, in particular with regard to agri-
cultural land and water resources (Soliman 2006a, b).
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the Egyptian economy is therefore con-
fronted with a major challenge. It has to create a new development system aimed at
ensuring an efficient combination of natural resources and human resources while
curbing the depletion of agricultural land and water resources both in quantitative
and qualitative terms. Sustainable development should ensure that future genera-
tions have their share of present-day resources and this share should be developed
by taking into account the increasing quantitative and qualitative future demand due
to the evolution of civilization and expected economic and social development
(Soliman 1995). This section aims to investigate the changes that have occurred in
the natural agricultural resources in Egypt over the past four decades, focusing on
the quantitative and qualitative deterioration of these resources.
It should be noted that the agricultural and water resource management policies
implemented in Egypt have lacked social costs and price implementation which
caused the market to fail, thereby exacerbating the deterioration in the quantity and
quality of both natural resources.

2.4.1 Agricultural Land Resources

Despite the scarcity of data and accurate information regarding the area of agri-
cultural land appropriated for non-agricultural use, the study tried to extrapolate the
validity of the data available to obtain a time trend for the changes in these areas.
The study also tried to identify the classification patterns of non-agricultural uses to
specify the economic attitudes of rural communities towards land use. The study
used a procedural definition for the pattern of appropriations of agricultural land for
non-farming purposes. Some of the non-agricultural uses were associated with
agricultural development, such as animal and poultry production and agricultural
industries. However, the argument is still valid that while these purposes are con-
cerned with agricultural activities, they eliminate fertile agricultural land within the
Nile Delta which is difficult to offset in the absence of the Nile flood.
The study used several methods to track the appropriation of agricultural land for
non-agricultural purposes between 1970 and 2012. The official time-series statistics
show the total agricultural land and the reclaimed land as presented in Table 2.14.
36 I. Soliman

Table 2.14 Time series estimates of Egyptian farmland, and reclaimed area (in 000 Feddan),
1977–2010
Year Agricultural land Annual change in farmland Reclaimed land area
1977 5796 – –
1978 5838 42 5
1979 5826 −12 7
1980 5820 −6 127
1981 5876 56 81
1982 5822 −54 78
1983 5797 −25 45
1984 5853 56 52
1985 5943 90 100
1986 6019 76 120
1987 6093 74 132.8
1988 6183 90 132.8
1989 6270 87 132.8
1990 6918 648 132.8
1991 7023 105 132.8
1992 7131 111 57.63
1993 7179 45 57.63
1994 7173 −6 57.63
1995 7813 1377 57.63
1996 7563 −250 24.5
1997 7726 163 27.9
1998 7761 35 40.7
1999 7848 87 22
2000 7833 −15 12.7
2001 7946 113 28.7
2002 8148 202 18
2003 8113 −35 23.5
2004 8279 166 14.5
2005 8385 106 7.8
2006 8411 26 2.22
2007 8423 12 2.1
2008 8432 9 0.7
2009 8783 351 0
2010 8741 −42 0
Aggregate 2945 3682 1734.84
change
Source (1) Center Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics of Egypt, and (2) Public authority
for agricultural development and reconstruction projects, Egypt (2010)
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 37

These data are insufficient to obtain logical estimates of the land appropriated for
non-agricultural purposes. The aggregate increase in agricultural land was
3682 million Feddan, according to the official statistics; it surpassed the reclaimed
area by 1210 million Feddan.
This inaccuracy in agricultural land estimates forced the study to collect all pub-
lished studies on the agricultural use of land resources to determine a realistic chro-
nological trend for agricultural land use over time. There are few studies available on
agricultural land appropriated for non-agricultural purposes. These studies presented
the changes over discrete periods rather than on a continuous annual basis. One of the
main conclusions from these studies was that land re-appropriation has two main
patterns. The first is a legal appropriation of agricultural land with official approval for
either public utilities and/or private enterprises. The second could be for related
agricultural activities. Patterns of legal appropriation of land include the establishment
of animal and poultry farms, stores for seed and fertilizer, shelters for machines and/or
finally the construction of houses within the planned urban belts. The second pattern
involves the illegal appropriation of agricultural land. Some people simply leave the
land fallow until they have the opportunity to build on it. Other illegal practices
include dredging the agricultural land and selling the silt for making bricks for con-
struction before building on this degraded land at a later date. Some individuals build
concrete buildings either for activities related to the agricultural sector, such as cattle
and poultry pens, or for warehouses and storage/packaging plants. However, an
increasing area has been used for residential construction, particularly in villages
adjacent to big cities. Such residential areas are the nucleus of “slums” which are
called “Ashoaiatt” in Egypt. Such slums have become the focus of social unrest as the
inhabitants demand the provision of services and infrastructures through social
pressure, despite the fact that they are illegal residents.
Table 2.15 shows the estimates of the total land appropriated for non-agricultural
purposes during the period from 1970 to 2010. The cumulative total of agricultural

Table 2.15 Total agricultural land withdrawn for non-agricultural purposes (in 000 Feddan),
1970–2010
Time interval Total farmland withdrawn in successive time periods Annual average
1970–1980 (1)500 50
1980–1990 (1)270 27*
1990–2000 (2, 1)140 14**
2000–2010 (2)350 35***
2011 14.3 14.3
Total 1274.3 40
*
Act 116 of 1983 to prevent construction on the agricultural land
**
Issuing of the military Governor (Prime Minister) Command in 1996
***
Issuing of the new urban space map of the villages and rural towns for the period 2008/2012
Source Compiled and calculated by (1) Soliman and Rizk (1991)
(2) Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Directorate General of Land Protection,
unpublished data
38 I. Soliman

land re-appropriated over the period concerned reached 1274 million Feddan with
an average annual rate from 40,000 to 50,000 Feddan/year. This rate fluctuated
periodically. While 40 % of the total land was appropriated for non-agricultural use
during the 1970s, this rate decreased to only 27,000 Feddan during the 1980s as a
result of Law No. 116 issued in 1983 concerning the prevention of construction on
agricultural land. During the 1990s, the figure fell even further to about
14,000 Feddan/year due to the military rule witnessed in 1996 which prohibited all
non-agricultural construction on agricultural land. Between the beginning of the
21st century and January 2011, the annual rate of agricultural land appropriated for
non-agricultural use has once again increased to 35,000 Feddan/year due to
implementation of the planned program of urbanization, particularly in the Nile
Delta Governorates that do not have desert borders. Lawlessness has been dominant
in Egyptian society since the revolution of January 25, 2011, which resulted in a
boom in construction on agricultural land. The General Directorate for the
Protection of Land reported that more than 14,000 Feddan had been re-appropriated
by mid-February 2012.
The total agricultural land illegally appropriated (Table 2.16) represented no
more than 9.1 % of the total land appropriated for non-agricultural purposes over
the same period. This means that most of the land withdrawn was done so legally.
The appropriation of agricultural land for non-agricultural use was therefore
influenced by government policies rather than individuals.

2.4.1.1 Social and Economic Attitudes

The intensive demand for withdrawing agricultural land for non-agricultural uses
was the result of the estimated price of land for non-agricultural purposes being
10–15 times higher than the price for agricultural use (Soliman and Rizk 1991).
Such a price difference was responsible for 71 % of the area re-appropriated for
other non-agricultural purposes. The same study showed that the agricultural land
market was oriented by the demand for non-agricultural purposes. Soliman and

Table 2.16 Agricultural land withdrawn illegally for urban purposes (1987–2011)
Time interval Total Annual average
1983–1987 19,325 3865
1988–1992 17,290 3458
1993–1995 7734 2578
1996–2005 11,743 1174
2011 14,296 14,296*
Total 70,388 2427
*
Since the 25th of January 2011 until 15 February 2012
Source Compiled and calculated by (1) Abdul Aziz (2007)
(2) Report of the Directorate General for the protection of land, The Seventh Day (newspaper),
15 February/2012
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 39

Rizk (1991) estimated the price elasticity of demand for land for non-agricultural
use as 0.9, while it was close to zero for the demand for land for agricultural
purposes. However, the same study showed that a 10 % improvement in soil
fertility reduced the demand for urban purposes by around 3 %.
The increase in population was another important factor behind the increased
demand for land for non-agricultural purposes in the Egyptian countryside. The
same study showed that a 10 % population increase would increase the re-appro-
priation of agricultural land for the purposes of construction by about 4.4 %. This
figure doubled in villages near the cities.

2.4.1.2 Deterioration in Soil Fertility and Quality

A study of the economic efficiency of agricultural resources in Arab countries

(Soliman 2006a, b) showed how valuable irrigated land is in comparison to rain-fed
areas. Agricultural production in Arab countries did not show a significant response
to changes in rain-fed areas. However, each additional acre of irrigated land showed
an additional value in agricultural production of about US$4000 per year (2004,
constant price). The study also showed that the value (price) of one acre of irrigated
land in Arab countries was about US$100,000 (at 2004 prices).This value is
assumed to be much higher as agricultural land in Egypt is fully surface-irrigated
with a high density of cultivation, as the crop density coefficient reached nearly 1.76
in the agricultural season in 2009 (Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture 2010).
Furthermore, as the Nile flood no longer occurs following the construction of the
High Dam in Aswan, the opportunity cost of Nile valley agricultural land is
assumed to be much higher because no more silt is added to this soil. An acre lost
could not, therefore, be replaced by a newly reclaimed one as Abdul Aziz (2007)
estimated the costs of reclaiming one acre at US$2200. In addition the productivity
of an acre of newly reclaimed land would be less than the old one in the Nile valley.
As shown earlier in this section, the higher the soil fertility, the lower the
demand for Egyptian agricultural land for urban use. However, Soliman and Rizk
(1991) provided evidence that the main reason behind the decline in Egyptian
agricultural soil fertility is that the groundwater level has been raised closer to the
surface due to the imbalance between the speed of expansion of the drinking water
network and the very limited expansion in the sewage network in rural areas. This is
responsible for 25 % of the deterioration in soil fertility in Egypt. That study also
showed that a 10 % increase in the groundwater level resulted in an 8.6 % dete-
rioration in soil fertility. The latest statistical report (CAPMAS 2010a, b) showed
that the proportion of Egyptian village houses connected to drinking water had
reached 81.6 % while the houses connected to the sewage network did not exceed
12.8 % in the Egyptian countryside
The extended contamination of agricultural land due to the many sources of
pollution is another dimension underlying a qualitative waste of land resources.
Numerous villages release household and other waste directly into the soil, making
40 I. Soliman

it a source of environmental pollution. A recent study (AlSaid 2011) showed the

deterioration in soil fertility due to the increase in its salt content as a result of poor
drainage. The negative externalities of degradation in the chemical and physical
characteristics of the soil result from excessive use of chemical fertilizers, especially
nitrogen, the irrational use of pesticides and the release of sewage and industrial
waste into water canals and at the farmland borders. Moreover, the desertification of
farmland results from the moving of the sand dunes which cover the soil and lead to
a degradation in soil fertility, especially in Upper Egypt where the strip of fertile
land is very narrow.

2.4.2 Irrigation Water Resources

Although water resources govern any agricultural development program, the water
available in Egypt has reached a level below the critical per capita water poverty
line. The per capita share has dropped annually from about 1024 m3 in 2002 to
about 901 m3 in 2010 (CAPMAS 2012). Egypt is located within the dry belt.
However, Egyptian water resources amounted to around 70.9 billion m3 in 2010.
Although 78.27 % comes from the sustainable source of the Nile, it will become an
unsecured water source due to ongoing conflicts relating to water distribution
between the countries upstream and downstream. Non-renewable sources included
about 8.88 % from depleted groundwater in the valley and the delta in 2010 while
1.83 % was derived from unstable natural resources and water harvesting. The
recycling of agricultural drainage water accounted for 9.16 % of Egyptian water
resources in 2010 while the recycling of wastewater represented 1.84 %. About
10.7 % was therefore derived from unstable natural sources (groundwater and
rainfall) and about 11 % from water resources of unstable quality, i.e. exposed to
potential contamination (recycling of drainage water and wastewater).
Agriculture accounted for roughly 82.5 % of total water resources used to irri-
gate nearly 8.7 million acres. The irrigating network covers more than 10 million
fields and measures about 40,000 km via a network of canals and channels. The
agricultural drainage network stretches about 20,000 km. Households use approx-
imately 12.9 % of the total water supply, followed by industry, which consumes
1.6 %. Water lost to the sea was about 3 % of the total water available in 2010. Such
huge surface irrigation networks face technical and economic difficulties with
regard to management and suffer from numerous sources of waste. Furthermore, as
the old agricultural system was deeply rooted in human culture, a number of
inherited social traditions remain which guide the farmers’ behavior towards water
use. These customs also contribute to either quantitative or qualitative waste. The
latter has negative externalities which cause pollution that in turn affects human,
animal and fish health as well as the agronomic production in Egypt (USAID,
Egypt, 2002).
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 41

2.4.2.1 Types of Quantitative Waste in the Water Resources

From the literature, the study identified four types of quantitative waste in water
resources. The first type stems from inefficient water delivery. Previous studies
(Abdul Aziz 2007; AlSaid 2011) estimated the efficiency of irrigation water from
Aswan to the fields as shown in Table 2.17. The most important conclusions drawn
from the findings of these studies were that losses from the irrigation network were
much higher than suggested by official statistics. The latter estimated the annual
loss at 2.2 billion m3, which is equivalent to only 2.5 % of the amount of water at
Aswan, while the studies estimated the loss at between 19.5 % and more than
29.21 %. These studies confirm the frequent complaint of farmers, especially in the
summer season, of insufficient water flow reaching their fields. They claim that the
fields receive even less than the quantity determined theoretically by the Ministry of
Irrigation. In conclusion, it seems that the agricultural sector is not only the major
consumer of the limited water resources; it is also the main culprit with regard to
water loss. This loss is the result of using the huge network of open channels which
carry water to the fields. Huge water loss is therefore expected through evaporation
and seepage as well as poor maintenance of pumping stations.
The second type of loss is caused by inefficient irrigation systems. Emad El-din
(1990) showed that it would be possible to save about 2 billion m3 of water if the
irrigation water distribution and consumption patterns were rationalized. Al Saied
(1997) cited the lack of efficient surface irrigation. He estimated an average irri-
gation efficiency of 60 % for crops and about 50 % for rice irrigation.
The third source of water loss is inefficient water management at the farm level,
which is incompatible with the principle of sustainable development. It also stems
from uneven withdrawal from groundwater reservoirs and the lack of rainwater
surplus reserves. A case study in “Kafr El-Sheikh governorate” in the Nile Delta
region provided evidence of such water loss. It showed that there was a loss in the
current charge of irrigation water of around 68 % above the recommended charge.
Another study showed that the current flow of mixed water (freshwater and irri-
gation drainage water) exceeded the recommended flow by about 17.6 % (Moftah
and Al Safty 2005).

Table 2.17 Water charge at Aswan and loss percentage from source to destination (1981–2008)
Period Water charge at Losses (%)
Aswan (milliard From Aswan to From canal openings Total Water delivery
cubic meter) canal openings to the fields loss efficiency
1981–1986 51.69 10.2 15.4 25.6 74.4
1987–1992 55.04 9.8 9.6 19.5 80.6
1993–2008 53.99 17.4 11.7 29.1 70.9
Official 53.57 NA NA 2.2 97.8
statistics
Source (1) Suhair (1997)
(2) AlSaid (2011)
(3) Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (2012)
42 I. Soliman

The fourth source of water loss is indirect. It is derived from existing cropping
patterns which make inefficient use of irrigation water (Al Kholi 2009; AlSaid
2011). The studies concerned with rationalizing the use of water according to an
economic rationale usage had obtained varied results due to different times and
different crop and input prices. Some did not accurately estimate the rental value of
an acre of land, in particular after the liberalization of the land market in 1997.
There is now a distinct difference in rental prices between agricultural areas as well
as between the old and new territories in Egypt. For example, the study of AlSaid
(2011) indicated that the proposed cropping pattern based on economic rationale
did not differ greatly from the existing one. Another study by Al Kholi (2009)
showed that there would be no place for grain crops if the economic costs of a cubic
meter of water were taken into account and there would only be a room for the
expansion of fruit and vegetable farming at the expense of cereals.
This study concluded that the misuse of water at the farm level derived from the
third and fourth types of water loss was mainly the result of the water market
failure. Keeping the economic principals, the irrigation water in Egypt is provided
free of charge. The farmers bear only the cost of lifting the water from the tertiary
canals to their fields, while the energy price used for water pumps is subsidized
(Soliman and Owaida 1998). Thereof, the farmers take their decisions on the basis
of the profit calculated from a financial budget, ignoring the opportunity cost of
water and considering only its operating costs.

2.4.2.2 Waste in the Quality of Water Resources

The growing waste in water quality means deterioration in the validity of water for
different uses due to harmful changes in its physical and chemical characteristics and/
or its microbial content (Guweili et al. 1988; The Shura Council 1997; AlSaid 2011).
The main reason underlying the deterioration of water quality is the disposal of
municipal waste, agricultural drainage, the remnants of chemical fertilizers and
pesticides and industrial waste in canals. Such materials seep into the water courses
and aquifers. Another reason lies in the imbalance between the expansion of drinking
water networks to villages and rural towns and the limited commitment to similar
sewage network programs. An indirect cause results from saltwater intrusion in the
groundwater due to excessive withdrawal of the fresh aquifer water. Successive
governments over the past five decades have paid insufficient attention to pollution of
the Nile which is combined with an absence of environmental awareness, not only
among members of the community but also within the official institutions.
Egyptian literature has provided some estimates of the social costs of the neg-
ative externalities resulting from pollution suffered by the individual members of
the community (Soliman 1995).These externalities range from chronic disease to
potential death. This study evaluated the positive and negative externalities asso-
ciated with the establishment of the High Dam and showed that the social cost of
the death of a person due to pollution amounted to 150 thousand US$ using 1994
prices (Soliman 1995).
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 43

2.5 Worrying Demographic Trends and Migrations

This section presents an analytical profile of the indicators of migration, employ-

ment and unemployment in rural communities throughout Egypt over time together
with some major impacts of the changes occurring in these indicators on the
community concerned.

2.5.1 Migration Indicators

The demographic changes in population structure (Table 2.18) highlighted a very

important issue that has greatly affected the performance of the Egyptian economy
and the rural community in particular. While the total population size grew from
about 52 million inhabitants in 1986 to around 78 million in 2008 at an annual
growth rate of about 1.9 % and the urban population grew at 1.8 % per year, the
rural population showed vital demographic changes over that period. The share of
the agricultural population in rural society declined from almost 50 % in 1986 to
only 29 % in 2008 at an annual rate of decline of 0.5 %. At the same time, the non-
agricultural rural population increased from only 7 % of the total rural population in
1986 to more than 27 % in 2008 at an annual growth rate of 8.2 %. The result was a
growth in the total non-agricultural population living in either rural or urban regions
from 51 % of the total population to more than 71 % between 1986 and 2008. This
phenomenon, i.e. the rapid increase in the non-agricultural rural population at the
expense of agricultural inhabitants, has been more drastic during the past few years.
Table 2.18 shows that the agricultural population in rural territories decreased from
29 % in 2008 to 27 % in 2012, at a larger annual rate of decline of 0.7 % than the
comparable rate between 1986 and 2008. Furthermore, the share of the non-agri-
cultural rural population in the rural community as a whole increased from 27 % in
2008 to 30 % in 2012. It seems that the shrinkage of the agricultural population in
rural territories to the benefit of the non-agricultural sector was due to the fall in
manual farming employment, to be replaced by mechanization. Moreover, the
agricultural sector has become unable to offer a satisfactory wage (income) to rural
people to ensure a reasonable standard of living. A previous section in this study
presented the poverty profile in rural regions over time while the following section
will show the impact of agricultural mechanization on human labor employment.
It seems that the newly urbanized rural population has not only shifted from
being food producers to mere consumers, but they have also adopted the urban
propensity to consume, in terms of both quantity and quality. In addition to this,
such a large non-agricultural population usually faces a lack of employment
opportunities offering satisfactory income, either in rural or urban regions. They
have therefore placed extra pressure on demand in the agro-food sector without
contributing to expanding its supply (Soliman 2000).
 44

Table 2.18 Population structure and growth rate by demographic category in Egypt (1986–2012)
Population 1986 2008 1986–2008 2012 1986–2012
structure (000) Total (000) Total Annual growth (000) Total Annual growth
Inhabitants population (%) Habitant population (%) rate (%) Inhabitants population (%) rate (%)
Total 52,063 100 78,323 100 1.86 83,958 100 1.74
population
Urban 22,884 44 33,840 43 1.78 36,696 44 2.03
Rural 29,179 56 44,483 57 1.92 47,262 56 1.51
Agricultural 25,607 49 22,949 29 −0.50 22,325 27 −0.69
Non- 3,572 7 21,534 27 8.17 24,937 30 3.67
agricultural
Total non- 26,456 51 55,374 71 3.36 59,256 71 1.69
agricultural
Source Calculated from FAOSTAT; Statistical Data Base, FAOSTAT/© FAO Statistics Division 2013/February 2010 www.FAO.org, and Ministry of
Agricultural and Land Reclamation, Egypt (2010) Economic Affairs Sector
I. Soliman
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 45

Irrespective of whether the non-agricultural population have stayed in rural

communities or migrated to new urban communities, they continue to suffer from a
lack of satisfactory jobs to cover their ambitious acquired desire to improve their
consumption attitudes. Accordingly, they have become a main factor in the
expansion of the categories under the poverty line and an increase in the govern-
ment budget for food and service subsidies (ILO 2008).
The reasons for leaving rural societies outweigh the reasons for staying, par-
ticularly with the liberalization of the agricultural market by 1986/1987. This was
due to the lack of integrated rural development programs. Since 1994, Egypt’s
Human Development Reports and the growing number of indicators of well-being
have consistently shown the persistent level of deprivation of rural communities.
They are deprived in terms of physical infrastructure facilities as well as access to
education. Moreover, the quantity and diversity of job opportunities is far more
restricted in rural Egypt and can explain the strong tendency towards rural-urban
migration and the very fast expansion of the informal slums (Ashwaiyat) which
offer intermediate earnings and living conditions between rural and urban regions
(UNDP Egypt Human Development Report 2010).
Migration broadens young people’s opportunities while offering them a means
of earning higher income and gaining skills (World Bank 2004). However, while
many Egyptian youths hope to migrate, few actually succeed in doing so.
According to SYPE (2010), 15 % of young Egyptians aged 18–29 want to live or
work abroad, but only 1.6 % manages to do so. By now, it is well established that
migration from Egypt is mostly made up of temporary migration to other Arab
countries, whereas the proportion of young returning migrants from European
destination countries is almost negligible, perhaps because those who go there do
not return (UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs 2009).
Surprisingly, education appears to be a powerful motivator for the migration of
both young men and young women. Both the intended and actual migration rates
increase steadily with education. It ranges from 4.5 % for those with no school
certificates to 20.9 % for those with a university education (ILO and Ministry of
Manpower and Migration 2009). University-educated young men are nearly 3.5
times as likely to migrate as men with no school certificates and university-educated
women are more than 8 times more likely to migrate than their counterparts with no
school certificates. This would suggest that the higher the education level in Egypt,
the fewer employment opportunities there are (Migration (DRC) 2007). However,
El-Kogali and Al-Bassusi (2001) add that the increase in both intended migration
levels and actual migration as the education level increases reflects the role of
education in facilitating migration. Men from urban slums and rural areas are much
more likely to migrate than men from urban non-slum areas (El-Kogali and Soliman
2001). The lack of job opportunities (51 %), poor living conditions (33.9 %), the
relatively low income in Egypt compared to other countries (33.0 %), the need to
assist their families financially (14.7 %) and the need to earn money (12.7 %) are
the main motivations underlying migration.
Table 2.19 shows that a high proportion of the Cairo and Giza populations are
the result of internal migration. The majority of migrants are from rural areas in
46 I. Soliman

Table 2.19 Internal migration as percentage of total population in 2008

Region Internal migration Region Internal migration
Cairo 11.9 Bani Suif 2.2
Alexandria 6.7 Fayoum 0.6
Port Said 34 Menia 0.7
Suez 37.9 Asyut 1.2
Ismailia 31.3 Suhag 0.6
Damietta 5.4 Qena 1.4
Dakahlia 1.9 Luxor 1.3
Sharkia 4.6 Region 3.6
Kalyoubia 14.4 Red sea 28.7
Kafr El Sheikh 2.6 New valley 16.7
Gharbia 1.7 Matrouh 13.5
Menoufia 2.1 North Sinai 14.1
Behera 4.1 South Sinai 27.4
Giza 20.4 EGYPT 6.6
Source Collected from data of several issues of “The Official Labor Force Survey”, carried out on a
quarterly basis

Upper Egypt, which are communities with the lowest relative incomes. This may
explain the increase in the numbers of slum-dwellers in Cairo and Giza, which
amounted to more than 6 million people, representing about 50 % of slum-dwellers
in Egypt in January 2008 (ILO 2008). According to data from the Central Agency
for Public Mobilization and Statistics, some studies point to the negative impact on
the educational process of this massive immigration to the “Cairo and Giza” peril-
urban metropolitan region (El-Kogali and Soliman 2001). Furthermore, the three
cities along the western bank of the Suez Canal—Port Said, Ismailia and Suez—
have showed the highest rate of migration among their populations. However, this
was mainly due to dual migration (from and to) during the conflicts around the Suez
Canal over the period 1967–1973 (UN 2009). Most rural immigrants to Arab
countries and their job opportunities are observed in the farming and construction
sectors, as unskilled labor came from rural areas in Egypt. These opportunities were
the main source of savings in the form of remittances of young rural household
members working abroad. Such income sources are invested by those young
entrepreneurs in projects (Zohry and Harrell-Bond 2003).

2.5.2 Labor Force and Employment by Sector

A small proportion of young people in Egypt (about 11 % in 2006) have never been
enrolled at school. These young people have never been unemployed. If they enter
the labor force, they usually work at an early age, generally in either agriculture or
the informal economy (ILO 2008). The economic slow-down resulting from the
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 47

onset of the world financial crisis in 2008 led to an increase in male joblessness for
all educational categories except university graduates, which enlarged the propor-
tion of unemployment.
The total residential population of Egypt approached 84 million inhabitants in
2012, of which about 27.5 million were economically active, i.e. approximately
one-third, and agricultural labor approached 24 % of the labor force. There has been
a declining trend in the share of agricultural labor in the total labor force over the
last two decades. This share was more than one-third in 1997 but decreased to
almost 23.5 % in 2012 (Table 2.20). It seems that the major reason behind the
shrinkage in the share of agricultural labor in the total active labor force was a
decrease in agricultural male labor of 0.3 % a year over the last two decades.
Surprisingly, the female share in agricultural labor increased, at the expense of the
male share, from 35 % in 1997 to 41 % in 2012. Non-agricultural male labor
increased over the same period by 3.2 %. The share of agricultural female labor
increased at a positive annual rate of 0.3 %. Nevertheless, non-agricultural female
labor expanded quickly at an annual growth rate of 4.6 %. One main reason behind
the decrease in agricultural labor, particularly for men, was an increase in mecha-
nization in agricultural production over the last three decades, as shown in
Table 2.21, where less area per tractor over time means a greater density of
mechanization.

Table 2.20 Agricultural population and labor force (in 000) in Egypt
Year 1997 2007 2008 2011 2012
Total population 64,200 76,942 78,323 82,537 83,958
Rural population 36,763 43,750 44,483 46,599 47,262
Rural/total population (%) 57.3 56.9 56.8 56.5 56.3
Agricultural population 23,642 23,070 22,949 22,501 22,325
Agricultural population/rural 36.8 35.3 34.5 33.3 32.4
population (%)
Total economically active 18,540 24,550 25,167 26,977 27,560
Total labor force/total population (%) 28.9 31.9 32.1 32.7 32.8
Male economically active 14,443 18,350 18,763 19,998 20,403
Male labor force/total labor force (%) 77.9 74.7 74.6 74.1 74.0
Total economically active in 6210 6630 6635 6599 6569
agriculture
Labor force in agriculture/agricultural 26.3 28.7 28.9 29.3 29.4
population (%)
Labor force in agriculture/total labor 33.5 27.0 26.4 24.5 23.8
force (%)
Male economically active in 4033 3998 3984 3925 3899
agriculture
Male labor force in agriculture/total 64.9 60.3 60.0 59.5 59.4
agricultural labor (%)
Source Compiled and calculated from FAO Statistics Division (12 March 2013)
48 I. Soliman

Table 2.21 Time trend of machinery and human labor density per hectare in Egypt (1986–2008)
Year Agricultural area (000) Tractors Hectare/tractor Agricultural
(000) hectares labor (h/year/ha)
1986 2567 52,000 49 3335
1987 2547 52,290 49 3400
1988 2581 53,000 49 3395
1989 2571 55,000 47 3445
1990 2648 57,000 46 3377
1991 2643 59,000 45 3415
1992 2900 61,000 48 3139
1993 3246 78,099 42 2821
1994 3246 78,846 41 2800
1995 3283 89,080 37 2837
1996 3286 88,000 37 2856
1997 3300 86,000 38 2877
1998 3300 86,000 38 2910
1999 3483 86,000 41 2789
2000 3291 86,255 38 2987
2001 3338 92,203 36 2979
2002 3424 93,340 37 2931
2003 3409 94,482 36 2983
2004 3478 96,265 36 2965
2005 3523 98,051 36 2965
2006 3533 100,317 35 2979
2007 3538 102,584 34 2994
2008 3542 105,121 34 3018
Source (1) Calculated from FAO Statistics Division, December 2010, http://faostat.fao.org/site/
570/default.aspx#ancor
(2) Ministry of Economic Development, Economic Indicators http://www.mop.gov.eg/English/
english.html, December 2010

The author of this paper conducted a series of studies on the agricultural

mechanization system in Egypt for major summer and winter crops and with dif-
ferent mechanization systems. Those studies concerned the estimated substitution
relationships between human labor and machinery. Some major findings were
drawn from those studies. The marginal return per one dollar spent on machinery
was much higher than the marginal return of one dollar spent on human labor. They
also showed that the least cost combination of labor forces (human and machinery)
was for increased expansion in machinery at the expense of human labor. Use of
machinery would increase the yield of major crops much more than human labor
would. Mechanization would also reduce the production costs due to fewer seeds,
saving irrigation water due to leveling the soil and consequently saving on chemical
fertilizers. Therefore, higher farm income can be achieved by decreasing human
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 49

labor on farms, which means that rural inhabitants cannot acquire satisfactory
opportunity income from agricultural labor (Soliman 1992; Soliman et al. 1994a, b,
c, d; Soliman and Owaida 1998).
Egypt, like much of the Middle East, faces a major unemployment problem
exacerbated by its relatively young population. Agriculture continues to dominate
the Egyptian employment market with more than 30 % of the population working in
the agricultural sector. The end of the 20th century saw a huge population shift
towards the cities, particularly Cairo, because rural agricultural workers have
moved in search of better wages.
Employment grew at a slower rate than the population and the labor force,
resulting in a worsening unemployment situation. Official figures kept the rate of
unemployment around 12 %. This figure probably understated the problem, because
other informed sources put the rates at 20–25 % (Gualdoni 2013). Analysts cited a
multitude of reasons for the rapid increase in unemployment including high pop-
ulation and low economic growth rates, the inability of industry to absorb a larger
numbers of workers, high capital intensity in new industrial enterprises and the
focus of successive Five-Year Plans on the infrastructure over the last four decades.
Although Egypt had a high percentage of high school and college graduates, the
country continued to face shortages in skilled labor. An estimated 35 % of civil
servants and 60 % of people working in public-sector enterprises were unskilled or
illiterate. The lack of skilled labor was blamed, among other things, on the cultural
bias against manual work, the theoretical nature of courses provided by the higher
educational institutions and the emigration of skilled personnel abroad where they
received higher wages. There were complaints that the implementation of devel-
opment plans was hampered by the insufficient supply of skilled labor.

2.5.3 Unemployment Indicators

The number of unemployed people in Egypt increased to 3,519,000 in the fourth

quarter of 2012 from 3,357,000 in the third quarter of 2012 (Fig. 2.3). As reported
by CAPMAS (2012), the number of unemployed in Egypt from 2003 to 2012
averaged 2,500,000, reaching a record high of 3,519,000 in November 2012
compared to 2,022,000 in February 2003. In Egypt, the unemployed are deemed to
be individuals who are without a job and actively seeking work.
The unemployment rate in Egypt, reported by CAPMAS (2012) increased to
13 % in the fourth quarter of 2012 from 12.50 % in the third quarter of 2012.
Historically, from 1993 until 2012, unemployment in Egypt averaged 10.26 %,
reaching a record high of 13 % in December 2012 and a record low of 8.10 % in
June 1999. In Egypt, the unemployment rate measures the number of people
actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labor force. In addition to
unemployment, economists point to underemployment, or disguised unemploy-
ment. There was a consensus that underemployment was rampant in government
bureaucracy, because of overstaffing and low remuneration.
50 I. Soliman

Fig. 2.3 Monthly trend of unemployment rate in Egypt (2011–2013)

Although the private sector has been the leading investor for development plans
over the last two decades in Egypt, the formal private sector has not expanded its
employment sufficiently to absorb the large number of educated individuals
streaming into the job market every year. On the other hand, government hiring of
secondary school and university graduates has been severely curtailed in recent
years. Faced with poor prospects of getting formal jobs in either the public or
private sectors, young people are forced to accept any jobs they can get in the
informal economy. Youth unemployment is the dominant form of unemployment in
Egypt. In 2006, over 80 % of the unemployed were under the age of 29 and 82 % of
the unemployed had never worked before (ILO 2008).
The unemployment rate is a very partial measure of the health of the labor
market that depends as much on the level of expectations about getting formal
employment. Thus, to ascertain what a decline in unemployment rates means, it is
necessary to examine a number of other labor market indicators including alter-
native definitions of unemployment. The unemployment rate is based on two
alternative definitions, namely the “standard unemployment rate” and “the broad
unemployment rate”. The International Conference of Labor Statisticians that takes
place under the auspices of the International Labor Organization (ILO 2009) bases
both definitions on recommendations.
The standard definition of unemployment requires a person not to have worked a
single hour during a reference week, to want to work, to be ready and available to
start work within two weeks and to have actively searched for work during some
past reference period, typically the past month. The standard unemployment rate
decreased from about 27 % of the labor force (15–59 year-olds) in 1996 to 18 % in
2008. In cases where labor markets are less structured or where searching for work
appears futile, international recommendations allow for a broader definition that
drops the active search criterion. Thus, the broad definition of unemployment
includes, within the ranks of the unemployed, individuals who are not working,
ready and available for work, but have not engaged in any search activity. That
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 51

Table 2.22 Standard and broad youth unemployment rates (% of 15–59 year olds)
Region Standard rate (%) Broad rate (%)
2006 2008 2006 2008
Urban 21.5 17.9 24.2 23.0
Rural 13.9 15.8 15.5 22.2
Egypt 16.9 16.7 19.1 22.6
Source (1) The Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey Carried out by the Economic Research Forum
(ERF) in cooperation with CAPMAS (Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics),
Cairo, Egypt, 1998 and 2006
(2) The Survey of Young People in Egypt (2009), carried out by the Population Council in
cooperation with the Information and Decision Support Center of the Council of Ministers

group is often referred to as the “discouraged unemployed”. The definition includes

individuals who have worked an hour or more during the reference week, but who
wish to work more hours. The latter are considered employed but are considered
visibly underemployed (Assad et al. 2009).
As shown in Table 2.22, both standard and broad unemployment rates decreased
in urban regions while they increased on aggregate between 2006 and 2008. A
different face of unemployment can be seen in the unemployment rate in both urban
and rural regions of Egypt. Rural unemployment was only 7 % of the total labor
force while this figure rose to more than 11 % in urban regions. However, unem-
ployment in rural regions requires further specialized research study. There are
specific rural labor market behaviors. Such behaviors are related to farm family
labor, seasonal demand for hired labor and the impact of an expansion in agri-
cultural mechanization over the last three decades (Soliman 2006a, b).

2.6 Public Health Concerns

The interdependence of factors influencing health outcomes in a vision of sustainable

human development was exemplified in the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) that place health at the heart of development with health-related aspects in
each of the eight goals. Accomplishing each goal can therefore have a positive impact
on health outcomes. Health is ultimately dependent on the vitality of nature’s life-
supporting processes and the fact that investment in stronger multi-sector public
health and primary preventive capacities within national policies can provide quick
and positive health returns (League of Arab States and United Nations 2007).
Although household access to piped water has reached almost 100 % in both
urban and rural Egypt, the rate of households with access to sanitation networks
reached on average 62.5 % of Egyptian households in 2008. Whereas the sanitation
network reached about 97 % of households in urban governorates, and 93 % of
Lower Egypt urban households, it was accessible to only 76 % of urban households
in Upper Egypt.
52 I. Soliman

In rural regions, the imbalance between access to piped water and sanitation
network was the worst of all Egyptian regions. While piped water reached 97 % of
rural households, only one-third of them have access to the sanitation network.
Only 13 % of rural households in Upper Egypt had access to sanitation in 2008.
On the other hand, estimates of the density of hospital beds per 10,000 people
were only available for urban regions, obviously because hospitals are centralized
in cities and towns. Whereas there are 30 beds for 10,000 people in major cities,
fewer than 20 beds are available for the same number of people in the rest of Egypt,
with 13 doctors serving 10,000 urban citizens but only 2 doctors treating the same
density of rural citizens (Table 2.23). There is a higher ratio of nurses to doctors in
rural regions than urban regions in Egypt. This phenomenon probably implies not
only the lack of doctors in rural regions but also the fact that rural females prefer to
work as nurses within the vicinity of their home villages for social reasons and
because other employment opportunities in rural areas, particularly for women, are
rare.

2.7 Education System Performance Indicators

The Egypt Human Development Report of 2010 (UNDP 2010) measures the per-
formance of the education system as a basic human development criterion by using
a weighted average of the literacy rate (over 15 s) and combined basic, secondary
and tertiary (higher) education as a gross enrolment ratio for all educational levels.
This is because data on enrolment by age are not available, especially for primary
education ratios. Similarly, data on enrolment in university and higher education
per governorate are not available. The combined gross enrolment ratios for various
governorates are derived after distributing total tertiary enrolment at the national
level according to the relative shares of the governorates in pre-university (basic
and secondary) enrolment. The literacy rate represents the percentage of young
people who can both read and write—and understand—a simple, short statement
related to their everyday life. These data are published through population censuses
while CAPMAS provides data on the illiterate population.
Literacy rates are almost the only educational indicator available, at present, for
both rural and urban areas (Ministry of Education and CAPMAS 2007). As rural
regions are the ultimate target for the estimates in this study, several indicators were
omitted because certain values were absent for rural areas in the approved public
references. Therefore, only the estimated literacy rate was presented in Table 2.24.
It is concluded from these estimates that the lowest literacy rate is to be found in
rural Upper Egypt, i.e. about 57 %. Even though the highest rate of about 79 % can
be found in urban Lower Egypt, more than one-fifth of the population is never-
theless illiterate.
One of the major measurements of the human development indicators (HDI) is
the literacy gap between rural and urban areas (Table 2.25). It is obtained by
Table 2.23 Some major health service performance indicators in Egypt
Region Sub Households with access to Ministry of health capabilities Beds/10,000 Health units/10,000
region persons persons
Piped water Sanitation Doctors/10,000 Nurses/10,000 Nurses/doctors (%) Total Ministry
(%) (%) persons persons health
Urban governorates 99.90 96.80 12.9 15.5 120 29.8 9.9 3.6
Lower Urban 99.80 93.10 24.6 47.7 194 14 7.3 1
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable …

Egypt Rural 98.10 52.60 2.3 10.3 448

Upper Urban 100.00 76.50 16.8 30.6 182 19.2 11.9 2.8
Egypt Rural 95.00 13.50 1.9 6.7 353
Total Urban 99.80 89.80 13.1 21.6 165
Egypt Rural 96.70 37.50 2.1 8.9 424
Total 98.20 62.50 6.9 14.3 207 18.2 8.4 2.6
Source Ministry of Health Cairo, Egypt, with El Zanaty and Associates, and Macro International (2009) “Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 2008”
53
54 I. Soliman

Table 2.24 Literacy rate (15+ year olds) (%)

Region Urban Lower Egypt Upper Egypt Egypt
governorates Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural
Literacy rate 77.6 77.2 78.8 65.8 64.4 76.9 57.1 70.4 78.1 62
(15+) (%)
Source Extracted from UNDP (2010)

Table 2.25 Relative gap between rural and urban

Rural/ 1995 1997/1998 2000/2001 2003 2004 2005 2008 2010
urban
Literacy 55.0 62.5 63.7 67.6 67.7 67.7 78.4 79.4
rate (%)
Source UNDP Egypt Human Development Report in 1990, 1996–1997, 2001, 2002–2003, 2004,
2008, and 2010

calculating the rural literacy rate as a percentage of the urban literacy rate with a
clear reduction in the gap over the past two decades. Between 1995 and 2010, the
gap in the literacy rate decreased from 45 to 21 % in 2010.

2.8 Strategy Towards Rural Development

Income is only a means of reducing poverty and not the ultimate goal (UNDP
1990). A successful strategy for rural development must therefore recognize three
challenges. First, the rate of transfer of people out of low-productivity agricultural
work and related activities into more rewarding spheres will be slow; given the
relative size of the modern sector, it will remain slow. Second, the majority of
people in rural areas face varying degrees of poverty and their position is likely to
get worse if the population expands at unprecedented rates while limitations con-
tinue to be imposed by the resources and technology available as well as the
institutions and organizations. Third, rural areas have labor, land and at least some
capital which, if mobilized, could reduce poverty and improve the quality of life (El
Hydari 1998). This implies more extensive development of existing resources
including the construction of infrastructure such as roads and irrigation systems, the
introduction of new production technology and the creation of new types of
institutions and organizations.
Rural development is concerned with the modernization and monetization of
rural society and the transition from traditional isolation to integration with the
national economy. Since rural development is intended to reduce poverty, it must be
clearly designed to increase production and raise productivity. However, improved
food supplies and nutrition, together with basic services such as health and edu-
cation, would not only improve the physical well-being and quality of life of the
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 55

rural poor, but could also, indirectly, enhance their productivity and their ability to
contribute to the national economy (Bush 2007).
Rural development is a strategy designed to improve the economic and social
life of the rural poor. It involves extending the benefits of development to the
poorest among those who seek a livelihood in rural areas. This group includes
small-scale farmers, tenants and the landless. The objectives of rural development
therefore extend beyond any particular sector. They encompass improved produc-
tivity, increased employment and thus higher incomes for target groups as well as
minimum acceptable levels of food, shelter, education and health. To achieve such
goals, a national program of rural development should include a combination of
activities including projects to increase agricultural output or to create new output.
Such a program might be made up of single-sector or multi-sectorial projects with
components implemented concurrently or in sequence. The components and
phasing must be formulated both to remove constraints and to support those forces
prevailing in the target area, which are favorable to development (World Bank
1975).
Rural development programs influence rural people’s livelihood patterns. These
patterns are environmental including soil erosion, water supply and forest cover;
economical including work opportunities, income and the cost of living; social
including culture, access to healthcare and education; and institutional including
farmers’ organizations, women’s groups and political leadership. The focus should
therefore be on understanding these patterns within a particular community and
how they interact with the intermediate and macro-level patterns (Wilde 2001).
The human development concept is focusing on the human resource develop-
ment and enlarging rural people’s choices as the ultimate benefits of its fruits
(UNDP 1990). Accordingly, there are three issues to be considered for rural
development planning. First, explicit attention is given to the linkages between
economic, environmental, social and institutional patterns that together constitute
the development context. Second, understanding gender, wealth, caste and other
social differences in communities should be considered as fundamental to under-
standing livelihood strategies and development priorities. Third, planning for the
future should be founded on the analysis of the current situation and should stem
from incorporating ideas and methods from rural people.
At the onset of this century all development concepts were brought under the
umbrella of sustainability, which is based on the fact that the development objective
should seek to generate sustainable economic growth while ensuring future gen-
erations’ ability to do the same by not exceeding the regenerative capacity of nature.
In other words, sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to
satisfy human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be
met not only in the present, but also for future generations. The term was used as
development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations 1987).
56 I. Soliman

2.8.1 The Road Map

It seems that being poor is very much a characteristic of residing in rural Egypt and
thus having less access to public goods and services. Lack of access to schooling in
turn becomes a major determinant of low-quality work opportunities throughout life
and thus the poverty cycle reproduces itself (Smith and Rees 2003). The poverty
assessment indicates the concentration of the poor in rural areas and particularly
those in Upper Egypt. Even though rural regions are poorer than urban centers,
inequality in income distribution is less prevalent in rural areas than urban centers in
Egypt. However, more income distribution equality in rural areas combined with
much lower income levels than in urban areas is a disadvantage, as it means that
poverty is broad and more pervasive in rural areas than in urban centers.
Several lessons were learned from the application of previous strategies in the
eighties, nineties and at the onset of this century. The price liberalization element of
the structural reform program has, to a great extent, reached its ultimate goal, while the
associated institutional reform suffered from a major response lag and needs further
reform. The limited water resources have not been handled with proper policies
targeting the rationalization of water use. Although small farm holdings account for
more than 91 % of the Egyptian agricultural system, such a majority of holders have
not been supported with policies that protect them from the negative impacts of market
liberalization and globalization and enable them to adapt to the dramatic changes that
have occurred since the nineties of the 20th century in the Egyptian agricultural sector.
The newly reclaimed land, which totals about one million hectares, has gener-
ated communities that lack the foundations of settlement and an efficient institu-
tional framework as well as an efficient marketing system. The system of
distributing the newly reclaimed land was biased against the real stakeholders in the
agricultural system, i.e. small-scale farmers and agricultural graduates either from
universities or agricultural high schools (Soliman and Jabber 2011).
Previous strategies lacked proper vision of how to achieve sustainable agricul-
tural development through an integrated rural development program.
Unemployment, risky migration to urban areas or abroad and the poverty gap have
therefore all expanded in rural communities (Soliman 2011). Little attention has
been paid to the environmental impacts of production, marketing and foreign trade
on the agricultural system in Egypt, in particular the impacts on output specifica-
tions, yield losses and barriers to exportation.

2.8.2 The Proposed Program to Alleviate Rural Poverty

The approach is based on the definition of a national program to improve the

livelihoods of the poorest rural households in Egypt, which means:
(A) Determining the poorest 25 % of Egyptian villages
(B) Identifying the needs of households which are eligible for care and support
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 57

(C) Determining the households most in need with regard to social welfare
(D) Monitoring the appropriateness of services provided by the State to meet these
needs
(E) Developing social welfare policies and programs in a way that suits the needs
of households
(F) Consideration precautions: the program should be based on geographic tar-
geting, i.e. on villages, with a view to ensuring the strong relationship between
public services and poverty, as the approach is to break the vicious circle of
poverty by removing the poor infrastructure conditions that perpetuate it.

2.8.2.1 Determining the Poorest Egyptian Villages

A new “poverty assessment survey” was conducted to draw a “poverty map” in

Egypt relying on a model that determines the criteria underlying the low standard of
living and high rate of poverty in Egypt.
The implementation of this model requires a detailed and comprehensive map to
be prepared for each household’s condition (through social field research) together
with a file for each household which determines the human and financial capacity of
the households in addition to their livelihood needs. The measures should call on
economic and social indicators of the household that are strongly related to the level
of household expenditure. Each one reflects one or more of the economic and social
dimensions related to poverty and the standard of living. These indicators can be
divided into six categories:
The first relates to the head of the household (education, work, the existence of
insurance or a pension and land ownership).
The second comprises housing data (type of dwelling, number of rooms, the
value of the electricity bill and telephone, the ownership of a washing machine,
color TV and vacuum cleaner).
The third relates to data concerning family members (family size, dependency
ratio, the number of working individuals, the presence of an individual in special
education and the presence of a sick or disabled person).
The fourth concerns utilities (the percentage of houses connected to a safe water
network, connection to a sanitation network and connection to an electricity
network).
The fifth relates to the education of the household members (literacy and
enrolment rates).
The sixth focuses on employment (unemployment rates, the percentage of per-
manent workers, casual workers and temporary workers).
According to the resulting poverty map, the poorest 25 % of the villages are
determined within all governorates. Accordingly, the total population of the poorest
villages in Egypt is geographically determined. This map should identify the
unequal distribution of public goods, including physical infrastructure (water,
sanitation and roads), and public services, namely education and health facilities.
58 I. Soliman

2.8.2.2 Identifying the Needs of Households Which Are Eligible

for Care and Support

Households are divided into four groups according to the degree of poverty, namely
the extremely poor, the poor, the near-poor and non-poor. Each group has specific
characteristics determining the extent and quality of the benefits they will receive.
These characteristics are:
1. Family size
2. Percentage of working individuals among the household members
3. Household members per room
4. Existence of any social security for the household head
5. Availability of a private bathroom
6. The value of electricity consumption
7. Availability of communication facilities
8. Living in an independent apartment built of red brick or better

2.8.2.3 Monitoring the Appropriateness of Services Provided

by the State

A ministerial group for social development should be formed to include the

Ministers of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, Environmental Affairs,
Social Solidarity, Education, Higher Education, Health, Transport and Local
Development, the Secretary of the Social Fund for Development, the Minister of
Family and Population, the National Youth Council, the National Sports Council
and the General Authority for Literacy and Adult Education. The group will be
responsible for coordinating the design and implementation of the projects between
the different ministries whose mission is to upgrade service delivery in the villages
covered by the project.
Some restrictions and problems still prevail, reducing the positive impact of the
newly enacted laws relating to agricultural investments. To eliminate such obsta-
cles, a single entity responsible for allocating areas suitable for agricultural
investments must be established with representatives from all the ministries
concerned.
Globally speaking, the success or failure in applying programs for the 1000+
poorest villages in Egypt will rest on the ability of all parties to sustain the financial
requirements necessary for this huge and ambitious project in all its phases. It will
also require a high degree of coordination amongst all ministries and government
bodies involved. In addition to the allocations provided for in the state investment
budget, the program will be financed through the collaboration of the civil society
organizations, businessmen and the private sector.
Activating the participation of civil society organizations in every local unit to
assist in the implementation of housing and waste recycling projects is a vital
element contributing to the success of integrated rural development.
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 59

For geographic targeting, financial availability, accessibility and adequacy, this

largely expanded national project must be implemented in successive phases.

2.8.2.4 Developing Appropriate Policies and Programs

The integrated rural development program for the poorest villages must be carried
out through numerous developmental interventions:
1. Prioritizing the beneficiary households in providing housing units for each
village from within the “National Project for Housing”.
2. Improving the drinking water and sanitation services through the establishment
or expansion and renovation of water networks and stations.
3. Establishment of stations for sanitation with home network connections.
4. Developing an integrated system to deal with the problems of collection and
recycling of solid waste and the clearance of canals and drainage canals.
5. Establishing a fire-fighting and civil defense department and providing a fire
truck in every local unit.
6. Training selected citizens in the work of fire-fighting and civil defense.
7. Upgrading the health units, providing equipped ambulances, organizing the
medical convoys and providing qualified medical crews.
8. Improving the quality of basic education by developing or establishing new
schools and training teachers.
9. Expanding the coverage of social security and social services and providing a
social worker for every 50–70 households.
10. Eliminating illiteracy among 15–35 year-olds by making the education faculties
in regional universities assume the task while also preparing trainers and
training courses, by providing classrooms, textbooks and training assistance
with the support of the Adult Literacy Authority and conducting the exams.
11. Providing employment opportunities for young people.
12. Paving and lighting the entrances to villages.
13. Improving environmental conditions and dealing with solid waste.
14. Improving the health, paramedic and emergency services.
15. Enhancing the quality of basic education.
16. Establishing a pilot project in one village of each governorate and providing
training for youth in construction and building skills, carpentry, plumbing, etc.,
via training centers.
17. Preparation by the government of Egypt of a clear map for investing in agri-
culture, which defines areas assigned to the different types of investments and is
periodically updated. The government authorities concerned have to design and
implement an integrated program for upgrading human resource needs and
skills to manage the information system. A special law should be enacted to
regulate agricultural financial assistance procedures, with special incentives
offered to small-scale farmers, particularly those who farm strategic crops and
comply with the task of achieving the national objectives of agricultural
60 I. Soliman

development. The Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit

(PBDAC) should relinquish its role in the procurement and distribution of
agricultural inputs to concentrate on its principal role of financing agricultural
and banking activities.
18. Providing appropriate support to encourage cooperative organizations is at the
top of the list of agricultural institutional reforms:
(a) Such support implies amending the current Cooperative Law (122/1982)
in light of market economy requirements and international agreements.
Reorientation of the role of the administrative mechanism to serve the
interests of the members in a democratic manner is needed, associated
with merging the small cooperatives into one economically viable entity
and establishment of a training program for the staff based on a profes-
sionally functional structure and a defined business plan.
(b) A special program for funds to provide cooperatives with satisfactory
credit facilities is required.
(c) The involvement of cooperatives in the agricultural development plan as
centers for disseminating modern technology is also needed and a new
regulation should be enacted to allow the cooperatives to establish and/or
participate in agricultural banks and agricultural companies.
19. The civil society and other organizations should be involved in defining
research plans, their execution and follow-up, as well as in applying the results.
A unified law to regulate the establishment of special associations should be
enacted instead of enacting a special law for each category of the special
associations. Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture should provide technical
support to all institutions and organizations and consider them as principal
partners of the agricultural extension service in implementing extension plans
and programs.
20. Rationalizing the existing subsistence food-price subsidy policies without
fazing them out should be a main objective of food security, in accordance with
a practical system to identify beneficiaries on the basis of incontestable criteria.
A monitoring system should also be designed to assess its relevance and impact
on low-income groups.
21. The experience acquired over a number of decades has shown that attempts to
impose limits on the demand for housing in villages due to population increase
were not respected because of the pressure of high price demand for agricultural
land for urban use in adjacent towns. This urban demand pressure outweighed
the influence of legislations issued to stop such depletion of agricultural land.
Therefore, urban planning to face future population expansion in Egyptian
villages (4702 villages) and adjacent cities must be a main parameter of rural
development. It implies a final identification of distinct boundaries between
residential and service areas within agricultural areas. In addition, the estab-
lishment of new villages in recently reclaimed land at the adjoining desert
frontiers of the old agricultural land of the Nile Valley is absolutely necessary
to absorb the increasing rural population of old village lands.
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 61

22. The planning policy for the sustainable development of rural Egyptian areas
must be decentralized by applying the decentralized planning and monitoring of
rural areas and strengthening the participation of local communities. Such a
readjustment of village administration would accelerate the impacts of the
programs in improving livelihoods in poor villages (The World Bank 2004).

Acknowledgments The author would like to acknowledge Dr. George Baourakis, Director of the
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) for introducing him to the coordinating
committee of the SustainMED project which this book is its final fruit. He also appreciates the
valuable scientific and technical advice provided by Prof. Michel Petit and Prof. Etienne
Montaigne, at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier, CIHEAM and their col-
leagues of the coordinating committee of SustainMED for their rational and efficient management
of such extended multidiscipline multinationals project.

References

Abdul Aziz, N. (2007). The role of agricultural policy in preserving Farmland. Egyptian Journal of
Agricultural Economics, 17(4).
Abdul Shafiq, N. A. (2006). The positive and negative impacts of economic liberalization policies
on agricultural employment. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 16(2).
Adams, R. H. (1991). The economic uses and impact of international remittances in rural Egypt.
Journal of Economic Development and Cultural Change, 39(4), 695–722, http://www.jstor.
org/stable/1154591
AlSaid Ahmed, I. (2011). The impact of agricultural policies on the efficient use of resources. Ph.
D. thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Menia University.
Al Kholi, H. M. (2009). Analytical study of cropping in the new territories and the impact of the
rate of water cost reimbursed. Mansoura Journal of Agricultural Science, 34(11).
Al Saied, G. M. A. (1997). The economics of water resources and irrigation efficiency in Fayoum
governorate. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture in
Fayoum Cairo University.
Amin, A. M. (2002). Study on employment of rural East County family. Zagazig Journal of
Agricultural Research, 29(2).
Assad, R., & El Badawy, A. (2004). Private and group tutoring in Egypt: Where is the gender
inequality? In Proceedings of ERF 11th Annual Conference on: Post Conflict Reconstruction,
Beirut, Lebanon, December 14–16, 2004.
Assad, R., Roushdy, R., & Rashed, R. (2009). Measuring and portioning job quality in Egypt. The
Population Council, Gender and Work in the MENA Region Working Papers Series Number 1,
Cairo, Egypt.
Bassiony, H. (2012). Impact of non-tariff barriers on Egyptian agricultural trade. In Menia
International Conference for Agriculture and Irrigation in the Nile Basin Countries, (A
SustainMED Published Working Paper), 26–29 Mar, 2012. Egypt: El-Menia University.
Bloomberg, S. B., & Hess, G. (2002). The temporal links between conflict and economic activity.
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 46(1), 74.
Bush, R. (2007). Politics, power and poverty: Twenty years of agricultural reform and market
liberalization in Egypt. Third World Quarterly Journal, 28(8), 1599–1615.
CAPMAS (Central Agency for public Mobilization and Statistics). (2009). The official Labor
Force Survey, carried on a quarterly basis, several issues, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
CAPMAS (Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics). (2010a). Statistical year book
of Arab Republic of Egypt, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
62 I. Soliman

CAPMAS (Central Agency for Public Mobility and Statistics). (2010b). Household income
expenditure and consumption survey (HIECS), 1974/1975, 1990/1991 1994/1995, 1999/2000,
2004/2005 and, 2008/2009.
CAPMAS (Central Agency for public mobilization and statistics). (2012). Egypt in figures.
Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. (2012). Water resources statistics of Egypt,
Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
Collier, P. (1999). Doing well out of war. In Proceedings of the Conference on Economic Agendas
in Civil Wars, London, April 26–27, 1999.
Delegation of the European Union to Egypt, (2013).
Dowidar, H. H., & Pasture, M. A. R. D. (2009). Water resources and future development in Egypt.
Magazine University of Agricultural Sciences, 34(12).
Egyptian Shura Council. (1997). The Report on Water Resources in Egypt and the Means of their
Development.
Egyptian Shura Council. (1998). The Human Development Report as a Basis for Economic Take-
Off.
El Asfahani, A., & Soliman, I. (1989). Planning for food and nutrition security: Social, economic
and political consideration. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 11(11), 61–64.
El badawi, I. (1999). Civil war and poverty: The role of external interventions, political rights and
economic growth. In Proceedings of the World Bank’s Development Economic Research
Group (DECRG) Conference on “Civil Conflicts, Crime and Violence” (pp. 22–23), February,
1999. Washington, D.C.:World Bank.
El Hydari, A. R. (1998). Criticizing view and perspective view on: SHROOK project. Symposium
of Rural Development: Between the Past, Present and Future. Center of Rural development,
Bourg El Arab, Alexandria, Egypt (in Arabic).
El-Kogali, S., & Al-Bassusi, N. (2001). Youth livelihood opportunities in Egypt. New York:
Population Council.
El-Kogali, S., & Soliman, E. (2001). Poverty, human capital and gender: A comparative study of
Yemen and Egypt. Economic Research Forum Working Paper Series, Working Paper 0123
Emad El-din, A. A. (1990). Assessment of the socio-economic aspects of some land reclamation
projects in Egypt. Ph.D. thesis. Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture,
Mansoura University.
Gualdoni, A. (2013). Egypt’s types of employment. eHow.com: Discover the expert in you. http://
www.ehow.com/info_7756006_egypts-types-employment.html
Guweili, A., Soliman, I., & Rizk, R. (1988). The economics of agricultural environment pollution.
In First National Conference of Environmental Studies and Research (Vol. 1). The Institute of
Environmental Studies and Research of Ain Shams University.
Hazell, P., Perez, N., Siam, J., & Soliman, I. (1995). Impacts of the structure adjustment program
on agricultural production and resource use in Egypt. IFPRI, EPTD, Paper No. 10,
Washington D.C., USA.
ILO (International Labor Organization) of the United Nations and Ministry of Manpower and
Migration of Egypt. (2010). Egypt youth employment National Action Plan 2010–2015,
January 2010, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/afpro/cairo/downloads/
ILO (International Labor Organization) of UN. (2008). Global employment trends for youth,
Geneva.
ILO and Ministry of Manpower and Migration. (2009). Egypt youth employment: A National
Action Plan 2010–2015. The Final Draft Report, Cairo, Egypt.
IMF (International Monetary Fund). (2013). Direction of trade statistics.
League of Arab States and United Nations. (2007). The millennium development goals in the Arab
Region: A youth lens: An overview.
Litchfield, A. (1999). Inequality: Methods and tools. World Bank (website), March 1999. http://
www1.worldbank.org/prem/poverty/inequal/methods/litchfie.pdf
Mashhour, A. (1999). Specification of income sources of Egyptian households. Egyptian Journal
of Applied Science, 14(1).
2 Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable … 63

Migration Development Research Centre (DRC). (2007). Global migrant origin database on
migration, globalization and poverty. UK: University of Sussex. Version 4.
Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. (2009). Annual agricultural statistics bulletin. The
Economic Affairs Sector, Dokki in Cairo, Egypt.
Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt, (2010). Agricultural census.
Ministry of Education and Central Agency for Public Mobility and Statistics “CAPMAS”. (2007).
Egypt Household Education Survey (EDES).
Moftah, M. M., & Al Safty, M. F. (2005). Appreciation index of economic efficiency of irrigation
water use in the governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh. In 13th Conference of Agricultural Economists.
Agriculturalists Club, Dokki, Giza.
Public Authority for Agricultural Development and Reconstruction Projects. (2010). Horizontal
expansion strategy in land reclamation until 2017.
Smith, C., & Rees, G. (2003). Economic development (2nd ed.). Basingstoke Macmillan.
Soliman, I. (1992). Agricultural mechanization and economic efficiency of agricultural production
in Egypt. In Proceedings of the International Conference of Agricultural Engineering on
“Agricultural Engineering and Rural Development” (Vol. 1, pp. 51–59), (92-ICAE), Part 1,
Keynote Papers. Beijing, People’s Republic of China: International Academic Publishers,
Xizhimen wai Dajie. ISBN 780003-199-3/312s.
Soliman, I. (1995). A model for the appraisal of the environmental impacts of the projects. In
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on “Environmental Protection is a Must”
(pp. 536–555), Organized by the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries [NOF],
United Scientists For Projects and Development [USPD], Social Development Fund [SDF],
Europe-Arab Cooperation Center [EVA], Alexandria on April, 25–27.
Soliman, I. (2000). Social and economic dimension of food security in the new world regime. A
symposium on “food security: understandable and mechanisms”. In Proceedings of 8th
Conference of Agricultural Development Research (pp. 161–179). Faculty of Agriculture, Ain
Shams University, Egypt.
Soliman, I. (2006a). The economic efficiency of agricultural resources is a gateway to
development, In Proceedings of the 3rd Egyptian-Syrian Conference, on “Agriculture and
Food Development In Arab Countries and The Challenges of the Future” (Vol. III, No. 1),
University of Menia.
Soliman, I. (2006b). Management of agricultural machinery systems. Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt: Dar
Al Fekr Al Arabi.
Soliman, I. (2011). Human development indicators in rural Egypt. A SustainMED Working Paper.
Soliman, I., & Eid, N. (1995). Impacts of Egyptian socio-economic environment on dietary pattern
and adequacy. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Economics, The Egyptian Association of
Agricultural Economics, 5(2), 757–782.
Soliman, I., & Jabber, M. (2011). Rural development policies in Egypt. A SustainMED Working
Paper.
Soliman, I., & Owaida, O. (1998). Impacts of technological changes and economic liberalization on
agricultural labor employment and productivity. Journal of Egypt Contemporary, 88(445), 3–20
(Issued by Egyptian Association of Political Economic, Statistics and Legislation. Cairo, Egypt).
Soliman, I., & Rizk, R. (1991). Economic study of the agricultural land market system in the
Egyptian village. In Proceedings of the First Annual Conference of Agricultural Economists.
Dokki, Giza, Egypt: Agriculturists Club.
Soliman, I., Foad, S., & Fawzi, H. (2012). Livestock economics and small farming system in
Egypt. Zagazig Journal of Scientific Research, 30(1).
Soliman, I., Jabber, M., & Ibrahim, A. (1994a). Farm wheat production function under non-conventional
machining system. Journal of Agricultural Research and Development in Menia, 16(3).
Soliman, I., Jabber, A., & Ibrahim, A. (1994b). Economic and social implications of non-traditional
machining in wheat. Journal of Agricultural Research and Development in Menia, 16(3).
Soliman, I., Jabber, M., & Ibrahim, A. (1994c). Investment in self-propelled agricultural
machinery government and private sector management. Annals Journal of Agricultural
64 I. Soliman

Science. Faculty of agriculture, Ain Shams University, a special issue of research papers of the
Fifth Conference of Agricultural Development Research (pp. 160–185).
Soliman, I., Jabber, M., & Ibrahim, A., (1994d). Evaluation of investment in non-traditional
agricultural machinery and self-propelled under the administration of government and private
sector. In The Fifth Conference of Agricultural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain
Shams University, Cairo.
Sørli, M. E., Gleditsch, N. P., & Strand, H. (2004). Why is there so much conflict in the Middle
East? Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49(1), 145–160.
Suhair, A. (1997). The economics of water use in Egypt. Master thesis. Department of Agricultural
Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Menia University.
SYPE: Survey of Young People in Egypt: Preliminary Results. (2010). Which was conducted in
April 2009 by National Population Council of Egypt.
UN, Department of Social and Economic Affairs. (2009). Trends in total migrant stock: The 2008
revision, New York.
UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the Institute of National Planning, Egypt.
(2010). “EHDR 2010” Egypt Human Development Report of 2010 on Youth in Egypt:
Building our Future, The project document EGY/01/006.
UNDP Egypt Human development Report in 1990, 1996–1997, 2001, 2002–2003, 2004, 2008,
and 2010.
UN (United Nations). (1987). “Report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development, General Assembly Resolution” 42/187, Dec, 11 1987. Retrieved: Dec, 04
2007, http://www2.alterra.wur.nl/Webdocs/PDFFiles/Alterrarapporten/AlterraRapport1526.pdf
Wilde, V. (2001). “SEAGA Field Handbook” Prepared in collaboration with the Socio-economic
and Gender Analysis (SEAGA) Program. Published by Women and Population Division, FAO,
Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations, Rome, Italy, 131 p.
World Bank. (1975). Rural development, Sector Policy Paper, No. 10272, Washington D.C., USA,
http://go.worldbank.org/QJTVRCZK10
World Bank. (2004). Census and statistics department. World Development Indicators.
Zohry, A., & Harrell-Bond, B. (2003). Contemporary Egyptian migration in 2003. Cairo, Egypt:
International Organization for Migration (IOM), Italian Cooperation and Ministry of
Manpower and Emigration.
Chapter 3
The Challenges of Sustainable
Agricultural Development in Southern
and Eastern Mediterranean Countries:
The Case of Morocco

Abdelkader Ait El Mekki and Ezzobir Ghanmat

3.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to contribute to setting out the problem of sustainable develop-
ment in Morocco. It focuses on rural development in order to help overcome the
main constraints and cope with the precariousness and poverty conditions, food
insecurity, and natural resource management in rural areas.
Indeed, despite significant efforts that have been implemented by successive
governments, the rural population remains on the sidelines of significant progress
that Morocco has known since its political independence. It is still marked by
poverty which seems to be a rural phenomenon since two-thirds of the poor live in
rural areas. This precariousness is accentuated by the shortage of infrastructure and
basic social services, on one hand, and the problem of natural resource manage-
ment, on the other hand, which negatively affects the well-being and food security
of this population.
According to these facts, this chapter will try to analyze the main issues
regarding rural development in Morocco by starting with a report on the poverty
issue. Then, socio-demographic and migration trends followed by education and
health concerns will be addressed using the most recent official data. The next
section will stress the food security and the last will point out the problem of natural
resources, especially land and water, as they determine the sustainability of rural
development.

A. Ait El Mekki (&)
E. Ghanmat

National School of Agriculture, Meknes, Morocco
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 65

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_3
66 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

3.2 The Rural Poverty Issue

Rural development in Morocco continues to be a foreground question due to its

socio-economic importance for the country. As for the 2020 rural development
strategy kicked off in 2000, government action showed a political will to boost rural
development through mobilization of human and financial greater means to achieve
targeted goals.
Today, the standard of living of a significant part of the population, whatever the
applied method of calculation, is below or just above the poverty line and it is
characterized by precariousness or great vulnerability. However, according to the
usual indicators for measuring income poverty, human development and human
poverty, the general trend of the evolution of poverty was rather down but remains
at relatively high levels especially in rural areas.

3.2.1 Evolution of the Poverty and Vulnerability Indicators

Like many developing countries, Morocco does not escape the scourge of poverty.
On the basis of the well-known poverty indicators, the population living below the
poverty line was estimated in 2007 at 8.9 %, that is to say 2.77 million inhabitants
(Table 3.1).1 But this national figure hides inequalities, because poverty still
remains a rural phenomenon. Indeed, as many as 14.5 % of the rural population
lives below the poverty line against 4.8 % in urban areas, that is to say nearly 66 %
of the total poor population of Morocco. As we can see below, the resources
available to the rural populations are used in priority to cover food expenditure.
According to official figures, the poverty rate was reduced by more than 7 %
points, falling from 16.3 to 9 % between 1998 and 2007 for the whole country. This
reduction was in fact more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas with
respectively 9.7 and 4.7 points. It means that nearly 2.8 million people lived below
the poverty line in 2007. However, we note that between 2001 and 2007, nearly
1.7 million people have been elevated out of the poverty line and 1.2 million have
escaped vulnerability (MEF 2009).
Nevertheless, the vulnerability indicator remains high in 2007 with slightly more
than 26.5 % for the whole country, 17.5 % in urban areas and 38.1 % in rural areas
(HCP 2008).2 Thus, the lower rate of poverty in its various forms is needed to
continue a sustained growth rate, creating jobs and strengthening mechanisms of
social equity. In this context, the Millennium Development Goal for poverty and
hunger aims at reducing the incidence of poverty by half by 2015 in Morocco.

1
These are the most recent official data from the High Directorate of Planning (2008).
2
It is recalled here that the members of a household are called vulnerable if the annual per capita
expenditure of the household is between the poverty line and 50 % value above this threshold
(depending on the place of residence).
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 67

Table 3.1 Poverty rates in 1998–99 2000–01 2006–07

Morocco (numbers in
Size % Size % Size %
thousands, rates in %)
Urban 1439 9.5 1235 7.6 829 4.8
Rural 3085 24.2 3225 25.1 1945 14.5
Total 4534 16.3 4461 15.3 2773 9.0
Source HCP (2008)

But such an objective faces two major challenges. The first challenge is to sustain
significant improvements that have been registered in terms of hunger and poverty
relief since 1990 as food poverty has been cut by 80.4 %, absolute poverty by
71.2 % and relative poverty by 58.1 %. The second challenge is to face rigidity of
social inequalities. Indeed, in Morocco poverty is mainly more sensitive to the
distribution of income than to economic growth. Social inequality was just stabi-
lized during the year 2000, after an upward trend along the 1990s.
Meanwhile, Morocco tried to constitute a pragmatic federator space to increase
coordination, convergence and synergy of the various stakeholders that are implied
in human development. These actors are in particular government agencies, the
civil society, the private sector and international cooperation. With this intention the
Ministry for Social Development, the Family and Solidarity worked out, with the
technical support of the UNDP, and in dialogue with all partners, a National
Strategic Framework of Reduction of Poverty which fits completely within the
vision of the Human Development National Initiative (HCP 2009). However,
efforts are still needed to improve the situation, especially in the rural areas, and that
is the main objective of a series of rural development programs that have been
triggered since the beginning of the last decade.

3.2.2 Rural Development Programs

The negative impact of structural adjustment policies on the social sectors has
forced the government to implement a social policy to fight poverty and regional
inequalities, especially between urban and rural areas. The social development
strategy adopted by the government in 1993 is the basic reference for these pro-
grams that have been designed, among others, to improve access of the poor
population to basic social services, in particular drinking water, sanitation and
health services, to increase enrollment rates in basic education, to develop social
housing programs, increase employment opportunities and reinforce social assis-
tance and protection, by appropriate targeting of vulnerable groups.
Regarding rural development during the two last decades, the evolution of the
development policy records the installation of programs supported by the public
authority’s intervention. These programs include the new generation of the inte-
grated development projects in rain-fed areas, the 2020 Rural Development
Strategy, the National Initiative for Human Development (Initiative Nationale de
68 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

Développement Humain, INDH) and very recently the launching of the Moroccan
Green Plan strategy (Stratégie du Plan Maroc Vert, PMV).

3.2.2.1 Integrated Rural Development Projects in Rain-Fed Areas3

These projects have been implemented in rural areas which did not profit from
significant public investments in the past. They are governed by the 33–94 Act that
determines the basis of the development strategy of the rain-fed areas, and are in
conformity with the objectives of the Rural Development strategy of the World
Bank, also known as the ‘Reaching the Rural Poor’ strategy. Activities of the DRI
—MVB projects started in 2004 for an execution period of 6 years with a strategic
context that stresses the following pillars (World Bank 2003):
• Promotion of human development and inclusion policy of the vulnerable pop-
ulations in the underprivileged and marginal areas;
• Reinforcement of the economic growth conditions and development of the
private sector, and
• Improvement of the governorship and management of development actions.
In parallel, on the agricultural professional side, the Moroccan Confederation for
Agriculture and Rural Development (Comader) was born in 2006 to play the role of
development partner of the government. This confederation involves about thirty
agricultural professional organizations and aims to set effective coordination
between them and policy makers in terms of agricultural and rural development.

3.2.2.2 The 2020 Rural Development Strategy

This strategy, launched in 2000, considers that rural development is necessary for
the valorization of the potential of the rural environment, including that of the
agricultural production, the natural resources and the population, through the fol-
lowing basic principles (Ministry of Agriculture 2000):
• Human development is the finality of rural development,
• Equity and solidarity are regarded as the basis of social equilibrium,
• Research of economic efficiency is a value to be shared by all.
The policies adopted by the strategy tend to increase employment and incomes
in agriculture, create and diversify para-agricultural activities and protect the
environment against degradation through revegetalization of natural spaces and
control of the renewal of the water resources. Other actions are also being under-
taken regarding the improvement of the education and professional training of rural
men and women, improvement of the related services of health, drinking water,

Referred to as ‘Projets de développement rural intégré–Mise en valeur bour (DRI-MVB)’.

3
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 69

electricity and transport, as well as the correction of regional imbalances regarding

infrastructure, trade and territorial planning.

3.2.2.3 The National Initiative for Human Development

The National Initiative for Human Development has acted nationwide by Royal
Decree since May 2005. Its main goals are explored in ‘improving the Human
Development Index through poverty alleviation in the poorest communities’ (INDH
2005).
In this context, the NIHR contributes with the programs which already operated
for poverty combat, including projects for integrated rural development. Moreover,
its objectives are fully consistent with those of the International Alliance against
Hunger implemented by FAO with a budget of 10 billion dirham4 for the period of
2006–2010. Such a promising plan has been conducted through four priority
programs:
• The program to combat rural poverty,
• The program to combat social exclusion in urban areas;
• The program against mobility, and
• The cross-cutting program.
Regarding the first program, the NHRI targeted 360 rural communities with an
average population of 10,300 persons per municipality and a budget of 2.5 billion
dirham. One of its main activities is boosting the local economy through Income-
Generating Activities (IGA). The link with food security is directly due to the
income effect on the consumption levels. In late May 2013, almost 29,000 projects
have been launched for the benefit of as many as 7 million citizens with an
investment of 7 billion dirham (INDH 2013).

3.2.2.4 Green Morocco Plan

The Green Morocco Plan (GMP) is the instrument for implementing a new agri-
cultural development strategy which aims to enable the agricultural sector to have a
better appreciation of its potential to meet new socio-economic challenges. For
success implementation, the philosophy of GMP is based on the strategic foun-
dations that govern its design and implementation, namely (Hajjaji 2009):
• Its role as a tool for economic growth in the next 10–15 years,
• The use of aggregation as a tool that will encourage the philosophy of the value
chain, starting with production, then commercial and industrial activities,
• Encouragement of private and public investments in an annual goal of 10 billion
dirham for the targeted projects,

4
1 Moroccan Dirham is roughly equivalent to 0.09 Euro.
70 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

• The adoption of the contractual approach between various operators of agri-

cultural sectors including the State,
• Natural resource conservation for sustainable agriculture through the preparation
of special programs with the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the Hassan II
Fund for Economic and Social Development,
• Modification of the sectoral framework concerns regarding land policy, water
policy, tax policy and the operation of the domestic market.
For its implementation, the GMP has launched a device that causes radical
changes which are realized through:
• The development of regional farm plans (RFPs) and the creation of regional
agriculture directorates (RAD),
• The restructuring and strengthening of the functions of chambers of agriculture,
• The restructuring of the Central Services at the Ministry of Agriculture via the
promising comprehensive renovation of existing management partners and the
creation of new directions for focused duties,
• The creation of a Food Safety Office,
• The creation of the Agricultural Development Agency as a tool for the imple-
mentation of GMP,
• Wrapping up of program contracts with practitioners to ensure a better co-pilot
of the main agricultural sectors.
Thus, the GMP provides the implementation of 1500 projects for the entire
investment estimated at 147 billion dirham in 10 years. All of these projects would
benefit all farmers in the country through two pillars located at the center of its
strategic vision. The first pillar is represented via modern agriculture, with high
value added practiced by the farms in irrigated areas and areas with favorable
rainfall (560,000 farms). The second pillar is agriculture solidarity which is located
in mountain areas, oases and unfavorable rainfall areas (840,000 farms).
The socio-economic challenges of GMP are numerous and interrelated.
Certainly, this plan creates enormous expectations regarding the creation of
employment, the promotion of investment in agriculture and improving the incomes
of rural communities. Its relationship with food security is available through its
objective to reduce the rate of poverty especially in rural areas, improving the
purchasing power of consumers and increasing the availability and quality of food
consumed at affordable prices. The last point is important for the recent crises in the
international market which are interpreted in the booming of essential commodities
prices.
Thus, awareness has been expressed by both government and practitioners in the
interests of national production to fulfill the country’s needs. In this context, the
government signed with the practitioners special program contracts regarding
practically all key commodities. The production objectives of major sectors as they
occur in the contracts in question are reported in Table 3.2. For the grain sector, the
program contract is securing an output of 70 million quintals in an area of
4.2 million hectares in 2020, which would directly yield an average of nearly
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 71

Table 3.2 Production projection under program contracts

Total production
2008/2009 Future Evolution % Horizon Investment
billion DH
Cereals (million qx) 50.0 70.0 40.00 2020 29.0
Sugar (1000 T) 466.0 675.0 44.85 2013 3.6
Red meat (1000 T) 386.0 450.0 16.58 2014 6.0
Meat poultry (1000 T) 370.0 500.0 35.14 2013 4.5
Eggs (billion units) 3.3 5.0 51.52 2013
Milk (billion liters) 1.7 3.0 76.47 2014 12.0
Olive (million T) 0.7 2.5 257.14 2020 29.5
Horticulture (million T) 1.7 3.5 105.88 2020 21.0
Source Agence de Développement Agricole (2009)

17 quintals/ha instead of 10–15 quintals/ha at present. The expected economic

results should increase production value by 20 billion dirham and reduce imports by
15–20 %.
For the red meat sector, the program contract addresses an increase of production
by 16.6 % from around 386,000 to 450,000 T in 2014. Thus, consumption per
person would pass from 11.7 to 13.4 kg respectively and can reach 15 kg in 2020.
These quantities are still relatively low compared to developed countries (35 kg per
person as an average).
Regarding the dairy sector, the objective of the contract program aims to align its
productive performance on the international standards. Thus, milk production
should increase from 1.7 billion liters in 2008 to 3 billion liters in 2014 and
completely cover the country’s demand. Consumption per person would then reach
350–400 g per day, which corresponds to the nutritional standards recommended
internationally. In addition to improving productivity, expansion of artificial
insemination and implementation of prophylactic measures, the practitioners are
committed to improving the quality of milk to meet the standards required along the
dairy industry. The required amount of investment to achieve these objectives is
about 12 billion dirham of which the bulk (93 %) will be funded by the inter-
profession.
For the sugar sector, the objective is to increase production by 44.85 % from
466,000 T in the present to 675,000 T in 2013. The amount of planned investment
is about 3.6 billion dirham and the expected impact on the coverage needs should
change from 43 to 55 % during the period in question.
Concerning the poultry sector, a program contract with a budget of 4.5 billion
dirham will be implemented to enhance production of meat and eggs by 35.14 and
51.52 % respectively in 2013. The level of consumption would then increase from
12.1 to 14.7 kg/person/year for meat and 110 to 147 units for eggs, an increase of
21.5 and 33.64 % respectively.
For olive oil, the objective is to increase agricultural production by 2.57 times to
reach 2.5 million tons in 2020. The planned investment program for olive oil
72 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

amounts to 29.5 billion dirham from which nearly 74 % will be financed by the
private sector. Consumption of olive oil and table olives could reach an average of
2–4 kg/person/year and 3–5 kg/person/year respectively. Achieving these objec-
tives will require the production of 14 million seedlings per year for the imple-
mentation of the provided planting programs.
Concerning vegetable production, the contract program aims to increase pro-
duction by 106 % from 1.7 to 3.5 million tons in 2020. The investment plans to
reach 21 billion dirham of which 90.5 % will be funded by the practitioner.
In addition, the GMP has also paid special attention to the selected seeds
including those of cereals, legumes, fodder, sugar beet, sugar cane, potatoes, corn,
sunflower, rice, rapeseed and vegetable crops. The planned investment for this
sector is about 725 million dirham from 25 projects to be completed in 2020.
All measures to accompany the program contracts will be managed by the
Agricultural Development Agency.

3.3 Socio-Demographic Trends and Migration

3.3.1 Evolution of the Rural Population

According to the last general census of the population conducted in Morocco in

2004, Morocco’s population has reached 29.840 million inhabitants. The rural
population accounted for roughly 45 % against 55 % for urban. In 2012, the total
population was estimated to almost 32.6 million with 58.8 % urban and 41.2 %
rural (Table 3.3).
The rural population was estimated at 8.2 million in 1960 and almost 9.8 million
in 1970. It increased from 11.4 million in 1980 to 12.7 million in 1994 and then to
13.4 million in 2004. The average annual increase of this population has registered
a significant reduction since it dropped from 1.7 % during 1960–1970 to 0.3 % for
the decade 2000–2010.
Under the effect of the natural increase and migration from rural areas, the
country has seen an upward trend of urbanization contributing to a considerable

Table 3.3 Evolution of the Year Total (×1000) Urban % Rural %

Moroccan population
1960 11,635 29.18 70.82
1970 14,952 34.58 65.42
1980 19,380 41.11 58.89
1990 24,167 48.65 51.35
2000 28,466 54.24 45.76
2004 29,840 55.07 44.93
2010 31,894 57.84 42.16
2012 32,597 58.77 41.23
Source HCP (2004) census and later estimates
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 73

increase in the demand for jobs in urban areas. Indeed, according to the HCP data,
the phenomenon of urbanization registered is still high, with an increase of 1.8 % in
2012. It would be the same until 2020 while the rural population could depict
negative scores for the first time since its evolution rate may pass from 0 to −0.1 %
for the same period.

3.3.2 Migration

Regarding migration, there is very little data for regional figures other than those
related to the evolution of the population. But we know that rural-urban migration
has been one of the most important escape routes for the surplus agricultural labor.
Between 1994 and 2004, the HCP estimated that the urban net migration (that is,
urban immigration less urban emigration) reached on average 100,000 persons a
year. In 2009–10, this number was 127,000 persons. This wave of migration, which
began from the 1970s, is associated with rapid mechanization of agricultural sys-
tems and seeking better living standards. Most migrants are looking for higher
incomes, better access to education and health and improved prospects for their
children.
Turning to international migration, the United Nations Population Division uses
the net migration rate to indicate the contribution of migration to the overall level of
population change in a country. That is, the total number of immigrants less the
annual number of emigrants, including both citizens and non-citizens, over a five-
year period. The data to calculate official migration estimates come from a variety of
sources, including border statistics, administrative records, surveys, and censuses.
For Morocco, the international net migration rate was −3.77 ‰ in 2010, meaning that
there was a small excess of people leaving Morocco for foreign countries.

3.3.3 Employment

In Morocco, agriculture is the biggest employer of the active population with a

40.3 % occupation rate in 2012. It is followed by services (38.7 %) and then
manufacturing (20.8 %). As expected from these figures, employment in rural areas
is dominated by agriculture with a rate of 76.4 %, showing that relatively weak
diversification of sector activities remains notable in rural areas (Table 3.4).

Table 3.4 Employment by Sector Urban Rural Total

sector 2012 (%)
Agriculture 5.0 76.4 40.3
Manufacturing 30.9 10.5 20.8
Services 63.9 13.1 38.7
Source HCP (2013)
74 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

Between 2000 and 2011, the volume of employment increased by nearly

1,787,000 (or a 162,000 annual average), with quasi-stagnation in the structure of
employment by gender. In 2011 the national unemployment rate was 8.9 %. This
indicator has strong differences between youths and adults and between urban and
rural areas, to the detriment of young and urban people. Indeed, for the same year,
the urban unemployment was 13.4 % against 3.9 % in rural areas.
Moreover, unlike developed countries and some emerging countries such as
China, the rural non-farm activities (tourism, crafts, public and private services,
food industry, and other industries) still represent a very small part of the income
and employment of the rural population in Morocco. In 2011, industry and con-
struction accounted for only 4.3 and 4.5 % in rural employment respectively
(against 9.3 and 22.5 % in urban) and services 11 % (against 63 % in urban).

3.3.4 Public Education and Health Concerns

According to the latest official data, the literacy rate in Morocco was 60.3 % in 2009
(Table 3.5). This score is significantly hampered by women’s illiteracy rate which is
evaluated at 50.8 % (28.2 % for men) for the same year. It is also negatively
affected by the rural illiteracy rate which was 55.6 % (28.4 % in urban areas).
Indeed, in Morocco, rural areas are generally more affected by illiteracy than urban
areas and this figure mainly stands for girls. The main cause is an early dropout for
economic or cultural reasons, especially in rural areas where lack of transportation
services and residences for students is not helping.
Despite these gloomy figures, between 1999 and 2009, the literacy rate recorded
a gain of 13.5 % points in rural areas (from 30.9 to 44.4 %), against 6.9 points in
urban areas (64.7 to 71.6 %) (Fig. 3.1). The number of primary schools increased
from 3.9 million students during the school year 2009/10 to 4,000,000 students in
2010/11. The public sector alone provides 88.2 % of primary schooling and 47.9 %
of enrollment in primary schools are in rural areas (Fig. 3.2).
Furthermore, almost 4 million students were enrolled during the 2010/11 school
year. College secondary education received nearly 1.46 million students, 44 % of
which are girls. The share of this sector in rural areas is continuing albeit a slow
rise. Indeed, it was 25.3 % at the end of the school year 2010/2011 against 24.9 %
during the previous school year.
Net enrollment in college has nearly tripled in twenty years from 17.5 % in
1990–91 to 28.2 % in 2000–01 and to 51.0 % in 2010–2011. This was mainly due
to the progress made for rural girls who have seen their rate passing from 1.1 to 5.9
and 21.3 % during the same period.
Regarding health indicators, official data from the HCP report that average life
expectancy at birth was 74.8 years in 2012. However, a significant difference is to
be underlined between urban and rural areas where this indicator is 77.3 and
71.7 years respectively. Moreover, infant mortality rate was 30.2 ‰ in 2010. It is
much higher than that of the Mediterranean developed countries which displays
Table 3.5 Evolution of budget coefficients of household consumption
Level Survey Food Clothing Housing Household Hygiene and Transport and Education culture Other goods
year and energy equipment medical care communic. and recreation and services
Urban 1970/71 44.7 9.3 18.5 4.6 5.1 7.5 4.0 6.3
1984/85 43.1 7.4 22.8 5.0 5.4 5.9 4.3 6.1
2000/01 37.9 5 22.6 3.8 8.3 8.2 4.3 5.9
2006/07 36.8 3.5 21.1 3.7 7.6 12.8 5.2 6.0
Rural 1970/71 63.5 11.6 11.4 3.9 3.1 2.8 0.9 2.8
1984/85 56.5 7.1 16.2 5.5 3.5 4.3 2.0 4.9
2000/01 49.9 4.3 21.0 4.0 5.6 5.6 1.8 5.1
2006/07 49.3 3.1 18.2 3.6 6.3 9.1 2.5 5.6
Total 1970/71 54.0 10.4 15.0 4.3 3.1 5.2 2.5 4.5
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development …

1984/85 48.6 7.3 21.1 5.2 4.6 5.2 3.4 5.8

2000/01 41.3 4.8 22.1 3.8 7.6 7.5 3.6 9.3
2006/07 40.6 3.3 20.3 3.6 7.2 11.7 4.4 5.9
Source Haut-Commissariat au Plan (2009)
75
76 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

Fig. 3.1 Gain in literacy between 1999 and 2009 by sex and place of residence (in % points).
Source HCP (2012)

Fig. 3.2 Net enrollment ratio in primary education (6–11 years) by sex. Source Ministry of
National Education (2013)
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 77

a score of 3–4 ‰, but lower than that of the majority of developing countries. Here
again, the rural rate overcomes the urban rate by 10,000 points (respectively 35.3
and 25.3 ‰). This worsens the whole problem of childhood in rural areas because
the maternal mortality indicators in these areas are 148 for 100,000 live births (73 in
urban areas and 112 at the national level). This situation has to be improved,
starting among others, by increasing the physician density indicator which is up to 7
doctors per 10,000 persons only.

3.4 Food Security

3.4.1 Income and Living Standards

The most recent survey on income and living standards of households was con-
ducted by the High Planning Directorate (HCP) in 2006–2007. It shows the valu-
ation of income per capita at constant prices, with an annual increase of 3.6 %
between 2001 and 2008 on average. In nominal terms, the average annual income
per capita reached 23,889 dirham in 2008 against 15,798 in 2001.
On the other hand, the average income per month for Moroccan households is
about 5300 dirham against 6100 dirham in urban areas and 3900 dirham in rural
areas. Nearly 20 % of households have a monthly income of less than 1930 dirham
and 80 % less than 6650 dirham. Household income is generated largely by labour
wage and the independent non-agricultural activities (around 73 %). In rural areas,
41 % of income comes from farming activities.
Regarding the entire household income, the survey results show that 20 % of
households with the highest incomes share 52.6 % of the entire income. In com-
parison, 20 % of those with the lowest income share 5.4 % of the entire income.
Based on the annual average expenditure per household (AAEH) as an indicator
of living standards, the survey results show a significant improvement between
2001 and 2007. Indeed, during this period the AAEH increased at a rate estimated
at 2.7 % from 49,333 dirham in 2001 to 57,925 dirham in 2007 (Fig. 3.3). In urban
areas, the rate reached 2.1 % (58,900–66,723 dirham respectively) against 4.1 % in
rural areas (from 33,994 to 43,334 dirham).
Concerning the Annual Average Expenditure per Person (AAEP), it increased
from 8280 dirham in 2001 to 11,233 dirham in 2007; the average will increase to
5.2 % per year (Fig. 3.4). The improvement has benefited urban areas with 4.5 % on
average (10,642–13,895 dirham, in 2001–2007 respectively) rather than rural areas
with 6.5 % (from 5288 to 7777 dirham).
The overall improvement in living standards has been observed at the national
level in both urban and rural areas and the impact has experienced a remarkable
reduction in the poverty rate between 2001 and 2007.
78 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

Fig. 3.3 Evolution of average annual expense by household (AAEH). Source HCP (2008)

Fig. 3.4 Evolution of average annual expense by person (AAEP). Source HCP (2008)
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 79

3.4.2 Food Expenditure

Household consumption in Morocco is dominated by ‘food’ and ‘housing and

energy’. The latest survey results on the living standards of households show that
the budget coefficients of these two positions are 40.6 and 20.3 % respectively at
the national level in 2007 (Table 3.5). They are followed by those of ‘transport and
communication’ (11.7 %) and ‘hygiene and medical care’ (7.2 %).
The analysis of the total budget coefficients evolution reveals that following the
improvement of living standards of households, the weight of food has declined
relatively modestly from 41.3 to 40.6 % between 2001 and 2007. A slightly larger
decrease is recorded for some items including ‘other goods and services’ with a
coefficient that dropped from 9.3 to 5.9 %, ‘housing and energy’ (22.1–20.3 %) and
‘clothing’ (from 4.8 to 3.3 %). In contrast, ‘transport and communications’ bounded
to the third largest item of expenditure after ‘food and clothing’, with an increase of
112 %. The same is shown for ‘education expenditure, culture and leisure’ which
grew over 63 % between 2001 and 2007. Overall, the same behaviour is found in
both urban and rural areas with relatively higher changes for ‘food’, ‘transport and
communication’ in urban areas and ‘housing and energy’ in rural areas.
On the other hand, the budget shares of meat and poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, fruits
and vegetables showed a remarkable increase during the above period, while fat
products show a relative stagnation. Thus, in general, the pattern of food con-
sumption is moving increasingly towards a formula of “less grain and sugar” to
“more animal products, fruits and vegetables”. Such a formula is bound to increase
with improvements in household incomes and the growing influence of Northern
models on the consumer, especially in urban areas.
The rate of inflation linked to food is higher than for non-food products.
Positively, based on the Cost of Living Index (CLI), measured by the High
Planning Commission, food prices rose to 118.5 % in 2012, compared to levels
recorded in 2006 (base year). This increase is well above the prices of non-food
products which showed a rate of 105.4 % over the same year.

3.5 Natural Resource Constraints

Access to resources constitutes a key issue in understanding the dynamics of

agriculture, in terms of the role of farming in the fight against rural poverty, the
capacity of the sector to modernise, or the linkages between agricultural activity and
natural resource conservation. Although farming requires access to several
resources (capital, labour, knowledge), we underline that for Morocco, the key
issues are mostly related to land and water resources. Such issues have been pointed
out in several government reports and projects of working documents. Moreover,
the way land and water resources combine also determine the capacity of holdings
to access to credit sources or to the introduction of technical change.
80 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

3.5.1 Land Resources

According to the results of the latest general census of agriculture (Recensement

Général de l’Agriculture) undertaken in 1996, Moroccan agriculture is practiced in
1,496,349 farms covering a total Utile Agricultural Area (UAA) of 8.7 million
hectares. Units of less than 5 ha represent 71 % of the total number and occupy only
about 24 % of the total UAA. Those who occupy the largest part of the area
(43.2 %) have a size lying between 5 and 20 ha and account for 25 % of the total.
The large estates (>100 ha) accumulate 8.7 % of the UAA even if their number is
limited to 3182 farms, which is an average of 238.65 ha UAA per unit. This
imbalance in the structure of agricultural land in Morocco is a serious handicap to
the development of effective land tenure.
Besides, land tenure in Morocco shows that the property status is 76 % of the
total UAA. The remaining area is allocated to the collective land (17.7 %), Guich
land ceded to the tribes who used to fight in favor of Moroccan Sultans (2.8 %),
Habous which is the land of religious brotherhoods (0.6 %) and land that belongs to
the state (3.1 %) (Ministry of Agriculture 2007). Apart from the property status, the
common factor in other statutes is that the beneficiaries are just profiting from the
usufruct right. Therefore, those land statutes raise serious problems that limit the
investment incentives to improve production systems within farms that are mostly
of small acreage because of heritage considerations.
On the other hand, the development of agricultural land is intended to improve
efficiency of agriculture both in irrigated and rain-fed areas. For irrigated areas, the
Ministry of Agriculture has maintained and strengthened its efforts to extend and
rehabilitate irrigation schemes. In 2009, these efforts were realized through the start
or completion of works on more than 140,000 ha.
Similarly, the rehabilitation has involved areas that are part of integrated
development projects focused on small and medium irrigation (Développement
Rural Integré sur la petite et moyenne hydraulique, DRI-PMH). In this regard, the
rehabilitation of perimeters located in the provinces of Khénifra, Azilal and Haouz
has exceeded 11,100 ha, set within an integrated development approach targeting
the local population.
To overcome such constraints, successive governments have responded by
implementing sector programs that aim to improve the performance of farms,
particularly through the launch in 2000 of the Rural Development Strategy 2020
reported above. Since then, structural policies related to agriculture and food sectors
continue their focus on investment incentives in primary production as well as in
the processing and marketing steps. Such a policy choice has been strengthened
during the last three years in the public goal of modernizing production systems
capable of competing with foreign markets. The measures taken in this regard are
largely funded by the state budget. The actions are increasingly conducted within
the framework of integrated projects that are developed on the basis of a partnership
management. In addition to investment incentives, they concern the development of
agricultural land and land tenure.
3 The Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development … 81

3.5.2 Water Resources

The rainfall contribution to water resources in Morocco is estimated to be about

150 billion m3. The useful rain accounts for only 20 %, that is to say 30 billion m3.
If we deduce the evaporation losses and the uncontrollable flow towards the sea, the
mobilizable hydraulic potential is estimated at 20 billion m3 including 16 billion m3
of surface water and 4 billion m3 coming from subterranean water (Laouina 2006).
Since the end of the 1960s, significant efforts have been taken by successive
governments to develop irrigation in order to satisfy food sufficiency, improve the
living conditions of the rural populations and contribute to the development of
agricultural exports. Such efforts include the construction of 130 large dams with a
capacity of nearly 17.5 billion m3 and the completion of 13 water transfer structures
with a total length of nearly 785 km. Also, hydro-agricultural works including
authorized well digging and farm equipment for drip irrigation benefit from a sig-
nificant subsidy that could reach 100 %. On the institutional framework, Morocco has
set the 10–95 Act which has consolidated the integrated, participative and decen-
tralized water resource management through the establishment of water basin
agencies and the introduction of financial mechanisms to protect and safeguard water
resources by implementing a “user-pays” and “polluter-pays” system (Ziyad 2013).
These efforts allowed the installation of a total irrigated area of nearly 1.5 million
ha of which 67 % are equipped by the state. This surface accounts currently for
about 16 % of the useful agricultural surface of the country. They also have made it
possible to allow 100 % generalized and secure access to drinking water in urban
areas and 92 % in rural areas.
Nevertheless, water resources face major constraints that are mainly linked to the
uneven importance of annual rainfall, the overexploitation of groundwater in some
rain-fed areas, the increasing demand for drinkable water in expanding cities and
the soil erosion and siltation of dams.

3.6 Concluding Remarks

Despite the whole efforts undertaken since its political independence to improve the
standards of well-being of the population, Morocco still faces serious problems of
poverty, especially in rural areas. Women’s conditions are also of great concern as
they need to be among the top development priorities. The challenge now is to
comply with the Millennium Development Goals in terms of poverty alleviation
and improvement of living standards. Women’s illiteracy is also a key scourge that
must be wiped out. To succeed in the whole mission, authorities may improve
public and private intervention through a better coordination of all institutions that
are involved in this issue. For this, relevant socio-economic regional data are
needed to point out the real development constraints and solutions on a separate
scale for urban and rural areas.
82 A. Ait El Mekki and E. Ghanmat

Regarding natural resources, namely land and water, the management of their
structural issues has to adopt participative and comprehensive approaches with
farmers. Any ‘punishing’ or coercive government intervention should best be
avoided to prevent negative reactions because the issue of natural resources needs
the commitment of all stakeholders (as in the cases of water pumping and
exploitation of forests). Among the solutions, the government would have to keep
encouraging and promoting land expansion through land improvement (e.g. stone
removal). Improvements of production systems are also of great interest and justify
the implementation of research studies which could investigate the feasibility of
designing specific and relevant regional agricultural policies. Such policies would
pay attention to production systems with a high role in food security for small
farmers (in the case of cereals and small livestock) on the one hand, and encourage
high value-added crops in irrigated areas, on the other hand. To help all farmers
benefit from such policies, there is the need for better inclusion of competitive small
farms to the market through better management of structural constraints (land
fragmentation, illiteracy and financial issues), alleviation of market transaction costs
and reinforcement of professional organizations.

References

Hajjaji, A. (2009). Le Maroc Vert: Stratégie et Mise en Œuvre. Agence de Développement

Agricole.
Haut Commissariat au Plan (2008). Enquête Nationale sur les Niveaux de Vie des Ménages 2006/
2007.
Haut Commissariat au Plan (2009). Enquête nationale sur l’Emploi.
Laouina, A. (2006). Prospective Maroc 2030. Gestion Durable des Ressources Naturelles et de la
Biodiversité au Maroc (118p). Morocco: Haut Commissariat au Plan.
Ministère de l’Agriculture (2000). Stratégie de Développement Rural 2020.
Ministère de l’Agriculture. (2007). Plan d’Action 2008–2012 du Domaine du Génie Rural, Secteur
d’Irrigation. Administration du Génie Rural: Secteur des Aménagements Fonciers des Zones
Bour. 40p.
Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances (2009). Tableau de bord social. Direction des Etudes et
Prévisions Financières.
Ministry of National Education (2013). Education Statistics 2012–2013. http://www.men.gov.ma
Mondiale, B. (2003). Document d’Evaluation de Projet sur un Prêt Proposé au Royaume du Maroc
pour un Projet de Développement Rural Intégré de Mise en Valeur des Zones Bour. Rapport
No 25916-Mor.
Royaume du Maroc (2005). Initiative Nationale pour le Développement Humain: Plateforme pour
un Plan d’Action.
Royaume du Maroc (2013). Initiative Nationale pour le Développement Humain: Bilan 2008–
2010.
Ziyad, A. (2013). National water policy: Current situation and perspective. Workshop on: Public
policy implication on agriculture and sustainable development SustainMED project. Meknes,
Morocco: National School of Agriculture. April 22–24, 2013.
Chapter 4
Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia:
From a Seemingly Solid Performance
to Unsustainable Revealed Achievements

Boubaker Thabet, Abderraouf Laajimi, Chokri Thabet

and Moncef Bensaïd

4.1 Agriculture in the Macroeconomic Setting

While declining through time, the agriculture and forestry sectors in Tunisia con-
tinue to play significant roles in the general economy, both at the macro and micro
levels, particularly at times of general economic instability as the country has
recently been experiencing.
At the macroeconomic level and while no longer at the 30 % level, as was the
case four to five decades ago, the present relative share of agriculture in GDP has
recently been on average around 12 %. More importantly and in addition to its
continuous decline, the share of agriculture has been fluctuating over the past
decades as well, and with increasing amplitude. Table 4.1 shows that overall per-
formance of the sector in average terms, trends and variability.
The year-to-year contribution to the overall GDP of the country depends on the
overall performance of the rest of the economy but varies also in relation to the
prevailing agro-climatic conditions which directly affect the supply of agricultural
produce.
Under circumstances of relative economic stability, increases in agricultural
supply result in additional exports and sometimes decreases in imports, such as for
cereals. Conversely, under economic instability the opposite occurs and general
economic indicators start flashing. Hence a direct link exists between the perfor-
mance of the sector and that of the overall economy. Using a SAM multiplier model,
Ben Moussa (2010) argued that the agricultural sector has the most important effects

B. Thabet (&)
A. Laajimi
M. Bensaïd

National Institute of Agriculture (INAT), Tunis, Tunisia
e-mail: [email protected]
C. Thabet
Higher Institute of Agriculture (ISA), Chott Meriem, Tunisia

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 83

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_4
84 B. Thabet et al.

Table 4.1 Agriculture in the overall economy

Indicator Share of agriculture Share of agricultural Agricultural Overall
relative to GDP exports/total trade balance trade balance
Average 11.8 9.3 71.1 74.2
Annual −2.59 −2.58 −0.60 −0.16
growth rate
Coefficient 11.7 17.5 26.3 5.3
of variation
Period: 2000–2010, Unit: %
Source Own calculations based on INS statistics
INS for National Institute of Statistics

on the rest of the Tunisian economy than all the other sectors through its upstream
and downstream transmission channels.
The trade balance deficit of both agricultural products, and in general, seems to
be stabilizing as the respective negative annual growth rates are low and less
significant than that of the performance of the entire agricultural sector. This means
that there are offsetting effects between sectors as far as their contributions to the
overall trade balance. In terms of variability though, as measured by the coefficient
of variation, the balance of agricultural trade is about five times higher than that of
the overall trade balance.
Now under extraordinary economic circumstances such as those that have pre-
vailed during the last two crop years, as the country has been experiencing political
and social uprisings resulting in a general slowdown of its economic activity, a
salient dampening role of agriculture has surfaced in attenuating the amplitude of
the overall economic downturn of the country.
Enhanced by climatically the favorable years of 2011 and 2012, the contribution
of agriculture to GDP has surprisingly picked up to reach the 13–14 % level,1
whereas in years past, particularly in years of drought, that contribution declined to
levels even below 10 %.
Despite the relative downsizing of agricultural activities and the variability of
their outputs, however, agriculture continues to play a significant positive role in the
overall socioeconomic activities of the country. In addition to the classical role of
providing food for a population that has quadrupled over the last five decades, no
significant food shortages were experienced, neither in global terms nor at the level
of specific commodities. Moreover agriculture and rural areas continue to provide a
livelihood for about 35–40 % of the population.
Agriculture itself also provides employment for no less than 16 % of the labor
force. As a result, agriculture provides total or partial incomes to about half a million
farm households, corresponding to a quarter of the total population approximately.

1
Final and agreed upon statistics for the last two disturbed years are not included in the calculations.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 85

Agriculture is also contributing to general exports by about 9–10 %. It is attracting

about 10 % of total investment and is increasingly feeding an agro-food industry
with the required primary commodities, a sector that is rapidly growing and pro-
viding increasing value added and hence contributing to economic growth. Today,
that sector represents about 25–30 % of Agricultural GDP.
The historical relative slowdown feature of the agriculture sector does not
however imply stagnation of the agricultural economy but rather faster rising of
other sectors of the economy. Moreover, the sign of apparent salient strength that
agriculture has shown since the political change that occurred in the country since
the beginning of the year 2011 has turned out to be a stabilizing factor of the overall
economy in view of the revealed greater fragility that the non-agricultural sectors
have exhibited, particularly those dependent on foreign investment.
In view of all of these considerations, agriculture has constantly been the target
of numerous and discontinuous sets of policies which will be overviewed in the
following section.

4.2 Retrospective Policy Diagnostics

Agriculture and rural development concerns along with the need to secure the
increasing and changing Tunisian population’s food needs have always been at the
forefront of public priorities throughout the recent history of the country, as
expressed in all national economic and development plans and programs. As a result,
agriculture and food policies have been quite active in orienting and affecting the
performance of agricultural activities, in one way or another (Laajimi et al. 2012).
From an inherited market liberalism system that prevailed prior to its political
independence,2 the country moved quickly into a state-run economy, materialized
by a generalized cooperative movement, both of the production and service types,
which were implemented through the end of the sixties.
This period was also characterized by the introduction of new commodities in
the bundle of commodities offered to the consumers, such as bread wheat, flour and
vegetable oils. These new commodities were introduced as part of a world food aid
program (US PL480) as donations initially, which then became staple commodities
with time but were offered at the start either freely or at very low market prices. In a
parallel fashion their world prices started picking up and kept increasing ever since.
These policies, coupled with high demographic growth rates at the time, initiated
the Tunisian food dependence of world markets as local diets changed significantly
as a result of the introduction of these inexpensively provided commodities and the
relative gradual phasing out of traditional diets utilizing locally produced agricul-
tural commodities such as durum.

2
In 1956.
86 B. Thabet et al.

The termination of the cooperative movement at the end of the sixties gave way
to a new wave of market liberalization which returned to the country during the
seventies. This was coupled with significant increases in the prices of those
imported commodities (bread wheat and vegetable oils, mainly) which necessitated
the creation of a National Compensation Fund (CGC).3
The main purpose of the CGC was to help facilitate access to the food
requirements of the increasing population who got used to consuming those
commodities, by keeping their prices low, and equivalently protecting the pur-
chasing power of the needy. Since the prices at the final consumption levels could
not be increased, the general compensation mechanisms were generalized to include
agricultural production inputs such as fertilizers, chemicals, mechanization, fuel,
irrigation water and equipment, animal feed, etc.
In a parallel and simultaneous fashion and in view of the growing demand for
“industrialized bread”, soft wheat was introduced to cereal farmers as a substitute
crop for the indigenous durum and barley, using imported seeds initially developed
at CIMMYT in Mexico which never got acclimatized enough to local conditions.
Despite the significant research progress that took place in the country to obtain
suitable seed varieties, domestic bread wheat culture did not get developed enough
to meet the country’s food needs, as they never exceeded 1/4 of the area that cereal
farmers spontaneously devote to durum, in view of its higher requirements in terms
of soil fertility and rainfall, as compared to durum. Consumption of subsidized and
almost entirely imported bread wheat and totally imported vegetable oils kept
increasing over time.
The share of public compensation funds as a percentage of GDP which was
initially around 0.5 % kept increasing to reach 3.4 % in 1975, following the first
world energy crisis of 1973, then declined during some years to pick up again in the
early 80s, to exceed 4 % in 1984, to decline again during several years to return to
the 2 % level following the creation of the WTO in 1995. The table provided in the
appendix shows the annual evolution of the public expenditures on food com-
modities in absolute and relative terms to Tunisia’s GDP.
In the mid-80s the Tunisian economy was put on a World Bank/IMF stabil-
ization program, and the agricultural sector itself was the subject matter of an
agricultural sector adjustment program (ASAP).
The main features of the ASAP were to reduce, and in some cases eliminate, the
internal support measures publicly provided to agriculture and to ease country
market access. This was carried out under the paradigm of government disen-
gagement from the economy.
To some extent, such disengagement took place as the trends of the share of
compensation funds in GDP declined and dampened out, following the official
adoption by the then Government of the WTO guidelines during the nineties.

3
Corresponding to the French equivalent CGCz (for Caisse Générale de Compensation), which is
more commonly known in the country.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 87

The absolute amounts of funds allocated to food expenditures however reached

their maximum and almost doubled during the food crisis years (2007 and 2008).
A 2006 World Bank study which examined the evolution of Tunisian agricultural
policies over a decade, since the adoption of the WTO guidelines, demonstrated that
the agricultural and food economy in Tunisia was in actuality not liberalized enough.
In fact, despite the public rhetoric, effective protection rates in agriculture did not
decline over the decade. It rather doubled (from 30 to about 60 %).

4.2.1 Recent Trends in Supply and Demand for Food

Past agriculture and food policies in Tunisia have almost always attempted to reach
the following set of objectives: (i) Food self-sufficiency evolving towards the more
relaxed concept of food security; (ii) Promoting agricultural exports such as those of
olive oil by continually subsidizing competing vegetable oils, thus freeing addi-
tional quantities of olive oil for exports for the purpose of covering increasing
import costs; (iii) Increasingly seeking to preserve natural resources (soil and
water), and (iv) Putting emphasis on improving competitiveness of agricultural
products in order to better compete in world markets which were meant to be
increasingly liberalized.
On the supply side, the implementation of past policies involved the intensifi-
cation of agricultural activities through irrigation primarily and through the use of
increased industrial inputs (machines, chemicals, fertilizers, use of genetically bred
higher yielding varieties, animal feed, etc.). Almost all of these inputs were serviced
to farmers at prices below their respective costs. This systematic intervention which
prevailed through the seventies and the first part of the eighties was an attempt to
push farmers to maximize input use and production, as opposed to optimizing them,
without proper consideration to the likely farmer response to those incentives, nor
to other limiting local environment aspects.
As a consequence, the quantitative achievement of objectives has been rather
modest as materialized by the limited supply response to the given incentives, in
spite of the important and increasing budget expenditures that were allocated to
them. As an illustration of the policies that were introduced following what many
refer to as the world food crisis years (2007 and 2008), there was the quasi-doubling
in just one year of the producer prices of the three main cereal commodities (durum,
bread wheat and barley) and no significant response was registered in terms of
production expansion of these commodities. This is obviously not a negation of the
expected positive impact of producer prices on production; it simply suggests that
other factors are limiting the production process such as the quantitative and
qualitative potential of resources or the structural farm sizes which are of small
scale in nature by-and-large.
On the other hand, other structural, environmental and natural resource problems
have begun to emerge, such as the almost full utilization of water resources,
problems of soil degradation due to over-mechanization and erosion, phenomena of
88 B. Thabet et al.

deforestation of large areas and rangeland, and pollution of water resources (soil
salinity and nitrate aquifer pollution), etc.
On the demand side, public policy continued the pursuit of the objective of
cheap or inexpensive food policies through the provision of staple commodities at
low prices via a universal subsidy set of programs (cereals, vegetable imported oils,
dairy products, sugar, etc.), all for the sake of protecting the consumer’s purchasing
power and consequently achieving an apparent social stability. Hence implemented
policies on the demand side were based on quantitative and normative consumption
parameters with no clear or systematic consideration of health and nutritional
considerations of the followed diets.
As a result, the consumption of certain commodities reached record quantitative
levels (soft wheat, bread itself, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, etc.), translating into
extremely high import bills and systematic deficits in the balance of agricultural
trade, as increasing domestic budget outlays were provided to make up for the
discrepancies between producer prices and import prices, on the one hand, and
subsidized consumer prices, on the other hand. Moreover, the Tunisian food diet
was increasingly characterized by a high consumption of cereals, a moderate and
slow evolution of animal protein consumption and little diversification in terms of
fruit and vegetables.
Thus, if the quantitative dimension of the daily ration of the Tunisian was rather
satisfactory, the same could not be said about the qualitative dimension and the
dietary aspects. In fact, the excessive consumption of high caloric and unbalanced
intakes resulted in increasing average human body weights, which, ceteris paribus,
increases the risk exposure of the population to health problems.
The increasing demand for staple food commodities continued to be met by
domestic supply, and by imports but in very variable proportions. If the domestic
production of durum corresponds to approximately 80 % of national needs, that of
bread wheat does not exceed 20 %. In the case of vegetable oils and sugar,4 it is
total dependence of world markets as they are all imported; this is a direct con-
sequence of the artificially distorted market of basic commodities (cereals, vege-
table oil, milk, sugar, etc.) through the use of increasingly debatable food policies.
Such heavy dependence of domestic consumption of basic commodities on world
markets has not only been public budget devouring, but it has also put the Tunisian
society before an important source of risk materialized on the one hand in the
extremely high levels of consumption which can only be met by increasing imports
and on the other hand by the world market which revealed instability and increasing
price trends as a result.5
In terms of expenditures on imports, cereals take up the largest share with bread
wheat being at the top, followed by animal feed grains (corn and barley). For all

4
In the case of sugar, total dependence of world markets has begun only since the mid-eighties
when sugar beet production was discontinued following the adoption of the ASAP in view of the
then lower world prices as compared to the domestic producer supported prices of that period.
5
As confirmed by international studies, eg OECD.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 89

Table 4.2 Expenditure breakdown on food items (year 2011)

Items Amount (106 dinars) Share (%)
Cereals 883.2 76.8
Vegetable oil 214.4 18.7
Milk 23.0 2.0
Sugar 10.9 0.9
Tomato concentrates 9.5 0.8
Couscous and pasta 4.2 0.4
Other products 28.9 2.5
Total charges 1149.5 100.0
Total charges in relation to GDP (%) 1.78
Source Central Bank of Tunisia (2012)

imported commodities the import bill has been affected by both price increases and
by the increasing volumes of imports. Expenditures become compounded when
domestic production levels are low, thereby increasing the excess of demand of the
country for those commodities. Consequently food subsidies increase alarmingly
and at the same time there is a mounting and recurrent public pressure to supply the
domestic market at almost any cost. Table 4.2 shows the breakdown of public
expenditures on various food items corresponding to the year 2011 for which data
are complete.
As is universally perceived, public assistance is justified in the name of the
economically needy segments of the population. Actual beneficiaries of that
assistance in Tunisia up to the eighties have turned out to be the not so needy
segments, as only 25 % of public budget outlays went to 75 % of the population and
the rest (75 %) went to the rather well to do (25 %) (Rejeb and Lahouel 1990),
suggesting the existence of (i) significant deviations from the intended objectives,
and (ii) inequities among population income brackets.
More recent statistics indicate that enterprises located along the cost take up as
much as 90 % of public assistance that goes to enterprises in comparison with only
10 % of that assistance that go to activities taking place inland of the country
(La Presse 2013). This suggests the existence of other types of inequities in the
public transfers relating to the regional distribution of the public assistance which
the recent popular uprisings helped uncover.
Recent efforts were made to smooth out the global public expenditures that were
allocated to final consumption of agricultural commodities and geared towards their
assumed destination. In that vein alternative targeting schemes have been tried by
public authorities. These policies started with subsidizing dark flour using barley or
oat flour using breads, on the assumption that these types of breads would be
economically inferior commodities and therefore primarily usable by the poor. Over
a short period of time and with a little experimentation, these new types of
“complete” and/or “farm” breads have turned out to be somewhat luxury goods in
view of their rediscovered high nutritive value. As a result such policies have
90 B. Thabet et al.

skewed even further the distribution of the public assistance towards the rather well
to do and educated segments of the population, instead of the opposite.
A new cereal subsidy targeting scheme is presently being experimented with. It is
based on the geographic location of the bakeries providing bread throughout the
country. Bakeries located in remote and/or rural areas specialized in big loaf bread-
making are entitled to more subsidized quantities of flour than those located in other
residential areas. A third type of public expenditure curbing has also taken place for
more than two decades. It is based on reducing the weight of bread itself, thereby
reducing the quantity of subsidized flour. As an illustration, the big loaf of bread that
used to weigh near a kilogram back in the sixties is now weighing near 400 grams.
Despite these measures, consumption of bread in Tunisia seems to be
approaching world record levels. Bread being made for the most part out of flour
which is derived from bread wheat has made the import bill of that commodity to be
ever increasing. Recent upward trends of cereal prices have made the situation even
more critical for Tunisia.
As a result, the per capita annual consumption of all cereals in Tunisia is
presently exceeding 250 kg per person which is about double the world average
cereal consumption. Many attribute it to the staple nature of cereal products. Others
would attribute it also to the undervalued nature of these commodities as reflected
through their artificially maintained prices at low levels.

4.2.2 Natural Resources: Use and Misuse

The water resources in Tunisia are scarce and their quality is degrading.
Traditionally, the water policy was oriented much more towards supply than
demand management. However, the increase in supply seems to have reached its
limits and several problems emerged, such as overexploitation of the resource,
increase of the marginal cost of its mobilization, low cost recovery, and intra-sector
conflicts, in addition to its misallocation resulting in inefficiencies and sometimes
pure waste of the resource.
As the per capita availability of water supplies decline over time and the mar-
ginal costs of securing additional supplies rise, water authorities have moved to
exploring new approaches to improve the management of water resources. Since the
nineties, international organizations (FAO, OECD, World Bank, etc.) and some
experts (Horchani 1994; Mattoussi 2002; Chohin-Kuper et al. 2002) have suggested
that water policy should shift more towards water demand management to warrant
better valorization and sustainability of the water resource.
Policies towards natural resources have concerned both soil and water. The latter
has almost always been perceived as the most limiting factor of agricultural pro-
duction, for the obvious reason that agricultural vegetation is much more intense
and as a result crop yields are higher. Hence most of the public investment in the
agricultural sector (over 70 %) has been in the hydraulic infrastructure, so as to
mobilize as much of the available and potential water resources as possible.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 91

Table 4.3 Mobilized versus potential water resources in Tunisia (values in Mm3)
Potential (106m3) Mobilized resources (106 m3)
1990 2000 2005 2010 2015 (projection)
Surface water (56 %) 2700 1179 1876 2200 2400 2500
Large dams 1170 1688 1927 2080 2170
Hill dams
5 125 160 190 195
Artificial lakes
4 63 113 130 135
Groundwater (44 %) 2140 1576 1818 1860 1900 1940
Shallow aquifers 740 740 740 740 740
Deep aquifers
836 1078 1120 1160 1200
Total resources 4840 2755 3694 4060 4300 4440
Mobilization ratio (%) – 59 80 88 93 96
Source Al Atiri (2007)

In that spirit, 27 large dams, more than 182 hill dams and around 700 artificial
lakes were constructed in the country over the past four to five decades. The general
balance in terms of water mobilization, confronted to the estimated potential, is
shown in the Table 4.3.
Such water mobilization policy has enabled the development of near 450,000 ha
of irrigable land, corresponding to about 7–8 % of Tunisia’s total arable land, but
contributing by about 30 % of agricultural production.
Public policies with regard to water face two main challenges. First, not all
irrigable land has been put into actual irrigation as around 80,000 ha of equipped
areas (about one fifth) have not been put to use. A variety of reasons could explain
that situation. Chief among these are the concerns about possible price decreases if
supplies were to increase too rapidly, along with other potential marketing diffi-
culties on the input or output sides.
Second, efforts were made to push farmers to devote about a third of their
irrigable land to cereal cultivation, as part of the national policy to bring about food
security. This encountered resistance as well for the simple reason that farmers find
it more profitable to allocate irrigable land to other crops.
Furthermore, the emphasis on the development of irrigated agriculture has had
unexpected results in the form of soil salinity, as irrigation water in a number of
areas of Tunisia has quite a high salt content. In other rainy areas of the north east of
the country, cases of aquifer nitrate and other chemical pollution resulting from the
excessive use of those products have been registered.
Hence the general public perception is that nearly all potential water resources
will soon be exhausted and severe shortages could occur. In this eventuality, par-
ticularly if present water policies continue to under-price the resource, this will
increase the likelihood of severe water shortages and could even shorten its horizon.
However if policies were to be revised to value the resource at its true cost and/or
discourage water waste, prospects may perhaps be less gloomy.
92 B. Thabet et al.

Preserving natural resources has always been among the central declared
objectives of successive development plans. Indeed, natural resources, mainly
water, soil and its organic content, are considered as the main factors that contribute
to the enhancement of quantitative as well as qualitative production levels of
agriculture and therefore to its growth.
In actual fact, past policies have indirectly contributed to the non- or partial
achievement of those objectives. Take the example of agricultural mechanization
which has been encouraged first through subsidized fuel and nowadays via direct
subsidies on the purchase of the equipment itself by as much as 25 or 40 %.6 As a
result, most farm land cultivation has shifted into the mechanical mode, including
small scale farms with difficult and hilly landscapes, and has driven out animal
traction of the Tunisian farm scenery. Excessive mechanical cultivation has resulted
in devastating soil erosion and organic matter impoverishment.
In the livestock sector, public subsidies allocated to animal feed have incen-
tivized otherwise non-livestock raisers to develop local feed-independent livestock
activities, even in urban areas. In a number of cases, the incentives pushed animal
raisers to increase herd numbers irrespective of grazing potential which resulted in
overgrazing and a rapid destruction of vegetation on grazeland and in some cases
forestland as well.
The rapid destruction of vegetation has not only amplified the disequilibrium
between the domestic supply of and the demand for feed resources, with the budget
consequences thereof, but it has also facilitated rain water runoffs and therefore
limited water infiltration in the soil.

4.2.3 Demographics, Human Development Indicators

and Migration

In terms of demographics, the Tunisian case is perhaps unique among Arab/

Muslim countries in the sense that early policy makers saw the need to slow down
the rate of population growth, as the country was experiencing over 3 % annual
increase for the purpose of containing global food demand even though the pop-
ulation was then about only a fourth of what it may be today.7 INS statistics reveal
that the last estimation of Tunisia’s population growth rate was at about 1 %. This is
at variance with the even lowest estimates of such rates for other Arab countries
(2 % for Morocco). Quantitatively at least, this has been a major burden taken away
on population food demand.
As for the labor structure, major changes took place following the urbanization
process that has taken place in the country. It is estimated now that nearly 70 % of

6
The percentage varies according to the subsidy requester, an individual farmer or a society.
7
Most sources would agree that the present population of Tunisia is between 11 and 12 million
people.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 93

the Tunisian population lives in urban areas, primarily along the costal line in view
of the explosion of the construction sector and its derived demand for labor. The
part of the population that continues to live in rural areas exceeds the capacity of
those areas to provide competitive jobs. Significant numbers of laborers, usually of
the unskilled type, still seek job opportunities beyond Tunisian borders, not always
through legal means and ways.
The new jobs that are found in non-farm areas are providing in many cases
additional incomes to agricultural activity sources and constitute social stabilizing
factors. Nevertheless, actual labor supply activities are declining as farm wages are
on the rise. Tunisia, which used to be classified as a labor surplus economy during
the sixties, no longer qualifies for that category, as for a number of activities in
agriculture and outside labor coming from other countries. The same type of flow is
also taking place between different regions, primarily from the rural parts to the
urban ones and from the interior to the coast.
In terms of human development, the general macroeconomic indicators of
Tunisian society were considered rather satisfactory. Whether in terms of per capita
GDP (US$5000), or GDP expressed in terms of PPP (US$7520), Tunisia was
ranked up to the year 2010 ahead of other non-oil producing Arab countries. Even
in terms of the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI), including not only
income but also health and education considerations, while the image was not as
favorable, Tunisia was still better ranked than neighboring countries. Even if we go
to more elaborate and comprehensive indices such as the well-being composite
index (WCI) which integrates additional qualitative aspects of life (environment,
gender equality, income distribution, etc.), Tunisia was still ahead of other neigh-
boring and similar countries.
Schooling records of Tunisia at all levels (primary, secondary or even university)
have been more than impressive: the figure reaches nearly 100 % for schooled
children in primary school, with high graduation levels from high schools,
increasing numbers of university and technical school graduates in almost all fields,
diversification of specializations, etc.
Health facilities are available everywhere in the country in the form of hospitals,
private health care facilities in many parts of the country, local health facilities, etc.
Furthermore, sound road infrastructure crosses the country in all directions, even in
rural areas. Poverty levels as judged by international institutions such as the UNDP
are among the lowest worldwide, particularly in aggregate.

4.2.4 Recent Social Unrest and Structural Changes

and Revelations

Recent social unrest in Tunisia has not changed the overall positive aggregate
economic performance of the country. It has however revealed severe problems of
distribution of wealth hidden behind the overall positive economic picture.
94 B. Thabet et al.

The major revealed disparities were not only between segments of the popula-
tion; they were also between regions, namely the coast and the interior. Even in
terms of poverty, the globally modest national rate was hiding tremendous dis-
crepancies between regions and particularly at the level of enclaved zones and
remote places.
There are disparities in unemployment as well, reaching levels as high as 30 %
in certain places and for certain categories, particularly the young and the educated.
The high numbers of schools and graduates, instead of contributing to the facili-
tation of the unemployment issue, rather added to its magnitude, which is raising
new issues about the quality of the training programs that are provided throughout
the country.
In view of the amplitude of the revealed social problems, serious questions are
being raised as to the relevance of the various trade agreements to which the past
Government of Tunisia has adhered to insofar as their reliance on the market
liberalization paradigm (WTO, free trade zone with the European Union, etc.).
Many are questioning the validity of such paradigms to Tunisia’s acute social
problems of poverty and unemployment. Many go as far as accusing such an
economic model orientation for being the main cause of these problems.
The structural changes that Tunisia is presently undergoing have so far had a
number of positive impacts in terms of the free public debates about past policy
choices and contents. The real issues are that policies that would be flaw-proof may
be difficult to find. It is clear that there is an ever-mounting public impatience to
identify policies that would address all identified problems in a rather rapid way. No
doubt the economy has been weakened over the last 2–3 years as a result of the
expressed frustrations over the past political conduct of the country. But real ways
for development can be found only through compromises and trade-offs between
alternative components of society. These require less passionate public debates than
what is presently taking place in the country.

4.3 Future Perspectives: The Need for a New Agenda

In view of the new revealed economic and social realities in Tunisia, the new
orientations in farm and food policy are yet to be known as the governing body of
the country is transitory and future policy courses of action are awaiting future
outcomes of the democratic process being put into place.

4.3.1 Supply and Demand Adjustments

Support to consumers through administrative price control is not likely to disappear

in a near future; the “street power” in particular in Tunisia has proven to be strong
and effective. There is however an increasing awareness that constantly pursuing
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 95

cheap, or inexpensive in some cases, food policies has resulted in world record
consumption levels of certain commodities (cereals globally, bread specifically,
other cereal by-products, sugar and fats).
Beyond the budgetary considerations, there is a growing social concern that
these policies have resulted in, or at least contributed to, increasing obesity and
health problems of the population. Hence future prospects for public consumer
policy are likely to give more attention to qualitative and safety aspects of con-
sumption and progressively deviate from the exclusively quantitative feeding
objective of the consumer that has been pursued so far.

4.3.2 Increasing Public Budget Limitations and Scrutiny

While it is not popular at the moment to present to the public the increased
emphasis on public accountability, as a main principle that the social unrests have
publicly expressed, it will inevitably lead to increased scrutiny of the Government
use of public assets. This will certainly involve the examination of alternative
public choices and their corresponding opportunity costs. Questions of the type that
consider whether it will be more socially pertinent to continue to support quanti-
tative consumption of the poor as opposed to improving living conditions (health
facilities, education of children, rural infrastructure in certain areas, etc.) will cer-
tainly surface. It is only through the examination of alternative choices that are of
relevance to the consumer, and particularly to the poor, that acceptable compro-
mises can be reached.

4.3.3 Poverty Reexamined: Rural and Urban Trends

Poverty levels in some cases and poverty disparities are among the top priorities
that the social unrests have revealed. Some aspects of poverty are localized in
specific landlocked areas and require appropriate and targeted assistance. Other
aspects are more horizontal and cover large areas. Analyses have indicated that they
result from the lack of investments in some areas such as the interior part of the
country. Present public attention in terms of direct production and rapid income-
generating activities is already given to those areas. However quick analyses have
shown that income generation though new activities that could be undertaken in the
interior part of the country require more urgent investment in infrastructure as the
2012 public expenditures allocated to those areas was consumed only partially
(70 % in the highest cases). Hence, time is required for productive investments to
follow investments in infrastructure.
96 B. Thabet et al.

4.3.4 Emerging Environmental Issues and Concerns

Tunisia covers a surface of about 16 million hectares divided into 30 % of agri-

cultural lands, and 27 % of forests and pasture, with the remaining 43 % being non-
cultivable. This implies that only half of the total area contributes to the agricultural
production. However, arable land is also subject to degradation by erosion and
desertification which causes an irreversible loss of an important amount of arable
land each year (Ministry of Agriculture).
The geographical distribution of these lands is also critical since 39 % of the
agricultural surface is located in the North of the country (average annual rainfall
more than 350 mm and exceeding 600 mm in certain areas with high land fertility),
whereas the remainder (61 %) is located in the Center and the South, characterized
by an annual rainfall ranging from 100 to 250 mm and poor land fertility.
Land ownership trends in Tunisia are causing concerns. These concerns are
about land fragmentation, limited farm size, and limited involvement of younger
farmers. In this context, according to the latest survey on farm structures conducted
by the Ministry of Agriculture (2005),8 90 % of farmers growing early vegetables
are cultivating less than 2 ha. Furthermore, it is estimated that 50 % of citrus and
cereal farmers do not reside on their farms. Land ownership data reflects that land
fragmentation is advancing and 73 % of land holdings are currently less than 10 ha
in size, up from 64 % in 1976.
In view of the aridity of the Tunisian climate, natural resource (soil and water)
preservation will certainly continue to be at the center of future policies, as it has been
in the past. Conservation programs and their corresponding budgets have hitherto
been geared towards water mobilization through dams and hill reservoir construction,
in the case of water, and erosion breaks and contours, in the case of soil.
Alternative ways of preserving and regenerating basic resources for agriculture
such as soil moisture and fertility are critical issues to be addressed in the years to come
in order to warrant true and sustainable agricultural development for the country.

4.4 Trade and World Market Instability Challenges

In terms of trade of agricultural commodities, Tunisia has been a member of the

WTO organization ever since its creation in 1995. As such it has committed itself
to the WTO principles and guidelines of progressive trade liberalization for all of its
commodities, be they agriculturally originated or otherwise. While a WTO com-
prehensive agricultural agreement has not been agreed upon yet, the general spirit
of easing up access to foreign commodities into the national market and gradually
reducing internal policy distortions resulting from domestic support in the form of

8
The Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture conducts a national survey each decade intended mainly to
examine the evolution of a farm’s structure. The latest survey was conducted in 2004, 2005.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 97

subsidies or taxation has often been publicly debated and to some extent imple-
mented as well. The substantial removal of subsidies on a number of farm inputs
(fertilizers, herbicides, etc.) is a case in point.
Subsequently, Tunisia got engaged in the establishment of a free zone area with
the European Union which was supposed to be operational by now. Membership in
the European Free Trade Association providing trade preferences for a number of
Tunisian products has also been active for a number of years. Other memberships in
regional associations (Agadir agreement between eight Arab countries, trade flows
among five Maghreb countries, etc.) have been in effect for a number of years.
Extraneous factors, political or otherwise, have prevented these agreements from
impacting significantly on the trade of agricultural commodities. For the most part,
the trade of Tunisian agricultural commodities nowadays remains dominated by
flows from and to the European Union, concentrated principally on France, Italy
and Spain with proportions varying over the years between 75 and 80 % of all
traded agricultural commodities.
The overall trade of Tunisian agricultural and food commodities remains char-
acterized by exchanges in bulk (over 90 %) and heavily concentrated on a limited
number of countries and localized markets thereof. This situation results in limited
valorization of these commodities and any increases in trade earnings usually result
from increases in volumes rather than unitary value improvements. These are by-
and-large the main challenges facing Tunisian agricultural trade (Thabet 2011).

4.4.1 Agricultural Trade Liberalization: Advantages

and Issues

Liberalization of agricultural trade remains founded on the paradigm of the

potential gains that the country can achieve by gearing its limited resources
according to its comparative advantage in as much as possible. A given country
always faces a choice between alternative ways of allocating its resources, addi-
tional protection of its economy or additional openness of its economic borders.
The former option generally implies missing opportunities while the latter could
lead to seizing opportunities. Excessive protection always resulted in slow growth
while the opposite almost always induced wealth creation.
The dilemma for Tunisian policy makers is which road to take, particularly at a
time when the Tunisian society is particularly dissatisfied with the past management
of the economy which in rhetoric emphasized the market liberalization choice as the
adequate path.
The liberalization of the economy while it rests on a sound set of economic con-
cepts and principles requires adequate implementation in order to bring about the
expected positive results. Furthermore, its positive repercussions on the economy may
not be immediate and could involve important transitional costs for those activities
that lack competitiveness which may be socially intolerable. Hence transitional
98 B. Thabet et al.

measures are needed to smooth out the social difficulties that may be encountered,
otherwise the whole process could break down in spite of its economic legitimacy.

4.4.2 Trade Agreements: Multitude, Diversity and Coherence

As indicated above, trade agreements have increased in numbers over the years. In
terms of content, they do not always imply the same trade discipline. The specifics
of each agreement are quite variable and industries could find it difficult to conform
to a number of them simultaneously. However, each agreement could be interpreted
as implying a set of opportunities which can be seized by different entrepreneurs.
The world market being as diverse as it is, a number of restrictions that a given
agreement could imply can be interpreted rather as a set of opportunities. Seeking
opportunities within the framework of each exiting trade agreement can be a sound
strategy of diversification against possible forms of market risk.

4.4.3 Increasing Non-Tariff Trade Barriers

While most agreements call for quantitative reductions in barriers to trade, most of
them are increasingly stressing qualitative measures and restrictions. This may
appear as new forms of trade barriers which are substituting for traditional quanti-
tative ones, which are expected to gradually be phased out. In some sense, this is true
and nowadays trade is not as fluid as it may have been in the past. However, taking
into account future consumer perspectives, the qualitative and in some cases health
requirements may not be evitable. Hence, the sooner the country integrates expected
targeted market requirements, the less cost it would have to assume in the long run to
adapt to increased competition in the world market. It is just a new reality that
countries have to take into account if market openness is their policy choice.

4.4.4 Persisting Trade Preferences for Development

and Social Considerations

Economically speaking, the general spirit of world market liberalization rests on

very solid economic concepts. Its drawbacks however center on possible social
adjustment costs that a given country assumes as it moves from an existing situation
to a “more liberalized” one.
Another concern, and at the same time a basis of criticism, has to do with the fact
that not all countries promoting free trade policies are applying the same principles
on their own markets. The issue of unfair trade is increasingly raised by a number of
countries, and particularly in Tunisia at the present time.
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 99

As an illustration, olive oil produced and marketed in the European Union

collects roughly as many public subsidies as it does from the market. The same
product coming from other countries is expected to compete on world markets with
that trade disadvantage.

4.5 Concluding Observations

Throughout its independent history, Tunisia has adopted policies that were not
always efficiency-promoting, even though the objective of growth and development
were always at the forefront of almost all development plans.
Specific objectives and policies to protect the consumer purchasing power of
food items and at the same prevent the erosion of farm incomes by continually
subsidizing most agricultural inputs and implicitly outputs as well (cereals, milk,
organic farming, etc.) has led not only to unsustainable budget expenditures but
also world record consumption of certain food items.
Emphasis put on intensive use of industrial inputs to promote the supply of
agricultural supply has had limited and insufficient response on the part of the
existing resource endowment, and in a number of cases resulted in resource
depletion and impoverishment (soil and vegetation erosion, loss in soil fertility,
water and soil pollution etc.), necessitating new and more appropriate policy
choices to curb those trends.
On the other hand, among all Arab countries, Tunisia has dared to slow down
population growth (1 %). Otherwise its food concerns would have been much more
significant in view of the registered performance of the agricultural sector.
Tunisia is now at a crossroad. Its future will depend on much of the past
achievements it will manage to maintain and how much of the ongoing euphoria it
will manage to control.
Farm policies in Tunisia have always been designed on the basis of partial
analyses related to individual commodities and/or inputs and not in an integrated
way. The comprehensive concept of a “farm bill” takes into account a bigger set of
activities and examines their overall cost consequences. Such a tool can be relevant
for analyzing and comparing alternative policy options as opposed to looking at
individual subsectors separately.
In spite of the economic validity of the market liberalization concept, its virtue
improves when world markets are stable. Reality has shown that it is not the case.
This calls for the integration of the risk and uncertainty dimension in analyses of
alternative policy courses of action.
The main challenge facing future trade policy makers in Tunisia will center on
the search for an optimal mix between publicly defending prior country commit-
ments to international agreements aiming at capitalizing on potential efficiency
gains that world economic integration can bring about and the new demands for
inequity reductions that recent social unrest revealed.
100 B. Thabet et al.

Appendix

See Table 4.4.

Table 4.4 Public CGC budget outlays on food commodities

Years Expenditures (106 dinars) GDP (106 dinars) Share in GDP (%)
1970 1.3 755.6 0.17
1971 2.8 881.2 0.32
1972 8.8 1067.5 0.82
1973 8.5 1151.3 0.74
1974 27.3 1547.8 1.76
1975 58.7 1741.4 3.37
1976 34.1 1933.0 1.76
1977 33.6 2191.9 1.53
1978 48.2 2483.9 1.94
1979 60.0 2922.0 2.05
1980 67.0 3540.5 1.89
1981 157.3 4162.0 3.78
1982 168.3 4816.0 3.49
1983 174.6 5668.1 3.08
1984 260.1 6412.4 4.06
1985 262.2 7018.3 3.74
1986 218.0 7160.3 3.04
1987 196.0 8035.3 2.44
1988 274.4 8660.6 3.17
1989 393.8 9589.8 4.11
1990 317.0 10815.7 2.50
1991 270.0 12028.8 2.42
1992 291.0 13505.7 2.32
1993 314.0 14662.4 2.07
1994 304.0 15813.8 2.17
1995 343.0 17051.8 2.56
1996 436.0 19066.1 1.94
1997 370.0 20898.2 1.61
1998 336.0 22560.8 0.91
1999 206.0 24671.6 0.91
2000 225.0 26650.8 0.93
2001 248.0 28757.2 0.79
2002 226.0 29923.8 0.68
2003 203.0 32170.1 0.81
(continued)
4 Agricultural and Food Policies in Tunisia … 101

Table 4.4 (continued)

Years Expenditures (106 dinars) GDP (106 dinars) Share in GDP (%)
2004 260.0 35192.0 0.69
2005 243.0 37663.5 0.81
2006 306.7 41407.8 1.61
2007 598.0 49856.8 1.20
2008 1048.0 55267.8 1.90
2009 800.0 58677.2 1.37
2010 730.0 63440.9 1.15
2011 1149.5 64730.6 1.78
2012 1700 60733.0 2.80
Period: 1970–2012

References

Al Atiri, R. (2007). Evolution institutionnelle et réglementaire de la gestion de l’eau en Tunisie,

“Vers une participation accrue des usagers de l’eau”. In Sami Bouarfa, Marcel Kuper,
Abdelhafid Debbarh (Ed.), “L’avenir de l’agriculture irriguée en Méditerranée. Nouveaux
arrangements institutionnels pour une gestion de la demande en eau”. Actes du séminaire
Wademed, Cahors, France, 6–7 novembre 2006. CIRAD, Montpellier, France.
Ben, Moussa B. (2010). Evaluation des Effets d’Entraînement de l’Agriculture sur l’Economie
Tunisienne. Institut Supérieur Agronomique de Chott Meriem: Master A-D.
Central Bank of Tunisia. (2012). Annual Report, Tunisia.
Laajimi, A., Thabet, B., & Bensaid, M. (2012). Une lecture dans la politique agricole et alimentaire
en Tunisie: pour une nouvelle vision. NEWMEDIT—Mediterranean Journal of Economics,
Agriculture and Environment, XI(2).
La Presse de Tunisie. (2013). Investissements: les Gouvernorats du Nord-Ouest discutent de
nouveau le nouveau code, May 27, 2013.
Ministry of Agriculture. (2004). Recensement des Groupements d’Intérêt collectifs dans le secteur
d’irrigation et de l’eau potable en milieu rural.
Ministry of Agriculture (2005). Rapport Statistique sur les périmètres irrigués en Tunisie.
Ministry of Agriculture. various years. Agricultural Statistical Yearbook, Tunisia.
National institute of Statistics ‘INS’. Various years. Statistical Yearbook of Tunisia. Tunisia.
Chohin-Kuper, A., Rieu, T., & Montginoul, M. (2002). Les outils économiques pour la gestion de
la demande en eau en Méditerranée. Série Irrigation, 2002–06; Cemagref.
Horchani, A. (1994). Gestion des ressources en eau en Tunisie. Tunisie: Ministère de
l’Agriculture.
Mattoussi, M. S. (2002). Gestion durable de la demande en eau : la seule alternative capable de
relever les défis menaçant. Huitième conférence annuelle. Economic Research Forum, Caire.
Redjeb, M. S. & Lahouel, M. H. (1990). Etude de la Caise Générale de Compensation: Analyse
critique du système actuel d’intervention de la CGC: incidences économiques et sociales.
Document de travail APIP 90-1.
Thabet, B. (2011). “Accompagnement des Politiques Agricoles” GRET Consortium/Ministère de
l’Agriculture-Tunisie, Octobre 2011.
World Bank. (2006). Tunisia Agricultural Policy Review. Report No. 35239-TN.
Chapter 5
To What Extent Are Rural Development
Policies Compatible with Achieving
Sustainable Agriculture in Turkey?

Selim Cagatay, Taylan Kıymaz and Reyhan Özeş

5.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to assess the sustainability of the agricultural sector in Turkey by
focusing on diagnosed problems and on the relevant policy framework. In the first
part of the chapter, descriptive information regarding household livelihoods in rural
Turkey is provided to diagnose economic, social and environmental problems that
might be crucial in terms of sustainability. We place particular emphasis on five
topics including agricultural trade balance, inequalities and rural poverty, natural
resources, demographic trends and migrations, and public health concerns.
Wherever possible, we focus our attention on developments over the past 2–3
decades while analyses provide statistical information on possible sourcing factors
underlying the diagnosed problems. In the second part, the policy framework
regarding rural and sustainable development in Turkey is presented based on
development plans, projects, policy documents and agri-environment related reg-
ulations. The study aims to draw a link between implemented rural programs and
the sustainability of agriculture by focusing on diagnosed problems. Hence, the
main aim given the information in the first and second parts is to highlight the main
shortcomings of the policy framework in terms of reaching sustainability and the
problematic areas.

S. Cagatay (&)
R. Özeş

Department of Economics, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
e-mail: [email protected]
T. Kıymaz
Department of Economics, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 103

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_5
104 S. Cagatay et al.

5.2 Household Livelihood and Diagnosed Problems

in Rural Turkey

This part consists of five sections: fluctuating agricultural trade balance, inequalities
and rural poverty, deteriorating natural resources, worrisome demographic trends
and migrations, and public health concerns. The problems diagnosed in each sec-
tion are elaborated based on the possible underlying sourcing factors. These sec-
tions consist of descriptive analyses which aim to establish the causal relationships
between problems and sourcing factors.

5.2.1 Fluctuating Agricultural Trade Balance

The definition of agriculture here covers both livestock and crops. Over the last
15 years, the agricultural trade balance has fluctuated, with deficits observed in
some years and surpluses in others, although the value of the latter is much higher
than the former (Table 5.1). Even if the balance is in surplus, the total share of
agricultural exports has been falling since 1997 (Appendix Table 5.24). Turkey’s
main exports are fresh fruit and vegetables while major imports include meat
products and oil seeds. For some selected cereals and industrial crops, Turkey is a
net exporter while for others it is a net importer. With regard to food industry
products, Turkey is a net exporter and the trade surplus increased until 2006 before
stabilizing (Table 5.2).
The observed trend in the agricultural trade balance may be a result of both
domestic and international factors. On the domestic front, we see certain supply side
developments as possible factors that might have impacted on the trade balance in
the short and long term such as changes in human and physical capital (fixed capital

Table 5.1 Agricultural sector trade balance (million dollars)

1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012
Trade balance 543 −300 −8 1.348 1.559 −364
Change in exports (%) 10.5 −13.2 29.7 3.9 −2.5 4.7
Change in imports (%) 1.3 22.3 31.8 12.4 −26.1 −6.9
Export/import (%) 111.0 92.8 99.8 118.5 116.2 97.8

Table 5.2 Food industry trade balance (million dollars)

1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012
Trade balance 2.484 1.410 1.944 4.446 4.474 4.618
Change in exports (%) 12.7 −13.2 29.1 2.8 −1.1 5.8
Change in imports (%) −6.4 4.7 46.0 6.2 −28.0 −2.2
Source TGTHB (http://www.tarim.gov.tr/ABDGM/Sayfalar/IcMenuDetay.aspx?rid=21)
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 105

investment in agriculture), yield, the share of graduates in rural areas and relative
input-output prices. On the international front, developments in the exchange rate,
relative domestic-world prices, revealed comparative advantages and comparative
export performance might also provide some clues to the trend in trade balance.
In Turkey, rural-urban and gender gaps in education indicators still exist. This
possibly affects labor market conditions in rural areas as most of the agricultural
labor force consists of unpaid family members and most of the women are
employed in agriculture. Improvement in social capital is expected to affect both
household livelihoods and agricultural production. Over the past five years, there
has been a slight improvement in women’s education levels, especially in sec-
ondary schools, and all levels above that (Appendix Table 5.25). However, the
same improvement is not observed for physical capital investment in agriculture
which includes machinery, buildings and storage facilities, etc. Over the last
15 years, the total share of fixed capital agricultural investment has decreased from
5.6 to 4 %, and at some points it fell as low as 3.2 % (Table 5.3).
Table 5.4 presents yield levels for selected products in Turkey. With the
exception of tomatoes and sugar beet, Turkey is a net exporter of other products in
some years but is a net importer in others. Over the past 20 years, there has been a
rise in yield levels for all products, although these levels are still low compared to
other countries. For example, the yield in France is about 10,000 kg per hectare for
maize, 94,000 kg for sugar beet and about 2500 kg for sunflower seed, whereas in
Turkey figures for maize, sugar beet and sunflower seed are 7260, 54,510 and
2060 kg per hectare respectively. The French tomato yield is twice that observed in
Turkey while wheat yields in France are more than twice as high. Yield levels are
affected by the use of chemicals, irrigation, soil structure, seed etc. but have a
definite impact on production and exports.

Table 5.3 Share of fixed capital investment in agriculture

1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2009 2010
Agriculture (%) 5.1 4.7 5.6 4.4 4.0 4.0 3.2 3.8 4.0
Source TKB (www.kalkinma.gov.tr)

Table 5.4 Yield (kg/ha)

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Wheat 2116 1915 2234 2324 2426
Sugarbeet 36,819 35,774 45,902 45,208 54,510
Cotton 1021 1125 1345 1579 1700
Sunflower 1540 1480 1720 2060
Maize 4080 3689 4144 7000 7260
Tomatoes 4270 4330 5612
Rice 4340 5000 6030 7060 8690
Source TGTHB (www.tarim.gov.tr), TUIK (http://www.tuik.gov.tr/UstMenu.do?metod=temelist)
106 S. Cagatay et al.

Domestic agricultural prices may become significant incentives for farmers in

determining their production choices. Tables 5.5 and Appendix Table 5.26 provide
relative input-output prices for selected crops and livestock products respectively.
For crops, the relative prices of three inputs (fertilizers, pesticides and diesel) to six
outputs (wheat, barley, maize, soybeans, sunflower and tomatoes) are given in the
table for the period between 2000 and 2011, with price ratios indexed at 2000 = 1.
For crops, the increase in fertilizer and diesel prices would appear to be greater
than the increase in output prices, especially in the second half of the 2000s.
Furthermore, the rise in diesel prices is higher than that of fertilizer prices. The
increase in the price of pesticides is smaller than the rise in output prices, especially
after 2005 and in 2011 (Table 5.5). With regard to livestock, the relative prices of
two inputs (feed and barley) to three outputs (bovine meat, ovine meat and cow’s
milk) are considered (Appendix Table 5.26). The price rise in feed seems to be
higher than that of cattle meat, although it demonstrates a falling trend in the second
half of the 2000s. The rise in feed price is smaller than the rise in cow milk and
ovine meat prices. The price of barley is observed to increase more than bovine
meat and cow’s milk prices but less than ovine meat prices. Again during the mid-
2000s, there was a turning point in general trends. In most cases, the trends in
relative prices do not favor farmers. This might create a disincentive for production
due to rising production costs and hence a fall in exports and a rise in imports. On
the other hand, rising output prices can reduce the competitiveness of exports.

Table 5.5 Relative price index-crops (2000 = 1)

2000 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011
Fertilizer/wheat 1.00 1.17 0.81 0.97 1.04 1.31 1.23
Pesticides/wheat 1.00 1.23 1.53 1.57 1.56 1.23 0.96
Diesel/wheat 1.00 1.05 0.78 1.35 1.41 1.16 1.62
Fertilizer/barley 1.00 1.19 1.01 0.91 0.98 1.21 1.24
Pesticides/barley 1.00 1.25 1.92 1.47 1.47 1.14 0.96
Diesel/barley 1.00 1.07 0.97 1.27 1.33 1.07 1.63
Fertilizer/maize 1.00 1.19 0.96 0.94 0.97 1.21 1.28
Pesticides/maize 1.00 1.25 1.82 1.52 1.45 1.13 1.00
Diesel/maize 1.00 1.06 0.92 1.32 1.31 1.07 1.68
Fertilizer/soybeans 1.00 1.23 0.88 0.88 1.13 1.17 1.07
Pesticides/soybeans 1.00 1.30 1.67 1.43 1.70 1.09 0.83
Diesel/soybeans 1.00 1.10 0.85 1.23 1.53 1.03 1.40
Fertilizer/sunflower 1.00 1.04 0.89 1.00 1.02 1.25 1.04
Pesticides/sunflower 1.00 1.10 1.69 1.62 1.54 1.18 0.81
Diesel/sunflower 1.00 0.94 0.86 1.40 1.39 1.11 1.36
Fertilizer/tomatoes 1.00 1.26 0.98 1.35 1.25 1.56 1.19
Pesticides/tomatoes 1.00 1.33 1.87 2.18 1.88 1.46 0.93
Diesel/tomatoes 1.00 1.13 0.95 1.88 1.70 1.38 1.57
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/tarimsalfiyatapp/tarimsalfiyat.zul)
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 107

In this case, input subsidies may be introduced, a practice which is not easily
defended in WTO negotiations, as input subsidies are covered in “amber box”
policies.
Exchange rate fluctuation is one of the factors that might affect trade balance,
and which is related to developments in international markets as well. Movement of
the Turkish lira against the US dollar and the euro is shown in Appendix
Table 5.27. The Turkish lira has fallen in value against both the US dollar and the
euro, creating a favorable environment for Turkish agricultural exports; about 50 %
of Turkey’s agricultural exports are to the EU. However, for a more tangible
outcome, domestic prices should also be compared with international prices. In
Table 5.6, the ratio of domestic to world prices is provided for three crops and three
livestock products for the period between 1995 and 2010. In the table, the average
of 2000–2002 is set to 1. Among the products in the table, Turkey is a net importer
of bovine meat and rice, is self-sufficient with regard to cow’s milk and poultry,
while its net trade balance fluctuates for wheat and maize. It is observed that,
especially since 2002, domestic price rises are quite low compared to world price
rises. While lower domestic prices create a favorable environment to export, for
example, wheat and maize, especially with higher exchange rates, the latter obvi-
ously causes the cost of imports to rise. Moreover, lower domestic prices might
create a disincentive to produce.
Measurements showing the competitiveness of agricultural goods are also well-
known indicators to explain the trade balance. In Table 5.7, the revealed compar-
ative advantage of the major agricultural commodity groups is presented for every
five years since 1995. It is clear that fresh fruit and vegetables have the highest
comparative advantage throughout the period among all others and this is followed
by cereal products and tobacco. For all the other groups, Turkey is at a comparative
disadvantage on international markets. These findings are also supported by com-
parative export performance indicators (Appendix Table 5.28).
In brief while some improvements are observed in yield and human capital
formation in rural areas, the major problems observed concerning the agricultural
sector are the insufficient development in human and physical capital. Moreover,
the developments in domestic input-output prices in particular are unfavorable to
agricultural exports. The trend in exchange rates and world commodity prices

Table 5.6 Domestic over world price index (2000–2002 avg. = 1)

Wheat Maize Rice Cattle meat Poultry meat Cow milk
1995 0.74 0.61 0.75 0.93
2000 1.18 1.14 1.18 0.90 1.10 1.09
2002 1.00 0.96 1.12 0.99 1.21 1.07
2004 0.96 1.04 0.85 0.96 0.78 0.86
2006 0.77 0.89 0.57 0.66 0.57 0.75
2008 0.60 0.59 0.33 0.42 0.41 0.46
2010 0.65 0.71 0.43 0.54 0.53 0.55
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/tarimsalfiyatapp/tarimsalfiyat.zul)
 108

Table 5.7 Calculated revealed comparative advantage of agricultural sub-sectors

Animal and Beverages Cereals and Dairy Feedstuff Meat and Sugar, Tobacco and Fruit and
vegetable oils preparations products for preparations preparations, manufactures vegetables
and eggs animals honey
1995 1.40 0.20 6.40 0.20 0.10 0.10 0.30 3.60
2000 0.40 0.10 4.40 0.20 0.10 0.04 0.30 4.03 10.00
2005 0.80 0.10 5.40 0.30 0.04 0.10 1.40 2.70 13.00
2009 0.70 0.10 6.50 0.80 0.10 0.10 0.40 2.70 12.10
S. Cagatay et al.
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 109

creates an advantage for exports, although Turkey’s main comparative advantage

over the last 15 years now only exists for fresh fruit and vegetables and, to a lesser
extent, for cereals and tobacco.

5.2.2 Inequalities and Rural Poverty

One of the major problems regarding rural livelihoods in Turkey is the continued
existence of gender inequality and inequality which can be seen in regional
divergence and the rural-urban gap in certain indicators. We examine poverty,
income distribution and labor market statistics to diagnose the problem of
inequality.
Table 5.8 presents the regional distribution of poor people in Turkey since 1987.
Although the regional classification changes from 1994 to 2006, it still gives a clear
idea where the poor live. No significant changes are observed in the regional
distribution of poor people since 1987. Southeast Anatolia has the highest per-
centage (in 1987 together with East Anatolia) followed by the Mediterranean
region. In third place we see Central and Central East (CE) Anatolia. The Marmara
and Aegean regions (either as a group or divided into subgroups as in 2006 and
2011) have the smallest poor population. The statistics show that, unfortunately,
this distribution of poor people among regions has changed very little in the past
35 years.
Table 5.9 examines poor people in rural areas from another angle: by gender and
by education level. As expected, the number of poor people decreases as the
education level increases, while it also decreased from 2002 to 2008. The only
exception is for illiterate people, but this is to be expected. The same general trends

Table 5.8 Regional poverty

1987 1994 2006 2011
Marmara 3.9 6.5 Istanbul 4.3 3.8
Aegean 3.9 7.7 W Marmara 2.7 3.2
Mediterranean 19.7 17.4 Aegean 8.5 6.1
Central Anatolia 13.7 15.8 E Marmara 3.0 4.4
Blacksea 10.4 16.4 W Anatolia 4.9 5.1
E Anatolia 21.9 13.0 Mediterranean 16.6 12.2
SE Anatolia 21.9 30.5 Central Anatolia 3.6 5.1
W Black Sea 7.4 5.7
E Black Sea 2.2 2.6
NE Anatolia 6.4 6.1
CE Anatolia 10.6 13.4
SE Anatolia 29.9 32.3
Source Nüfus Etüdleri Enstitüsü (2006)
110 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.9 Poverty by gender and education in rural Turkey (%)

Years Gender Illiterate Primary Primary Secondary High Undergraduate
school school school and school and and graduate
(5 years) (8 years) equivalent equivalent degree
Rural
2002 Total 46.42 31.08 34.25 30.11 17.65 4.37
2008 Total 54.73 27.39 33.03 17.64 14.93 2.44
2002 Male 54.36 32.43 37.87 29.05 18.18 0.45
2008 Male 60.89 30.48 36.13 20.90 15.24 3.13
2002 Female 44.41 29.82 29.17 33.25 16.75 9.08
2008 Female 53.04 24.19 29.86 10.22 14.33 0.90
Source TUIK (2012a)

are observed for males and females considered separately. Appendix Table 5.29
presents labor market statistics by gender since the year 2000. There is a significant
difference between male and female labor participation rates and this difference
decreased only slightly over the last decade. With regard to the participation rates,
female employment is relatively low compared to males and the employment rate
decreased for both genders during the decade, mirroring the fall in labor partici-
pation. Non-agricultural unemployment increased for both genders over the decade
and is higher for the female labor force.
Another inequality indicator uses the GINI coefficient for income distribution in
urban and rural areas (Table 5.10). Raw data shows a global 0.025-point
improvement for Turkey as a whole since 1987. Rural and urban data are available
since 2006 and a 0.02-point increase is observed for both regions until 2011.
The main problem observed in terms of inequality is the regional distribution of
poor people. However, a promising finding is that an increase in rural education
helps to reduce the problem. Gender inequality in rural areas can be seen in the
lower female labor participation and lower female employment rates. Value added
created and income sources might shed some light on the problems of inequality
and poverty. Appendix Tables 5.30 and 5.11 present agricultural GNP and value
added figures respectively. As anticipated, the share of agriculture in GNP has
decreased from about 24 to 10 % over the past 30 years, demonstrating a fluctuating
growth rate during this period. The fall in agricultural value added is smaller (from
12 to 9 %) over the last decade while also demonstrating a fluctuating growth rate.

Table 5.10 GINI coefficient for income distribution

1987 1994 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Turkey 0.430 0.490 0.428 0.406 0.405 0.415 0.402 0.404
Urban 0.415 0.394 0.395 0.405 0.389 0.394
Rural 0.406 0.375 0.378 0.380 0.379 0.385
Source TUIK (2012b)
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 111

Table 5.11 Agricultural Growth rate (%) Share (%)

value added
2000 12.2
2005 7.2 10.6
2006 1.4 10
2010 2.4 9.5
2011 5.3 9.3

Table 5.12 Share in total Agriculture (%) Non-agriculture (%)

employment in rural Turkey
2000 70.2 29.8
2002 68.1 31.9
2004 70.1 29.9
2006 61.9 38.1
2009 62.6 37.4
Source TUIK (2012b)

The last decade also witnessed a rise of about 8 % in non-agricultural

employment opportunities in rural areas (Table 5.12). This is a promising devel-
opment which might help to increase both agricultural productivity and non-agri-
cultural income, especially when sectorial poverty rates are compared (Appendix
Table 5.31). Poverty is more common among individuals employed in the agri-
cultural sector. During the last decade, an increase in the share of poor people
working in agriculture was even experienced. The services sector has the lowest
share of poor people and it has been falling over the past decade. The share of the
poor population in industry has been more stable over the past decade.

5.2.3 Deteriorating Natural Resources

In Turkey, more than 70 % of water consumption is used for agricultural irrigation.

This is followed by household consumption (about 15 %) and industrial use
(Table 5.13). Interestingly, these consumption shares have not changed for many
years although the economic structure has changed and the population has grown.
According to per capita water consumption, which is 1642 m3/year, Turkey is
considered to be a water-scarce country.1
Water resources (potential) in Turkey in 2011 are presented in Table 5.14.
Surface water is the main source of usable potential, although almost half of the
source is not used for various reasons. Withdrawal potential is quite low compared
to surface potential. The main causes of water pollution in Turkey are

1
If this amount is lower than 1000 m3/year, the country is water-poor; if it is between 8000 and
10,000 m3/year, the country is water-rich.
112 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.13 Consumption of water

1990 1998 2000 2004 2008
Irrigation Million m3 22.016 29.200 31.500 29.600 34.000
% 72 5 75 74 74
Household Million m3 514 5.700 6.400 6.200 7.000
consumption % 17 15 15 151 151
Industry Million m3 3.443 4.000 4.100 4.300 5.000
% 11 10 10 11 11
Total Million m3 306.000 38.900 42.000 40.100 46.000
Source TKB (2001), DSİ

Table 5.14 Potential water Yearly average rainfall 643 mm/year

resources
Turkey land area 784 km2
Annual rainfall 501 Billion m3
Evaporation 274 Billion m3
Leakage 41 Billion m3
Surface water
Yearly surface flow 186 Billion m3
Usable surface water 98 Billion m3
Underground water
Yearly withdrawal 14 Billion m3
Total usable potential (net) 112 Billion m3
Consumption
State hydraulic works (irrigation) 32 Billion m3
Household consumption 7 Billion m3
Industrial consumption 5 Billion m3
Total consumption 44 Billion m3
Source TÇOB (2011)

industrialization, urbanization, population growth and agricultural chemicals. About

63 % of underground water sources are polluted. Interestingly, the agricultural
sector is the main water consumer, although this same sector is also one of the main
water polluters.
Table 5.32 presents wastewater treatment facilities in Turkey. Over the last
fifteen years there has been a significant increase in the number of treatment
facilities, although the growth in population connected to those treatment facilities
is smaller than the increase in physical capacity. The percentage of municipalities
that have a treatment facility was only about 15 % in 2010.
Another significant issue in rural Turkey is the deterioration of agricultural land.
Appendix Table 5.33 summarizes the severity of this problem according to the
factors that cause it while Table 5.15 explains it in terms of the erosion observed on
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 113

Table 5.15 Agricultural lands and erosion

Agricultural land (ha) Non-agricultural land (ha) Total (ha)
Without erosion 4,778,399 4,778,399
problem
Main erosion problem 11,416,396 5,009,563 16,425,959
Secondary erosion 2,749,471 1,004,487 3,753,958
problem

agricultural land. In Turkey, erosion is witnessed in about 87 % of the total area

with only about 1 % caused by wind. In about 36, 22 and 20 % of the total area
respectively, there is very heavy, heavy and medium erosion. Salinization due to
irrigation can be seen in about 3.5 of the total area, representing about 25 % of
agricultural land in south-eastern Anatolia. When agricultural land is considered,
erosion is the main problem in about 60 % of the total farming land and is the
secondary problem in a further 15 % (Table 5.15).
Various sources are noted as causes of soil pollution in Turkey. Table 5.16 ranks
sources of pollution by the number of provinces that the pollution is observed.
Household waste constitutes the main source and is observed in 35 provinces,
reaching about 50 % of total. This is followed by urbanization, in 14 provinces
(19 %) and by agricultural chemical use, in 13 provinces (8 %). In 26 provinces,
fertile agricultural land is also used for tourism purposes and/or the construction
industry due to the pressure of migrants/urbanization, a lack of strict environmental
regulations, a lack of zoning map/plans, etc.
Since the year 2000, forest area in Turkey has been measured at around 20.2
million ha, accounting for 25 % of total area. However, approximately 51.7 % of
this forest area consists of neglected and unmanaged forests which have very low-
yield trees, bushes and scrub. About 11 % of total forest area is depleted and, other
than as a result of legal regulations, the main sources of depletion are fires,
unsuccessful processing and agricultural practices (Table 5.17).
We may conclude that agricultural land, which is the main source of income in
rural areas, is under threat from soil erosion while the sector itself is one of main
factors behind both water/soil pollution and forest depletion.

Table 5.16 Sources of soil Number of provinces %

pollution
Industrial waste 10 13.7
Household waste 35 47.9
Urbanization 14 19.2
Overuse of fertilizer 9 12.3
Overuse of pesticides 4 5.5
Other 1 1.4
114 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.17 Sources of forest % Hectare

depletion in Turkey
Legal regulations 56 1,456,000
Fires 27.2 707,000
Unsuccessful and false processing 8.8 231,000
Agricultural purposes 7 182,000
Residential 1 26,000
Total 100 2,602,000
Source TKB (2001)

5.2.4 Worrisome Demographic Trends and Migrations

Rural-urban migration is another long-standing problem in Turkey. Table 5.18

provides information on regional net migration in the last decade. A value greater/
less than one represents net emigrant/immigrant regions. At the beginning of the
decade all the Anatolian regions, except Western Anatolia, and all Black Sea regions
were net emigrant regions with the Western Black Sea demonstrating the highest
ratio followed by South-eastern Anatolia, while the Istanbul and Aegean regions had
the highest immigrant ratios. At the end of the decade, all the Anatolian regions,
except Western Anatolia, and all Black Sea regions except the Eastern Black Sea
were net emigrant regions, North-eastern Anatolia showing the highest ratio fol-
lowed by South-eastern Anatolia while the Eastern Marmara and Western Anatolia
regions had the highest immigrant ratio. An interesting development during the
decade was that the gap between net emigrant and immigrant regions (in terms of the
ratio) closed slightly, which might be due to fewer people going to net immigrant
regions and fewer people leaving net emigrant regions. However, there was no
significant change among regions during the decade regarding net migration.

Table 5.18 Net migration: 2000 2009

emigrant/immigrant migration
Istanbul 0.558 0.898
W Marmara 0.718 0.868
Aegean 0.645 0.909
E Marmara 0.811 0.780
W Anatolia 0.806 0.847
Mediterranean 0.993 0.975
C Anatolia 1.463 1.185
W Blacksea 2.058 1.073
E Blacksea 1.501 0.984
NE Anatolia 1.780 1.522
CE Anatolia 1.642 1.387
SE Anatolia 1.988 1.449
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/adnksdagitapp/adnks.
zul?kod=4)
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 115

We try to identify some of the reasons underlying migration trends by examining

the findings of the field surveys conducted in rural Turkey every year since 2003.
We focus on satisfaction levels with regard to household income, relationships at
work, jobs and earnings by gender. Unfortunately, the data is not available by
region, but we believe it will still provide important information. Table 5.19 pre-
sents satisfaction levels concerning household income by gender. Two common
findings observed in the table are that more than 50 % of women are satisfied with
household income but about the same percentage of men are dissatisfied.
Furthermore, percentages in both groups increased throughout the decade.
Apparently only a minority of men and women are highly satisfied with the
household income levels and on average about 10 % of both are not satisfied at all,
though percentages are falling among both sexes. For both genders, the total of
satisfied and highly satisfied individuals barely reaches 40 %. However, if we sum
the percentages below a neutral opinion, the total is close to 50 %. The satisfaction
levels declared by households are probably dependent on the number of people in
the household and it should be noted that in rural areas, almost all women are
unpaid family workers and the majority of men are employed in agriculture.
Table 5.20 presents the findings regarding job satisfaction. Interestingly, a
majority of both men and women are satisfied with their jobs and the percentages
increased throughout the decade. Less than 10 % of both sexes are either highly
satisfied or not at all satisfied. This is an interesting finding because almost all
women and a majority of men are employed in agriculture and most of them are
unpaid family workers. We should note that the sample surveyed can create a bias
here as the respondents might be chosen in equal numbers from various economic
sectors.
Table 5.21 shows satisfaction levels regarding individual earnings by gender
since 2003. One notable observation is that the percentage of very satisfied people
of both sexes is less than 3 % and this does not change significantly over the
decade. About 30 % of men are not satisfied with their earnings and on average
about 12–13 % are not at all satisfied. There is an increase in the percentage of men
who are satisfied with their earnings, although the average for the decade is less
than the percentage of dissatisfied individuals. Another notable point is that per-
centages at all levels of satisfaction for women are very low. This must be due to
the fact that women predominantly work as unpaid family workers. There is also an
increase in the percentage of women who are satisfied with their earnings. In
Appendix Table 5.34, findings regarding satisfaction levels concerning relation-
ships at work by gender are provided; interestingly, the majority of respondents of
both sexes are satisfied with their relationship in the work environment.
A certain degree of caution should be exercised when interpreting these findings.
While the data presents regional migration, our findings with regard to various
satisfaction criteria represent the country as a whole. Bearing this in mind, we can
conclude that gender still creates a significant difference in terms of income and job
satisfaction. Migration cannot be explained solely by the characteristics of the
agricultural sector and the conditions of rural life might in fact be more important in
explaining the factors underlying migration. This is primarily due to the fact that in
 116

Table 5.19 Satisfaction with regard to household income (%)

Female Male
Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not
satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied
at all at all
2003 1.7 17.6 42.8 25.3 12.6 0.8 15.2 42.2 27.4 14.4
2004 1.6 29.0 25.6 33.9 10.0 1.6 25.4 22.6 36.3 14.1
2005 1.8 32.2 25.7 29.7 10.6 1.0 19.8 24.7 38.5 16.0
2006 2.1 31.8 28.3 27.7 10.1 1.2 24.6 22.6 36.8 14.8
2007 2.7 39.5 21.7 26.7 9.4 1.5 29.9 21.7 36.0 10.9
2008 1.3 32.7 23.8 30.1 12.1 0.8 25.9 22.1 37.6 13.6
2009 3.6 33.0 25.3 28.9 9.3 1.6 23.5 23.2 39.5 12.1
2010 2.5 37.8 24.4 27.6 7.8 1.8 32.0 23.2 35.4 7.7
2011 3.6 34.4 25.2 29.3 7.6 3.3 26.2 28.5 35.4 6.6
2012 2.1 33.8 27.5 28.1 8.4 1.0 30.1 24.2 37.5 7.1
Source TUIK (2012a)
S. Cagatay et al.
Table 5.20 Satisfaction with regard to jobs (%)
Female Male
Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not
satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied
at all at all
2003 4.1 35.1 34.6 18.5 7.7 7.2 31.6 36.1 16.5 8.6
2004 3.3 60.5 19.0 14.0 3.2 6.6 58.3 13.7 16.8 4.7
2005 2.6 64.9 16.1 12.3 4.2 7.3 53.4 13.9 20.7 4.6
2006 8.0 50.6 20.4 15.9 5.1 5.7 56.6 13.1 22.3 2.3
2007 8.1 64.1 15.3 9.6 2.9 7.5 60.6 11.3 17.1 3.6
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies …

2008 4.8 51.8 18.5 19.7 5.3 5.2 52.1 16.6 19.3 5.8
2009 7.6 56.0 18.3 12.6 5.5 6.7 48.7 17.4 18.0 9.3
2010 2.7 67.2 12.1 14.3 3.8 9.5 55.7 16.2 13.3 5.3
2011 6.1 58.3 17.5 14.6 3.5 7.6 56.0 15.2 18.5 2.6
2012 5.0 58.7 17.8 15.2 3.4 7.1 53.4 18.8 15.9 4.7
Source TUIK (2012a)
117
 118

Table 5.21 Satisfaction with regard to earnings (%)

Female Male
Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not
satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied
at all at all
2003 0.2 3.7 9.7 10.4 4.8 2.2 13.8 35.5 25.1 14.6
2004 0.9 7.2 9.0 16.4 2.5 1.4 22.7 23.2 31.0 12.0
2005 0.0 8.3 7.3 10.0 2.3 1.1 17.2 22.8 36.2 13.9
2006 0.4 9.4 15.0 12.2 1.9 0.5 26.6 21.1 36.2 9.0
2007 2.8 19.5 12.0 12.9 5.6 1.8 27.5 22.4 34.0 8.4
2008 1.3 8.4 12.4 11.5 4.2 2.9 26.5 17.4 33.9 12.0
2009 1.9 19.1 12.3 18.1 7.3 2.1 21.9 18.1 31.7 22.1
2010 1.6 9.0 9.5 10.0 3.4 3.4 29.8 20.6 25.5 9.1
2011 1.3 19.7 11.7 17.6 6.7 1.9 26.8 24.9 32.0 11.6
2012 0.6 18.8 14.0 14.2 8.7 1.0 30.1 22.7 28.0 14.0
Source TUIK (2012a)
S. Cagatay et al.
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 119

Turkey, rural-urban migration, and not regional migration, is the main issue. Rural-
urban migration therefore also occurs in regions where we observe positive net
migration (Eastern Marmara, Western Anatolia). Secondly, regions to which the
population primarily migrates demonstrate significant levels of agricultural pro-
duction and the same sector absorbs a large volume of unemployed and unpaid
family workers. Placing the entire burden on the agricultural sector would therefore
be misleading. Instead, it is important to look at the whole picture, which entails the
conditions surrounding rural livelihoods.

5.2.5 Public Health Concerns

In this section, some basic indicators regarding food supply, physical conditions
and public policy are given with a view to reviewing health concerns. Table 5.22
presents the prevalence of undernourishment over the past two decades.
Measurements show that less than 5 % of the total population is undernourished and
that this ratio has not changed since 1990. While this percentage accounted for
about 2.75 million people in 1990, it represented some 3.65 million in 2012, an
increase of about 32 % in the absolute number of undernourished individuals over
the last twenty years.
In Appendix Tables 5.35 and 5.36, we present per capita food supply by source
as well as per capita for fat and protein consumption. Food sources are grouped
under crops and livestock products. The data covers the last thirty years and the
main crops in terms of food sources are cereals, fruits, oil crops, pulses, starch roots,
vegetables and sugar-sweeteners while the main livestock products are eggs, fish,
meat and milk.
Over the past thirty years, cereals have remained the main source of food among
the crop products in Turkey (about 650 g/capita/day) followed by vegetables (about
600 g/capita/day) and fruit (about 300 g/capita/day). Their weights in food con-
sumption have not changed significantly over the last three decades. Daily con-
sumption of oil crops and pulses is less than 50 g while that of sugar-sweeteners
falls between 50 and 100 g. The calorie content of this consumption pattern
shows that cereals are the main calorie source in Turkey with an average con-
sumption of about 1800 kcal/capita/day. This is followed by sugar-sweeteners

Table 5.22 Prevalence of As % of Total population

undernourishment population (million)
1990–1992 <5 55.1
1999–2001 <5 63.6
2004–2006 <5 68.1
2007–2009 <5 70.9
2010–2012 <5 73.6
Source TSB (www.saglik.gov.tr)
120 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.23 Number of people per healthcare provider

Physician Dentist Nurse Officer Midwife Pharmacist
1980 1631 6279 1653 3810 2798 3685
1985 1381 6057 1630 4780 2797 4336
1990 1088 5243 1225 2558 1812 3490
1995 862 5100 930 1740 1511 3130
2000 754 4039 924 1238 1545 2930
2010 591 3406 636 735 1450 2754
2011 587 3505 592 667 1425 2835
Source TSB (www.saglik.gov.tr)

(about 290 kcal/capita/day) and fruit. The main protein sources are cereals (about
58 g/capita/day) and vegetables (about 7 g/capita/day) and their weights have not
changed significantly over the last 30 years. Cereals are also the main fat source
among all crops.
Milk and meat remain the main source of food among the livestock products in
Turkey (about 400 and 55 g/capita/day on average respectively). While per capita
consumption of milk has fallen over the past 3 decades, per capita meat con-
sumption has risen. The per capita supplies of eggs and fish are almost equal but
while consumption of the former has risen, consumption of the latter has fallen in
the period analyzed. In terms of daily calorie supply, milk (about 230 kcal/capita/
day) is the main source followed by meat, but the daily supply of eggs and fish is
less than 50 (kcal/capita/day). Milk and meat are also the main sources of protein
and fat among livestock products. Eggs and fish provide only a small proportion of
protein, and fat consumption follows. When compared with crops, livestock
products are observed to be less significant in food consumption patterns. With the
exception of milk, consumption of other livestock products is relatively low.
Table 5.23 presents the number of people per healthcare provider over the last
thirty years. For each indicator, an improvement has been observed since the 1980s,
although the resulting figures are still quite high. Health expenditure by the
Ministry of Health is presented in Appendix Table 5.37. The share of this expen-
diture in the consolidated budget and public investment has increased since 1985.
Unfortunately, neither of the tables in this section is available for rural regions
separately.

5.3 Policy Framework Related to Sustainable Development

in Turkey

This section provides a review of the policy framework governing rural develop-
ment and agri-environmental priorities. The main policy framework is based on the
harmonization of Turkey’s agricultural policies and institutional framework with
those of the EU. Integration of environmental concerns and good practices in land
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 121

Development Plans
-long-term plan -3-year medium-term program -annual program

Rural Development Agri-Environmental Programs and Plans

National Rural Various Laws and Regulations

Development Strategy -Law on Agriculture
(NRDS) -Law on Veterinary, Phytosanitary, Food and
Feed
-The Environmental Law
-Forest Law
-The Soil Protection and Land Use Law
Rural Development -The Law on National Mobilization for
Plans (2010-2013) and Afforestation and Erosion Control
Projects -The Law on Organic Agriculture

Agriculture and Rural

Development Support Agri-EnvironmentalPrograms
Institution (IPARD Agency)

Fig. 5.1 Development Policy Framework

management and rural development is expected to be an important part of Turkey’s

compliance. There are a number of policy documents that the Turkish government
implements to maintain sustainable agricultural production and environmental
protection by monitoring the situation of agriculture, food and sustainability within
the country. These policy documents are development plans, annual programs,
implementation laws and policies, etc. The EU’s recently allocated Instrument for
Pre-Accession Assistance on Rural Development (IPARD) sources and national
programs to support rural investments are two of the main tools facilitating
Turkey’s policy implementation. IPARD is intended to facilitate Turkey’s gradual
alignment with the credentials concerning the EU Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP). A sufficient number of foreign-financed regional rural development projects
are proof of the country’s efforts to maintain sustainable agricultural production and
implement environmental protection. A schematic overview of the rural develop-
ment and agri-environmental policy framework is provided in Fig. 5.1 and more
detailed information is provided in the following sections.

5.3.1 Long-Term Plans

The objectives of the environmental and agricultural policies set out in the
Development Plans and published as Parliamentary Decisions are to fulfill inter-
national obligations within the framework of the principle of sustainable develop-
ment and to raise levels of self-sufficiency, usually on food security grounds.
Turkey’s latest plan, namely the Ninth Development Plan (2007–2013),2 stated the

2
TKB (2006b).
122 S. Cagatay et al.

main principles regarding development and sustainability in light of various pillars

and these pillars constitute the long-term framework/perspective for policies/pro-
jects/programs with regard to sustainable development.
With regard to the pillar of “Increasing Competitiveness” and in the section “Protecting the
Environment and Improving the Urban Infrastructure”, it is stated that ‘conditions for
protection and utilization of natural resources will be determined by taking the needs of the
future generations into consideration and environmental management systems will be
established in order to ensure equitable utilization of natural resources by everyone’. Further,
it is intended that ‘fulfillment of international obligations will be realized in the framework of
the principle of sustainable development and the principle of common but differentiated
responsibility’ and ‘agricultural, environmental and technological policies will be assessed
in an integrated manner in order to minimize the risks related to bio-security’.

In the section “Improving Efficiency of the Agricultural Structure” it is stated

that ‘achieving food security and safety and sustainable use of natural resources will
be taken into account in creating an agricultural structure that is highly organized
and competitive’.
Additionally, in the section referred as “Ensuring Regional Development” it is said
that, ‘it will be ensured that the operation and management of irrigation infrastructure
is realized with participatory mechanisms, programs targeting producers will be
implemented for efficient and sustainable utilization of soil and water resources’ and
in addition ‘to reduce the relative unproductivity in the agricultural sector, which is
the most important economic activity of the rural area; priority should be given to
issues such as accelerating land consolidation activities, strengthening producer
organizations and making the education and dissemination activities effective’.

5.3.2 Medium-Term Programs

The three-year medium-term programs3 are policy documents falling between long-
term plans and annual programs.
In the “Protecting the Environment and Improving the Urban Infrastructure”
section, sustainable utilization of natural resources is stated to be ensured through
works for the protection, improvement and productive use of natural resources,
particularly to ensure biodiversity. It is also planned for the actions conducted
within the context of climate change mitigation to be carried out within the National
Climate Change Strategy framework.
In the “Improving Agricultural Structure” section of the latest Medium-Term
Program (2012–2014) the basic objective in the agricultural sector is defined as the
development of a well-organized and highly competitive structure by taking food
security and safety concerns into account along with the sustainable use of natural
resources. Additionally, other actions included in this document are the prioriti-
zation of methods and means for preserving and making effective use of land and

3
TKB (www.kalkinma.gov.tr).
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 123

water resources, the increased scale of agricultural holdings through land consoli-
dation efforts and required legal arrangements and the protection of exploitation of
forests in accordance with a sustainable management approach. Afforestation,
rehabilitation and urban forestry will also be improved while activities against
desertification and erosion will be accelerated.
In the section “Achieving Rural Development”, the policy priority is to design
financial support programs in rural areas and to ensure consistency and comple-
mentarity among agriculture and rural development programs.

5.3.3 Annual Programs4

The Annual Program is the annual implementation handbook of the Development

Plan and Medium-Term Program for the government. The objective for the envi-
ronmental sector in this document is defined as achieving a sufficient level of
environmental protection through the protection of human health, natural resources
and aesthetic values, as well as to make cities clean and safe places offering a high
quality of living in line with the principles of sustainable development. Moreover,
the related work for the realization of given objectives is summarized along with
expected future developments.
In the same document, the primary objective for the agricultural sector is defined
as ensuring food safety and security and establishing an organized and highly-
competitive structure while observing the sustainable use of natural resources. The
ongoing work and measures are summarized under the relevant headings related to
this sector.

5.3.4 Rural Development

5.3.4.1 National Rural Development Strategy (NRDS)

The NRDS was prepared within the context of Turkey’s economic and social
harmonization with EU standards with a view to membership. It was prepared in
accordance with the National Development Plans and with the intention of har-
monizing Turkish policy with the EU’s rural development policy and provides the
country’s first rural development strategy plan.
The main goal of the NRDS is to develop and ensure that the sustainability of the
rural community’s living and working conditions within their territory is compatible
with that in urban areas based on the use of local resources and protection of the
rural environment as well as the natural and cultural heritage. Through four

4
TKB (www.kalkinma.gov.tr).
124 S. Cagatay et al.

strategic objectives achieved by protecting and improving the rural environment, it

is expected to extend environmentally-friendly agricultural practices, protect forest
ecosystems, protect the sustainable use of forest resources and improve protected
areas. These strategic objectives and priorities comply with the EU’s rural devel-
opment objectives. For example, in addressing the needs of agriculture and the
wider needs of rural society in a sustainable way, the NRDS adopts a cross-cutting,
holistic approach to the development of rural areas. This approach also aims to
ensure coherence with the EU’s strategy for rural areas. Like the EU, the NRDS sets
priorities for the next programming period to improve the competitiveness of the
agriculture, forestry and food sectors. It is also aimed at improving environmental
conditions and the quality of life in rural areas as well as diversifying the rural
economy and strengthening local capacity building.
According to the findings in the NRDS, the strengths and weaknesses of Turkey
with regard to sustainability issues as a matter of rural development can be sum-
marized as follows:
Strengths
• Great extent of extensive rain-fed farming, with relatively low use of fertilizers
and chemicals
• Existence of necessary legislation for organic farming and increasing domestic
and foreign demand for organic products
• Low pollution of soils, surface water and underground water
• Rich biodiversity
• Great number of nature conservation areas (135 wetlands deemed internation-
ally important sites)
• Many local crop varieties and indigenous farm animal breeds
• Adoption and ratification of almost all international conventions on the envi-
ronment and biodiversity
• Action plans for combating soil degradation, erosion and drought, and pro-
tecting biodiversity.
Weaknesses
• Soil degradation due to different degrees of erosion
• Overuse of irrigation water
• Risk of water pollution in areas practicing intensive farming
• Forest degradation
• Loss of biodiversity through destruction of ecosystems, illegal hunting, fishing
and inappropriate farm management
• Inefficient protection of prime quality farming land, against land allocation
pressure of other sectors
• Fragmented and small farm structure
• Educational and vocational training deficiencies among farmers
• Weak administrative structure and coordination among institutions to manage
agri-environmental issues
• Inadequacy of data needed to analyze environmental situation in rural areas
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 125

5.3.4.2 Rural Development Plans (2010–2013) and Projects

Rural Development Plans (RDPs) are prepared on the basis of the NRDS which
lays out Turkey’s policies and strategies in the sphere of rural development for the
remainder of the Ninth Development Plan period. The actions and activities iden-
tified in the NRDS form the basis of the RDP.
The main intended contribution of the NRDS is to improve the working and
living conditions of the rural population by using the human and natural resource
potentials in a sustainable development approach. In the Ninth Development Plan,
rural development has been assessed in the regional development context and with a
multi-sectorial and horizontal structure. In rural areas, rural development—which
contains all the components of the EU rural development and thus foresees not only
agricultural production but also non-agricultural interventions—is a process of
coordination and organization. One of the main necessities of the RDP is thus to
ensure coordination between sectors. This process requires the joint planning and
implementation of investments and services aimed at improving the living condi-
tions of the rural population. The main framework of the goals and priorities are the
same as that of the NRDS. The RDP includes additional priorities relating to
improved irrigation infrastructure, agricultural land management, enhanced pro-
ducers’ organizations and the adoption of sustainable agriculture.
The objectives of rural development projects have generally been to raise income
and living standards through the diversification of economic activities in underde-
veloped areas. Rural development projects cover activities relating to the develop-
ment of agriculture and livestock production, irrigation, the rehabilitation of
wetlands, the construction of village and forest roads, drinking water ponds, drinking
water supply, increased agricultural and livestock production and reforestation.
Rural development projects are generally financed through foreign resources and
have been implemented since the 1970s. There are a number specific rural devel-
opment projects supported by IFAD implemented in one province or in a number of
provinces: Erzurum, Bingöl-Mus, Yozgat, Ordu-Giresun, Sivas-Erzincan and
Diyarbakir-Siirt-Batman. A number of regional or watershed-based projects also
incorporate rural development features and contribute to agricultural development.
For example, the South-eastern Anatolia Project (GAP) funded by the national
budget, the EU-funded Eastern Anatolia Development Program (EADP), the World
Bank-funded Anatolia Watershed Rehabilitation Project, the JICA-funded Coruh
River and IFAD-funded Murat River Basin Development projects. The first rural
development project was the “Çorum-Çankırı Rural Development Project”, sup-
ported by the World Bank and IFAD and initiated in 1972.5 The success of the rural
development projects may be limited due to financial and organizational problems.
Very few rural development project impact analyses have been accomplished due to
technical deficiencies.

5
Aksoy (2005).
126 S. Cagatay et al.

There are only very few recent rural development projects based entirely on the
same elements as the EU LEADER approach. The recently implemented IFAD-
funded rural development projects implemented in two combined provinces Ordu-
Giresun and Sivas-Erzincan are partly built on this approach.6 Although numerous
rural development projects have been implemented in the different regions of
Turkey, an objective analysis could succeed in identifying the impact of rural
development projects on sustainability and agricultural development.

5.3.4.3 Support for Rural Development

IPARD Program

Accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU were opened in 2005. The
EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance on Rural Development (IPARD) is
expected to facilitate Turkey’s gradual alignment with the acquis concerning the
EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Furthermore, the IPARD program
includes provisions for the implementation of pilot agri-environmental measures.
The programming of the second phase of IPARD will be finalized by the end of
2013.
In the IPARD Program, priority in the agricultural sector is given to dairy, meat,
fisheries and fruit and vegetables and the program is implemented in 42 provinces.
More specifically, the global policy aims of the IPARD program are to contribute to
the modernization of the agricultural and processing sectors by increasing efficiency
and competitiveness; compliance with EU acquis related to food safety, veterinary,
phytosanitary and environmental standards; capacity building and preparatory
actions for the implementation of agri-environmental measures and the LEADER
method; development and diversification of the rural economy; and an increase in
the quality of life and the attractiveness of the rural areas counteracting rural
emigration.
The Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (IPARD Agency)
was established for the implementation of the Program, receiving conferral of
management from the European Commission to start implementing the IPARD
Program with an ongoing process of the Commission launched in 2011. The
IPARD funds (EUR 874 million or 18 % of total EU IPA financial aid) are to be
implemented through a single, multi-annual “Rural Development Program” cov-
ering the period 2007–2013. Including Turkey’s contribution of EUR 291 million,
the total budget is EUR 1.165 million. It is planned for 25 % of the project budget
to be financed by beneficiaries, 25 % by the Turkish government and 50 % by the
EU. The delay in the receipt of conferral is expected to lead to a contraction in the
absorption capacity, thus a reduced use of funds.

6
TKB (2006a).
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 127

Support for Rural Development Investments

The basis of this support program was formed by a World Bank project, namely the
Village-Based Participatory Investment Program (VBPIP) as a part of the ongoing
Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP) of 2001. The VBPIP was
launched in 2005 and completed by the end of 2008. The VBPIP supported
investments in agricultural production and economic activity through investments
in: (a) the processing of raw materials by the agro-processing firms that increased
capacity and/or improved technology; (b) support for new firms entering the
market, (c) greenhouses; (d) the provision of cold storage facilities; (e) the reha-
bilitation of existing irrigation schemes; and (f) small-scale modern irrigation
systems. The VBPIP can be considered a pilot program implemented in 16 prov-
inces that were selected at the beginning of the project and it served as a specific
example of Turkey complying with the EU pre-accession programs. In three years
of operations, the VBPIP disbursed over TL 50.5 million (USD 38 million).
Complementary to the VBPIP, the Support for Rural Development Investments
project was launched in 2006 in 65 provinces and later expanded to 81 following
the conclusion of the VBPIP. The program aims to support nation-wide activities in
small-scale agricultural processing, marketing and other off-farm businesses as well
as the rehabilitation of the public irrigation infrastructure. A machinery equipment
component, supporting the modernization needs of farm-level holdings, was
incorporated into this program in 2007. Projects relating to maize-drying and
storage; the collection, cooling and processing of milk; the storage, processing and
packing of fruit and vegetables; and the processing and packing of a number of
other crop products, were programmed to provide support. Furthermore, the pro-
gram provided support for the purchase of new agricultural machines, pressurized
irrigation systems and new cold storage transportation vehicles. Individual farmers
and other private individuals engaged in small rural businesses are eligible to
participate in this program together with groups of farmers, co-operatives, and other
farmers’ organizations. Grants of 50 % and 75 % have been established for private-
sector investment proposals and for investments by farmers’ unions and irrigation
unions respectively.7, 8 Support for rural development investments increased from
TL 80 million in 2007 to TL 309 million in 2012 (Annual Program 2013).
In rural development projects, a higher volume of support is allocated to pro-
cessing and packaging agricultural products, cold storage and water-saving irriga-
tion investments. More equipment used in planting and harvesting benefits from
this support and the production and marketing capacity of agricultural producers
increased over the period 2007–2012.

7
TGTHB (2011).
8
OECD (2011).
128 S. Cagatay et al.

KÖYDES

In 2005, a village support program (Turkish abbreviation: KÖYDES) was launched

to cover the infrastructural needs of villages in Turkey. By including small-scale
irrigation systems in 2010 and wastewater treatment systems in 2011, KÖYDES
has become an integrated rural infrastructure program. A budget of about TL 8.5
billion was allocated to the program over the period 2005–2013. The main
achievements of this program are the rehabilitation/construction of village roads
and the construction of a drinking water infrastructure in the villages rather than
improving agricultural infrastructure.

5.3.5 Agri-environmental Plans and Programs

Economy-wide environmental policies also affect agriculture. The National

Environmental Action Plan, which came into force in 1998, provides for national
and regional plans to generate information to combat land desertification and reduce
discharges of nutrients while stipulating a number of regulations designed to control
water and soil pollution and protect biodiversity.
A Nitrate Directive was adopted in February 2004 as part of the action to
harmonize national policy with EU policies, but there is still a need to specify the
responsibilities of the organizations defined under the Directive. The Regulation on
Water Pollution Control (1988) defines water quality criteria according to the
purpose for which the water is intended, including treated wastewater used for
irrigation. There are also several initiatives underway to implement various EU
Environmental Directives, such as the Habitats and Birds Directive and the Water
Directive. In the context of adopting and implementing the EU Water Directive, the
Regulation on the protection of water from nitrate pollution caused by agricultural
resources was introduced in 2004.
With regard to agri-environmental issues, the absence of a widespread system of
soil conservation practices has failed to improve soil quality, with over-grazing and
the ploughing of grassland being important sources of the soil erosion.9

5.3.5.1 Various Laws and Regulations

Law on Agriculture

Law no. 5488 on agriculture compiles the agricultural targets and support policies
implemented to achieve them. The Law describes the priorities as increasing

9
OECD (2011).
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 129

agricultural production in accordance with total demand, conserving and develop-

ing natural and biological resources, increasing efficiency in agricultural supports,
improving food security and safety conditions, improving producer organizations,
strengthening agricultural markets and ensuring rural development. Agricultural
support tools are used to sustain agricultural production as well as environmentally-
based agricultural land use.

Veterinary, Phytosanitary, Food and Feed Law

Law no. 5996 of 2010 aims to ensure that Turkish food safety legislation complies
with that of the EU. In this context, the secondary legal provisions on the use of
pesticides and other environmentally-harmful materials called on during agricul-
tural production are put into force according to the relevant provisions of the Law.

The Environmental Law

The Environmental Law no. 2872 of 1983 aims to protect the environment, the
common asset of all living things, in accordance with the principles of sustainable
environment and sustainable development while also determining and providing for
the basic principles related to protecting and improving the environment and pre-
venting its pollution. Law 5491 of 2006 amending the Environmental Law states
the importance of protecting biological diversity and introduces penal sanctions
against damage to the environment, including the destruction of biological diver-
sity, when detected through inspections and audits.

The Forest Law

The Forest Law no. 6831 states the principles concerning forest management such
as the planning, operation and conservation of forests. Protection of forests, gene
protection of forests and seed sources are also designated under this Law.

The Soil Protection and Land Use Law

The Soil Protection and Land Use Law no. 5403 of 2005 establishes the procedures
and principles ensuring the conservation and development of soil by preventing its
loss and degradation through natural or artificial processes and the planned use of
land in accordance with the principle of sustainable development, prioritizing the
environment.
130 S. Cagatay et al.

The Law on National Mobilization for Afforestation and Erosion Control

Law no. 4122 of 1995 and the Regulation on Afforestation specify the principles
and procedures concerning the afforestation and erosion control activities to be
undertaken by governmental agencies and natural and legal persons in order to
enhance the forest area and forest wealth, to restore and improve the balance
between soil, water and plants, and to protect environmental values. The Regulation
specifically determines the principles concerning the activities of afforestation,
erosion control, pasture improvement, tree improvement, seed production, nursery
and energy-forest establishment, development and restoration to be undertaken in
accordance with the provisions of Forest Law 6381.10

Other

According to the report prepared in Turkey for the Rio+20 Conference in 2012,
namely Claim Our Future, increasing productivity and quality in the agricultural
sector is specified to support Turkey’s development process and green growth
approach. Agriculture depends on biological diversity and natural resources, pri-
marily water and soil. While agricultural activities create pressure on natural
resources, the degradation of these resources exercises a negative effect on agri-
cultural activities. Consequently, Turkey’s priority in the agricultural sector is to
arrange this inter-linkage to serve rural development within the framework of green
growth.
Forest villages have to be considered in the same structure, contributing to
sustainability with the activities accomplished by the villagers.
In the aforementioned report, Turkey’s aim is defined as creating a sustainable
and highly-competitive agricultural sector while protecting biological diversity,
water, land and forests. It is intended to protect and register gene resources; protect
“carbon capture” areas such as pastures, forests and agricultural lands with a view
to combating climate change; raise producer and consumer awareness in terms of
food safety; prevent land fragmentation for the effective and efficient use of agri-
cultural fields and conduct land consolidation; enable efficient use of water
resources with effective irrigation methods; accelerate flood prevention and combat
erosion in order to protect agricultural lands; create a balanced use of resources in
all agricultural sub-activities (fishing, forestry, livestock breeding, plant production,
etc.); and finally provide agricultural and rural development support with a view to
protecting the environment. Moreover, additional targets include the improvement
of training and extension services for raising the consciousness of the producers; the
extension of good agricultural practices and organic production; the implementation
of the effective use of resources through support and investment policies; the
modernization and rehabilitation of irrigation systems; etc.

10
TÇOB (2008).
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 131

5.3.5.2 Agri-environmental Programs

Agri-environmental programs in Turkey are somewhat limited. The

Environmentally-Based Agricultural Land Protection Program (CATAK) is the first
program to specifically address the negative impacts of agricultural practices on the
environment. The CATAK Program displays certain similarities with EU agri-
environmental measures in rural development programs. The objectives of the
Program were to protect the quality of soil and water resources in agricultural lands,
to ensure the sustainability of renewable natural resources and to curb the adverse
effects of intensive agricultural activities. This activity was implemented in 27 of
the 81 provinces. The payments per decare of farm land vary according to the type
of activity. The CATAK Program was expanded in Turkey and the funds provided
under this program increased from TL 3 to 34 million between 2007 and 2012
(Annual Program 2013).
Furthermore, Turkey started adapting Good Agricultural Production (GAP)
standards relating to major Turkish export products, such as greenhouse vegetables.
Moreover, GlobalGAP (formerly used as EurepGAP) was adapted to Turkish
legislation and published as the ‘Regulation on Good Agricultural Practices’ in
2004 while this regulation was revised by another regulation with the same name at
the end of 2010.
After the first GAP certification was awarded in 2007, a total area of 5360 ha and
651 farmers were producing under the certificate in 18 different provinces. In 2010,
this figure rose to approximately 78,000 ha and 4540 farmers in 48 provinces and
for the first time, farm production using GAP standards was supported by the
government in Turkey. Support was granted per hectare of production. In 2012, the
implementation area was 83,700 ha divided into 3676 units. Major retailers in
Turkey started to contract with farmers using GAP standards and purchase fruit and
vegetables from them. The decisions taken by retailers also helped to increase the
number of farmers using GAP standards.
As another policy implementation, organic production was launched when the
Law on Organic Farming was enacted in 2004 followed by the By-law on
Principals and Application of Organic Farming in 2005 to regulate organic agri-
culture in a similar way to the EU. MFAL is responsible for overseeing the culti-
vation of organic crops. By the beginning of 2011, 17 firms were authorized by
MFAL to issue organic certificates. Until 2006, no support payments were provided
for organic farming. Although it may not create a sufficient source, the “Farmer
Transition Program” provides financial incentives to encourage farmers to divert
from over-produced commodities to alternative commodities while offering the
opportunity to introduce environmentally-neutral management practices. Despite
the strong increase in organic farming since 1997, its share in total agricultural land
area remained low at less than 1.0 % until 2008, subsequently rising to 1.5 %. The
major organic products farmed are wheat, hazelnuts, raisins, figs, cotton, apricots,
chickpeas, lentils and olives. Organic livestock production is very limited and
132 S. Cagatay et al.

regional.11 Organic production has been supported since 2011 by an area-based

payment in order to stimulate the interest of farmers and entrepreneurs alike.
Furthermore, agricultural enterprises and farmers are entitled to benefit from interest
concessions on loans offered for applying good agriculture practices, organic
farming and the production of organic inputs. Recent data shows that area of
organic production grew by five times in relation to the figures in the mid-2000s.
As water is a constraint and an important input in agriculture, the efficient use of
this resource is of utmost concern in Turkey. To save water in agricultural activities,
new investments in pressurized irrigation systems (drip and sprinkler irrigation)
have been supported through credit concessions offered by TCZB since mid-2007.
Farmers have once again had the chance to use Agricultural Credit Cooperative
(ACC) credits since the beginning of 2009 with a 100 % subsidy rate on the credit.
For other irrigation credits, the subsidy rate was 60 % and on January 1, 2011, the
subsidy rate for other irrigation credits was also increased from 60 to 100 %.

5.4 Conclusion

In Turkey, rural development has long been considered as part of the regional
development context, hence national development plans during the planned period
(after 1963) stipulated the main targets regarding rural livelihood and determined
the policy instruments. It was only after the year 2000 that both rural and sus-
tainable development concepts were introduced into policy frameworks as separate
matters. Various approaches could be used to conduct an impact analysis regarding
the effects of the policy framework on the sustainability of the agricultural sector. In
other words, to evaluate how the policy framework—summarized in the third
section of this chapter—affected the diagnosed problems mentioned in the second
section, more than one approach could be used. One approach might be to conduct
a quantitative analysis in those cases where we have enough data and specific
policy changes. This is not the aim here. Another option is a qualitative approach
monitoring policy changes and examining their impacts on the relevant indicators
while evaluating the policy programs from various angles such as participating
actors, macroeconomic policies and constraints, the implementation area, the
contribution to regional development, institutional requirements, the legal point of
view, the contribution to social development, the contribution to agricultural
development and financial feasibility, etc.12 Unfortunately, this would not be the
case here as this sort of analysis would require too much space. Instead, we will
highlight some of the main challenges facing Turkey as it shifts its strategies
towards achieving sustainable agriculture and rural development. Even if this
approach were to be followed, it would not be straightforward for two reasons. First

11
OECD (2011).
Çelik (2005).
12
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 133

of all, as mentioned earlier, rural and sustainable development concepts have only
come to the forefront in the last decade. Hence, not enough time has passed to
derive any healthy and conclusive outcomes. Secondly, before the early 2000s,
rural development was just a part of the national development plans but the details
of these plans were not summarized in this chapter. We could therefore only derive
certain general lessons and conclusions from the above data and policy
presentations.
Recalling the problems diagnosed in the second section very little improvement
has been observed regarding the qualifications of human capital and there was even
a slight deterioration in physical capital investment in agriculture. Apparently,
physical and human capital are related, with most of the indicators concerned by
rural development such as agricultural productivity, exports, wages, poverty and
migration, etc. Relative prices have not been favorable to farmers for many years,
thereby increasing the pressure on farmers’ production decisions. In spite of the
favorable trend observed in exchange rates, Turkey’s main agricultural exports have
not changed for many years and Turkey has even become a net importer of some
products for which it used to be a net exporter. Nevertheless, there is a lack of off-
farm job opportunities and agriculture is used to absorb unemployment, in partic-
ular female family workers. The distribution of poor people between the regions has
changed very little over the last 35 years and agriculture as an economic sector
remains the main source of poverty in rural areas. Domestic migration, in particular
from rural to urban areas, still exists in every region. Very little progress has been
made in terms of protecting water resources, land and forests.
The planned-economy period observed in Turkey after 1963 yielded only
moderate improvements and only with regard to certain aspects of rural develop-
ment. Many reasons could be cited for this moderate progress, but one promising
outcome was that Turkey realized the need to deal with the “rural economy” and the
“sustainability of the agricultural sector” as separate matters. It is obvious that the
recent policy framework (including all relevant plans, programs and instruments
explained in section three) introduced in the early and mid-2000s placed the
“sustainability of the agricultural sector” at the very forefront of concerns. Specific
policy instruments and laws were introduced to tackle all the issues mentioned
above. Unfortunately, there would appear to be an overlapping of responsibilities,
mandates and authorizations between the different plans and programs, resulting in
very a cumbersome procedure. Furthermore, a legal framework was developed and
adopted but the institutional framework/transformation remained incomplete,
resulting in a lack of inspection/supervision/monitoring and evaluation.
Nevertheless, very little time has passed to be able to identify specific conclusions,
develop policy advice and determine future policy priorities from these recent
policy packages.
From the analysis above, it may be argued that Turkish agricultural and rural
problems are not unique, and rural problems mostly find their roots in the agri-
cultural sector. Rural development must therefore be an integral component of an
agricultural policy that places a strong emphasis on natural resources. A compre-
hensive policy setting with a more weighted and strategic use of better-tailored rural
134 S. Cagatay et al.

development policies that seeks to achieve a delicate balance between liberalization

and social policies may better serve Turkey in coping with problems such as
unemployment, migration, economic inequality, an uneducated labor force, etc.
Any agricultural reform process should be carefully designed and gradually
implemented, as an abrupt decline in the agricultural labor force may lead to serious
problems rather than speed up development efforts. Such a reform should be
combined with the facilitation of increased investment in human capital and an
entrepreneurial infrastructure in rural areas may generate off-farm employment and
improve agricultural competitiveness.
However, in the case of Turkey, a number of dilemmas exist at the crossroads
between agricultural policies and rural development. The agricultural incomes of
most small-scale producers (the majority of farms) are quite low and fail to provide
an acceptable standard of living. Furthermore, even if they produce more, very few
have access to national or regional markets. These producers therefore either have
to find off-farm employment opportunities in the rural areas or they have to migrate.
Neither of these options solves the problem for two reasons. First, in rural areas of
Turkey, there is a lack of off-farm job opportunities and this forces qualified people
to migrate, thereby lowering the quality of the local labor force; this in return works
as a disincentive to investment in the area. Second, the low level of education of
most of the rural population makes it difficult for them to find off-farm job
opportunities, making migration a problem. Consequently, this may increase the
poverty rate which has a negative impact on the possibility of obtaining a high-
quality education. We need to draw attention to the fact that the shrinking agri-
cultural sector—due to technological reforms—may generate more unemployment
due to the inflexibility of the agricultural labor force mentioned above.
In countries like Turkey, another dilemma is implicit in subsistence produc-
tion.13 Subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture with low productivity levels
may create an advantage in eliminating the malnutrition threat due to local safety
nets. The opportunity to absorb unemployment and the safety-net function of the
agricultural sector helps reduce the social costs of any economic crises. Therefore,
policies that strongly promote commercialization by encouraging structural change
might undermine the safety net. However, the flip side of the coin is that local/rural
safety nets hide rural poverty behind survival strategies.
To ensure the success of the rural development plans and/or programs, the policy
design must be determined at the micro level. Local involvement in the preparation
and implementation period is seen as the major issue. In Turkey, as in the EU’s
LEADER program, it will be necessary to support the pilot applications by making
the necessary arrangements to increase producer participation and producer orga-
nizations for an integrated rural development. Local society, local government and
NGOs must therefore be active to ensure good governance.

13
Köse (2012).
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 135

The new regional development approach in Turkey has been developed by

newly established regional development agencies. The agencies have a remit to deal
with rural development and are responsible for the monitoring and coordination of
regional and rural development efforts. The overall impact assessment of rural
development efforts might be determined by these entities and new regional policies
would be put into effect to accelerate rural and regional improvements. Monitoring
and evaluating agencies would help central administrations to change their local
and rural policies and priorities. It is therefore crucial to facilitate coordination and
cooperation between the different agencies in different regional structures.
Finally, other specific suggestions could be made. The new investment incen-
tives program might promote the creation of off-farm employment opportunities in
accordance with the potentials of the provinces and economies of scale. In Turkey,
forest villages also play an important role in maintaining sustainability. However,
their contribution to rural economies remains unknown. The forestation, rehabili-
tation and production activities within the forests must be considered in order to
increase rural development efforts while specific programs should be implemented.
Turkey has a huge potential in terms of “locally characterized agricultural products
and foodstuffs”. “Geographical indications” guaranteeing origin and traditional
know-how might be used as instruments to create extra value added and to promote
local/rural development, which would also create its own service industry. The bio-
economy can be perceived as an economy based on sustainable production and the
conversion of biomass can be used as a major resource in a wide variety of
industries. The locality of biomass production and low sustainability of its trans-
portation over long distances leads to potential in rural areas through new enter-
prises.14 The potential and opportunities of a bio-economy in rural areas must be
discussed and seriously considered in an innovative manner to further serve sus-
tainability in the country.

Acknowledgments We are grateful to Prof. Michel Petit (CIHEAM-IAMM) for his huge effort
and support in organizing and substantiating this book.

Appendix

See Tables 5.24, 5.25, 5.26, 5.27, 5.28, 5.29, 5.30, 5.31, 5.32, 5.33, 5.34, 5.35,
5.36, and 5.37

14
Gustafsson et al. (2011).
136 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.24 Share of agricultural exports

%
1997 9.0
2000 6.0
2003 4.5
2006 4.1
2009 4.3
2010 4.3
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/disticaretapp/menu.zul)

Table 5.25 Share of graduates by gender in rural areas (6 + age) (%)

Illiterate Primary and Secondary and University and
equivalent higher and higher and
equivalent equivalent
2008 Male 21 52 69 69
Female 79 48 31 31
2009 Male 21 52 69 67
Female 79 48 31 33
2010 Male 20 51 68 67
Female 80 49 32 33
2011 Male 19 50 68 66
Female 81 50 32 34
2012 Male 19 50 68 65
Female 81 50 32 35
Source TUIK (http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreTablo.do?alt_id=1018)

Table 5.26 Relative price index—livestock products (2000 = 100)

2000 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011
Feed/cattle meat 1.00 1.15 0.99 1.02 1.17 1.07 1.06
Feed/sheep meat 1.00 1.19 0.87 0.92 1.10 0.73 0.71
Feed/cow milk 1.00 1.14 0.85 0.81 0.92 0.85 0.99
Barley/cattle meat 1.00 1.17 1.05 1.27 1.39 1.42 1.22
Barley/sheep meat 1.00 1.21 0.92 1.15 1.30 0.98 0.82
Barley/cow milk 1.00 1.16 0.90 1.01 1.09 1.13 1.14
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/tarimsalfiyatapp/tarimsalfiyat.zul)
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 137

Table 5.27 Exchange rates—average*

US$ EURO
1990 0.003
1993 0.011
1996 0.081
1999 0.420 0.446
2002 1.506 1.430
2005 1.341 1.670
2008 1.293 1.896
2010 1.500 1.989
*An increase in the rate signifies depreciation

Table 5.28 Calculated comparative export performance of agricultural sub-sectors

Animal Beverages Cereals Dairy Feedstuff Meat Sugar, Tobacco Fruit
and and products for and preparations, and and
vegetable preparations and eggs animals preparations honey manufactures vegetables
oils
2000 1.30 0.50 2.10 0.10 0.30 0.10 3.30 1.50 7.70
2005 1.90 0.80 2.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 1.40 0.70 6.40
2009 1.50 0.60 1.90 0.50 0.30 0.40 1.80 0.60 4.50

Table 5.29 Labor market statistics for people aged 15–24—rural Turkey
Labor Unemployment Non-agricultural Employment
participation unemployment
2000 Female 39.10 3.80 16.10 37.60
2002 Female 40.00 6.20 27.10 37.50
2004 Female 33.90 7.40 31.90 31.40
2006 Female 28.60 9.90 31.00 25.80
2009 Female 29.00 12.10 36.40 25.50
2000 Male 67.90 11.20 22.80 60.29
2002 Male 60.40 15.40 28.60 51.08
2004 Male 58.40 14.80 29.90 49.70
2006 Male 54.90 16.00 24.30 46.10
2009 Male 56.50 22.60 33.60 43.70
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/isgucuapp/isgucu.zul)

Table 5.30 Agricultural Share (%) Growth rate (%)

GNP
1980 24.2 1.3
1985 19.4 −0.3
1990 16.3 7.0
1995 14.4 1.3
2000 13.1 3.8
2005 11.4 5.7
2009 10.1
138 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.31 Poverty rate for people who are employed and aged 15 or over
Agriculture industry (%) Industry Services (%)
2002 36.77 25.87 34.16
2003 40.91 28.02 18.95
2004 42.32 27.69 18.01
2005 38.80 14.44 13.76
2006 34.89 21.71 13.54
2007 33.81 22.25 17.68
2008 40.09 23.39 14.00
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/yasamapp/yasam.zul)

Table 5.32 Wastewater treatment facilities

1994 1998 2002 2006 2008 2010
Number of municipalities that have 71 115 248 362 442 470
wastewater treatment facilities
Rate of population connected to 13 22 35 51 56 66
wastewater treatment

Table 5.33 Degree of soil Area (ha) Share in total

erosion (%)
Irrigated and salinized 2,783,781 3.58
base
Base area 2,382,846 3.06
Light erosion 5,611,892 7.22
Medium erosion 15,592,750 20.04
Heavy erosion 28,334,933 36.42
Very heavy erosion 17,366,463 22.33
Rocky surface 2,930,933 3.77
Light wind erosion 165,664 0.21
Medium wind erosion 231,041 0.30
Heavy wind erosion 64,385 0.08
Very heavy wind erosion 7,304 0.01
Sandy shore 37,915 0.05
Total area 77,797,127
Table 5.34 Satisfaction with regard to relationships at work (%)
Female Male
Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not Very Satisfied Neither satisfied Not Not
satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied satisfied
at all at all
2003 6.0 59.4 25.6 6.5 2.5 7.3 50.9 30.4 7.4 3.9
2004 6.6 75.0 12.9 4.8 0.8 7.8 75.8 14.0 2.1 0.3
2005 4.9 81.2 10.5 3.0 0.5 9.0 76.2 10.8 3.7 0.3
2006 7.8 67.7 19.1 4.9 0.6 7.1 78.4 11.2 2.9 0.5
2007 11.1 79.4 7.3 1.5 0.7 7.7 81.4 8.4 2.0 0.5
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies …

2008 9.1 75.8 11.8 3.0 0.2 7.9 79.6 11.0 1.5 0.0
2009 10.5 75.5 10.4 3.0 0.6 7.5 75.5 14.3 2.6 0.1
2010 8.0 80.5 8.3 1.5 1.7 10.2 77.1 9.8 2.7 0.1
2011 7.4 78.7 11.1 1.4 1.4 6.7 76.5 12.1 3.7 1.1
2012 5.8 75.2 15.0 3.5 0.5 7.6 77.8 11.2 2.6 0.7
Source TUIK (http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/yasamapp/yasam.zul)
139
140 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.35 Food supply—crops

Fat supply quantity (g/capita/day) Pulses Starchy roots Vegetables
Cereals Fruits Oilcrops
1980 6.9 0.8 5.2 0.5 0.1 1.2
1985 7.4 0.7 3.2 0.6 0.2 1.3
1990 7.4 0.7 5.6 1.1 0.2 1.3
1995 7.1 0.7 3.5 1.2 0.2 1.5
2000 6.8 0.7 6.4 1.0 0.2 1.6
2005 6.6 0.7 5.9 1.0 0.1 1.6
2009 6.7 0.8 6.6 0.9 0.1 1.5
Protein supply quantity Pulses Starchy roots Vegetables
(g/capita/day)
Cereals Fruits Oilcrops
1980 56.1 2.0 0.7 4.4 2.5 5.6
1985 60.4 1.8 0.7 5.9 3.2 6.0
1990 60.0 1.7 0.9 8.4 3.1 6.3
1995 57.7 1.6 0.8 8.4 3.0 7.2
2000 55.2 1.7 1.0 7.6 3.1 7.3
2005 53.0 1.8 1.5 7.7 2.2 7.2
2009 54.3 1.9 2.8 6.1 2.3 6.8
Food supply (kcal/capita/day) Pulses Starchy roots Vegetables
Cereals Fruits Oilcrops
1980 1770 191 54 74 103 121
1985 1917 168 35 100 132 130
1990 1926 160 59 144 128 134
1995 1842 146 38 145 124 158
2000 1768 148 68 131 131 153
2005 1717 154 65 133 94 151
2009 1748 161 82 106 97 141
Food supply quantity Pulses Starchy roots Vegetables
(g/capita/day)
Cereals Fruits Oilcrops
1980 636 370 20 22 146 521
1985 689 333 11 29 187 569
1990 692 323 21 42 181 583
1995 662 306 13 42 176 661
2000 634 318 24 38 185 685
2005 613 330 23 39 133 678
2009 626 351 45 31 138 639
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 141

Table 5.36 Food supply—livestock

Fat supply quantity (g/capita/day) Milk
Eggs Fish Meat
1980 1.1 0.6 5.6 15.1
1985 1.2 0.8 6.6 13.9
1990 1.7 0.5 6.7 12.4
1995 2.3 0.8 6.5 12.6
2000 3.2 0.6 6.6 10.7
2005 2.7 0.5 6.3 11.5
2009 2.6 0.6 6.7 12.1
Food supply (kcal/capita/day) Milk
Eggs Fish Meat
1985 17.0 19.0 92.0 256.0
1990 25.0 12.0 96.0 230.0
1995 33.0 21.0 91.0 233.0
2000 46.0 16.0 94.0 199.0
2005 39.0 14.0 92.0 213.0
2009 37.0 16.0 99.0 227.0
Food supply quantity (g/capita/day) Milk
Eggs Fish Meat
1985 12.0 24.0 55.0 441.0
1990 17.0 17.0 59.0 396.0
1995 23.0 28.0 57.0 401.0
2000 32.0 22.0 60.0 344.0
2005 27.0 20.0 62.0 366.0
2009 26.0 23.0 69.0 392.0
Protein supply quantity (g/capita/day) Milk
Eggs Fish Meat
1985 1.4 2.9 7.7 15.4
1990 2.0 1.9 8.1 13.8
1995 2.6 3.2 7.7 13.9
2000 3.6 2.4 8.1 11.9
2005 3.1 2.2 8.2 12.6
2009 3.0 2.4 9.1 13.4
142 S. Cagatay et al.

Table 5.37 Health % share in % share in total public

expenditure incurred by the consolidated budget investment
Ministry of Health
1985 2.8 0.6
1990 4.7 3.3
1995 3.3 2.7
2000 2.4 2.2
2005 4.6 3.6
2010 5.4 3.3
Source TSB (www.saglik.gov.tr), TKB (www.kalkinma.gov.tr)

References

Aksoy, E. (2005). Rural development policies and activities in Turkey. In D. Diakosavvas (Ed.),
Coherence of agricultural and rural development policies. Proceedings of the OECD
Workshop held in Bratislava, October 24–26, 2005.
Çelik, Z. (2005). Planlı Dönemde Türkiye’deki Kırsal Kalkınma Politika ve Uygulamaları Üzerine
Bir Değerlendirme. Planlama, 2, 61–71.
TUIK. Eğitim İstatikleri (Education statistics). http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreTablo.do?alt_id=1018.
Gustafsson, M., Stoor, R., Tsvetkova, A. (2011). Sustainable bio-economy: Potential, challenges
and opportunities in Finland. PBI Research Institute, Sitra studies 51, Helsinki-Finland. http://
www.sitra.fi/julkaisut/.
Köse, M. A. (2012). Agricultural policy reforms and their implications on rural development:
Turkey and the EU. Ankara Avrupa Çalışmaları Dergisi, cilt: 11(2), 75–98.
Nüfus Etütleri Enstitüsü (Institute of Population Studies). (2006). Türkiye, Göç ve Yerinden
Edilmiş Nüfus Araştırması. Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Aralık, Ankara.
OECD. (2011). Evaluation of agricultural policy reforms in Turkey. Paris, TAD/CA/APM/WP
(2011)1, March 2011.
TÇOB. (2011). Çevre Durum Raporu (State of environment report), Ankara.
TÇOB (Türkiye Çevre ve Ormancılık Bakanlığı-Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry).
(2008). The national biological diversity strategy and action plan, Ankara.
TGTHB (Türkiye Gıda, Tarım ve Hayvancılık Bakanlığı-Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture
and Livestock). (2011). Tarımsal Değişim ve Dönüşüm 2002–2010 (Change and transforma-
tion period of agriculture 2002–2010), Ankara.
TKB. (2001). 8. Beş Yıllık Kalkınma Planı (VIII. Five year development plan). http://ekutup.dpt.
gov.tr/plan/viii/plan8str.pdf.
TKB. (2006a). Ulusal Kırsal Kalkınma Stratejisi (National rural development strategy). http://
www.izmiriplanliyorum.org/static/upload/file/ulusal_kirsal_kalkinma_stratejisi.pdf.
TKB. (2006b). 9. Beş Yıllık Kalkınma Planı (IX. Five year development plan). http://plan9.dpt.
gov.tr/.
TKB (Türkiye Kalkınma Bakanlığı-Turkish Ministry of Development). Orta Vadeli Program
(2012–2014) (Medium term programme (2012–2014)).www.kalkinma.gov.tr.
TUIK (Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu-Turkish Statistics Institute). (2012a). Gelir ve Yaşam
Memnuniyeti Saha Çalışması (Income and living conditions survey), 2006–2011. http://
tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/yasamapp/yasam.zul.
TUIK. Hanehalkı İşgücü İstatistikleri (Household Labor Force Survey). (2012b). http://tuikapp.
tuik.gov.tr/isgucuapp/isgucu.zul.
DSİ (Devlet Su İşleri-State Hydraulic Works). www.dsi.gov.tr.
TGTHB. http://www.tarim.gov.tr/ABDGM/Sayfalar/IcMenuDetay.aspx?rid=21.
TGTHB. www.tarim.gov.tr.
5 To What Extent Are Rural Development Policies … 143

TKB. Yıllık Programlar (Annual Programs). www.kalkinma.gov.tr.

TSB (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Sağlık Bakanlığı-Ministry of Health), Sağlık İstatistikleri Yıllığı
(Health statistics yearbook). www.saglik.gov.tr.
TUIK. İç Göç İstatistikleri (Domestic Migration Statistics). http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/
adnksdagitapp/adnks.zul?kod=4.
TUIK. Tarımsal Fiyat İstatistikleri (Agricultural Price statistics). http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/
tarimsalfiyatapp/tarimsalfiyat.zul.
TUIK. Dış Ticaret İstatistikleri (Foreign trade statistics), http://tuikapp.tuik.gov.tr/disticaretapp/
menu.zul.
TUIK. http://www.tuik.gov.tr/UstMenu.do?metod=temelist.
Chapter 6
Agriculture and the Evolution
of Agricultural Policies
in the Mediterranean Partner Countries:
Putting a Retrospective Overview
in Context with Future Prospects

Konstadinos Mattas, Konstantinos Galanopoulos

and George Baourakis

6.1 Introduction

Agriculture constitutes a crucial element of the national economies of

Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) and is particularly the major source of
employment in most cases. Given the importance of agriculture not only in terms of
economic contribution, but also as a pillar for social cohesion and a key means to
addressing two of the major problems that most MPCs have been facing for decades
(i.e. high unemployment rates and poverty), national agro-food policy agendas have
traditionally relied on intervention, subsidisation and protectionism.
In general, the majority of the MPCs are faced with considerable deficits in
external food trade, low self-sufficiency rates even for staple food and a large
reliance on food imports (Awwad 2003). The national agro-food policy agendas
that relied extensively on state protectionism (e.g. high levels of duties and tariffs),
subsidies and aid to farmers as well as consumer subsidies for staple goods had little
impact on improving the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector,
but instead, distorted producer decisions, generated market inefficiencies and pro-
moted a misuse of scarce natural resources.
This paradigm however, has been changing as MPCs gradually began liberal-
ising their economies in recent years, but the adaptation process has neither

K. Mattas
School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
K. Galanopoulos (&)
Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace,
Orestiada, Greece
e-mail: [email protected]
G. Baourakis
Department of Business Economics and Management, MAICh, 73100 Chania, Greece

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 145

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_6
146 K. Mattas et al.

concluded nor will it be an easy one; liberalisation will increase the exposure of
domestic sectors to global competition, and given their generally low levels of
competitiveness, adaptation to changing market needs remains a question.
Moreover, the unstable political situation in the region further complicates the
analysis; the social turmoil in the last couple of years, fuelled by the 2007/08 food
prices crisis which has given rise to social unrest in a number of MPCs (e.g.
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria) and stressed the need for democratic governance
and transparency, will have a—yet uncertain—impact on agricultural sectors and
the continuation (or not) of these policy reforms.
Within this context, this chapter aims at providing a brief description of the main
characteristics of the agricultural sectors in the MPCs, together with a short ret-
rospective overview of the evolution of national agro-food policies, in order to
highlight the changes that occurred in the agro-food policy agendas in recent years.
In this respect, some insights to the future evolution of natural agricultural policies
are also made.

6.2 Importance and Role of the Agro-food Sector

Agriculture is a significant contributor to the national economies of MPCs. In

particular regarding the employment rates, agriculture constitutes the main force for
absorbing considerable amounts of the workforce in these countries. Given the high
rate of rural population in these countries, the generally low economic development
and the low income levels, agriculture is also a significant contributor to social
cohesion. One should bear in mind that almost all MPCs are net food importers and
that the global food prices crisis in 2007/2008 that resulted in escalating food prices
also gave rise to social unrest, riots and revolts.
The value-added contribution of agriculture to GDP ranges from around
15–20 % for Syria and Morocco to a low of less than 3 % for Jordan and Libya
(Table 6.1). Morocco, Egypt and Algeria exhibit figures well-above 10 %, while all
countries, with the exception of Algeria, Morocco and Syria, have experienced a
considerable downsizing of their agricultural sectors’ contribution to the GDP since
the 1960s and 1980s so that today agriculture’s contribution is about 50 % less than
two decades ago.
The countries with the largest agricultural sectors in terms of value of agricul-
tural production are by far Turkey and Egypt, with 35 and 23 billion int. $
respectively; their sectors are around three to four times larger than the following
country, namely Morocco (Table 6.2). No other country has a value of agricultural
production greater than 6.5 billion int $, while for Jordan, Lebanon and Libya it is
below 2 billion. Algeria, Jordan and Morocco have increased their value of
agricultural output by over 50 % in the period 2001–2009, followed by Tunisia and
Egypt (30–40 %). The remaining countries exhibit a much lower growth pattern
that ranges from 15 to 20 %.
Table 6.1 Agriculture, value added (% of GDP)
Country Middle East and Algeria Egypt, Arab Jordan Lebanon Libya Morocco Syrian Arab Tunisia Turkey
North Africa Rep. Republic
Code MEA DZA EGY JOR LBN LBY MAR SYR TUN TUR
1965 12.88 28.60 15.44 23.74 47.51
1966 9.14 27.94 11.02 20.66 48.59
1970 9.21 29.43 11.64 19.70 40.17
1971 9.57 29.17 13.35 22.29 38.47
1972 8.42 31.08 13.30 24.61 35.40
1980 8.51 18.26 7.89 18.48 16.33 26.50
1981 9.24 20.09 6.08 12.91 15.62 24.52
1982 8.39 19.57 6.07 15.44 14.95 22.69
1990 11.36 19.37 8.08 18.26 29.81 17.74 18.09
1991 10.17 17.57 8.52 20.72 32.84 19.11 15.80
1992 12.13 16.54 7.89 16.10 34.44 18.60 15.56
1993 12.10 16.71 5.98 15.38 32.18 16.97 16.07
1994 11.32 10.06 16.87 5.23 7.11 19.09 31.10 14.45 16.03
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies …

1995 11.48 10.50 16.78 4.32 7.60 15.09 31.58 13.04 16.29
1996 11.39 11.77 17.26 3.83 6.89 19.60 29.95 15.69 17.39
1997 10.45 9.48 16.95 3.33 7.48 15.80 27.88 12.61 14.97
1998 11.88 12.53 17.11 3.07 6.91 20.22 30.61 11.97 13.58
1999 10.71 12.20 17.32 2.38 7.17 17.46 25.18 11.99 11.54
2000 9.47 8.88 16.74 2.35 7.11 14.94 23.75 11.33 11.31
2001 9.14 10.41 16.56 2.27 6.68 16.55 27.04 10.68 9.95
2002 8.83 10.00 16.46 2.55 6.67 5.20 16.54 26.83 9.33 11.71
2003 8.68 10.49 16.34 2.83 6.58 4.34 17.29 25.70 10.38 11.39
(continued)
147
Table 6.1 (continued)
148

Country Middle East and Algeria Egypt, Arab Jordan Lebanon Libya Morocco Syrian Arab Tunisia Turkey
North Africa Rep. Republic
2004 8.38 10.19 15.18 2.81 6.37 2.99 16.32 21.80 11.01 10.92
2005 7.73 8.22 14.86 3.08 6.25 2.34 14.68 19.49 10.13 10.80
2006 7.63 7.99 14.07 2.82 7.17 1.99 16.89 19.22 10.15 9.52
2007 7.32 8.03 14.07 2.73 7.12 2.08 13.73 17.94 9.41 8.68
2008 6.92 13.22 2.58 6.94 1.87 14.64 17.00 8.54 8.61
2009 11.73 13.68 2.89 5.89 16.39 22.93 8.93 9.35
2010 13.99 2.93 6.39 15.38 8.01 9.60
Source World Bank national accounts data, and OECD national accounts data files
K. Mattas et al.
Table 6.2 Gross production value (constant 2004–2006 1000 I$) (1000 Int. $)
1961–1970 1971–1980 1981–1990 1991–1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Agriculture (PIN) + (Total)
Algeria 1,977,835 1,952,600 2,509,671 3,600,907 4,057,115 4,144,704 4,830,065 5,324,779 5,383,008 5,588,501 5,067,481 5,155,511 6,359,240
Egypt 5,067,665 6,421,077 6,623,781 14,221,607 16,901,004 17,733,247 18,532,489 19,278,525 19,564,598 20,631,305 21,859,780 22,159,525 22,908,436
Jordan 321,623 232,807 412,748 700,565 700,799 912,484 866,761 974,559 954,901 1,008,528 1,016,857 1,052,185 1,074,264
Lebanon 449,593 567,170 824,128 1,284,430 1,130,497 1,232,581 1,201,668 1,300,863 1,215,750 1,232,544 1,249,783 1,289,738 1,309,228
Libya 240,598 477,566 722,225 961,364 973,079 1,055,613 1,094,616 1,061,595 1,095,500 1,075,528 1,132,693 1,111,161 1,124,843
Morocco 2,314,570 2,907,030 4,051,672 5,296,170 5,624,354 6,099,621 6,965,868 7,070,836 6,752,929 7,875,038 6,612,710 7,614,690 6,436,467
Syrian Arab 1,484,255 2,240,625 3,510,918 4,692,489 5,705,456 6,651,638 6,306,332 6,596,369 6,969,382 7,287,291 6,445,881 6,014,484 6,641,955
Republic
Tunisia 988,743 1,556,605 1,882,679 2,767,435 2,505,184 2,541,298 3,748,062 3,212,303 3,470,723 3,627,488 3,595,042 3,746,994 3,540,230
Turkey 13,552,088 18,254,024 23,882,982 28,817,225 29,452,309 31,318,702 31,658,962 32,012,787 33,804,135 34,444,562 33,103,945 34,367,363 35,225,036
Cereals, Total + (Total)
Algeria 255,302 276,035 256,004 337,521 395,430 290,608 622,374 585,502 513,187 582,153 518,325 225,866 739,260
Egypt 1,247,075 1,474,815 1,719,261 3,105,439 3,453,739 3,812,095 3,894,271 3,942,150 4,150,646 4,252,229 4,120,953 4,363,003 4,527,845
Jordan 29,219 19,173 13,342 13,646 6,686 15,677 11,401 7,358 14,412 8,798 7,170 5,354 6,963
Lebanon 12,072 9,365 7,286 13,844 23,737 21,387 21,988 25,106 26,844 28,682 22,918 26,844 28,958
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies …

Libya 18,631 28,274 41,365 28,908 31,172 31,065 30,992 31,229 33,038 29,904 30,097 29,821 28,924
Morocco 510,017 619,178 755,893 756,249 685,183 769,493 1,156,080 1,249,893 637,298 1,358,997 368,365 791,781 1,499,339
Syrian Arab 219,584 315,924 394,777 694,435 1,012,746 896,671 937,122 809,507 855,794 945,262 757,411 408,959 711,988
Republic
Tunisia 127,785 161,057 179,746 249,695 214,026 87,120 360,072 329,810 322,562 247,879 302,147 188,153 379,896
Turkey 2,292,957 3,235,225 4,030,263 4,416,423 4,361,301 4,528,048 4,523,787 5,009,475 5,348,295 5,094,234 4,332,117 4,390,608 5,008,524
Crops (PIN) + (Total)
Algeria 1,604,307 1,332,844 1,440,776 2,013,382 2,276,181 2,327,199 2,972,738 3,389,912 3,395,876 3,504,952 2,954,038 3,038,389 4,172,383
Egypt 4,337,630 5,450,331 7,160,369 10,782,650 12,876,324 13,512,284 13,685,276 14,471,256 14,780,058 15,939,410 16,297,808 16,710,389 17,448,885
(continued)
149
Table 6.2 (continued)
150

1961–1970 1971–1980 1981–1990 1991–1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Jordan 270,995 160,228 277,336 427,562 397,872 609,750 534,061 623,382 599,874 654,939 613,524 599,485 667,791
Lebanon 357,110 453,081 643,302 1,053,481 838,040 908,022 864,042 953,564 874,959 900,244 893,120 908,963 926,648
Libya 165,857 327,973 479,460 617,873 590,049 676,219 707,831 659,292 688,157 659,779 676,232 675,767 689,033
Morocco 1,691,179 2,130,057 2,893,468 3,652,770 3,707,529 4,087,921 4,967,627 5,042,325 4,574,129 5,614,268 4,471,268 5,135,026 5,923,840
Syrian Arab 1,098,903 1,725,047 2,520,590 3,428,263 4,233,590 5,065,301 4,593,439 4,680,315 4,897,917 5,146,586 4,117,179 3,993,861 4,600,400
Republic
Tunisia 782,096 1,266,979 1,450,984 2,078,075 1,583,731 1,647,808 2,884,517 2,351,036 2,592,106 2,733,873 2,651,077 2,783,426 2,594,652
Turkey 9,767,644 13,618,191 17,901,163 22,126,842 22,841,323 24,932,892 24,432,990 24,605,456 26,222,886 26,607,920 24,636,351 26,034,386 26,659,139
Livestock (PIN) + (Total)
Algeria 373,528 619,755 1,068,896 1,587,525 1,780,934 1,817,505 1,857,326 1,934,867 1,987,132 2,083,549 2,113,443 2,117,122 2,186,856
Egypt 730,035 970,746 1,463,412 3,438,957 4,024,680 4,220,963 4,847,213 4,807,270 4,784,539 4,691,896 5,561,972 5,449,136 5,459,551
Jordan 50,628 72,579 135,412 273,003 302,927 302,735 332,700 351,177 355,027 353,588 403,333 452,700 406,474
Lebanon 92,482 114,089 180,826 230,950 292,457 324,559 337,626 347,299 340,791 332,300 356,663 380,776 382,580
Libya 74,741 149,593 242,766 343,491 383,030 379,394 386,786 402,303 407,344 415,749 456,461 435,394 435,810
Morocco 623,392 776,973 1,158,204 1,643,400 1,916,825 2,011,700 1,998,241 2,028,511 2,17,8,801 2,260,770 2,341,443 2,479,864 2,512,627
Syrian Arab 385,351 515,579 990,328 1,264,226 1,471,867 1,586,337 1,712,893 1,916,053 2,071,465 2,140,705 2,328,703 2,020,623 2,041,555
Republic
Tunisia 206,647 289,626 431,695 689,359 921,453 893,490 863,545 861,267 878,617 893,615 943,965 963,568 945,577
Turkey 3,784,444 4,635,833 5,981,818 6,690,383 6,610,986 6,385,810 7,225,972 7,407,331 7,581,250 7,836,643 8,467,595 8,332,977 8,565,897
Non food (PIN) + (Total)
Algeria 27,264 37,229 53,483 48,059 47,144 47,134 47,154 50,406 58,782 49,947 54,343 58,009 61,484
Egypt 680,887 682,099 584,913 451,250 501,047 437,475 304,890 443,273 315,301 319,544 342,336 167,333 166,587
Jordan 6,468 5,433 9,682 11,449 5,408 10,488 7,322 6,922 7,879 7,877 8,424 5,344 8,515
Lebanon 12,304 12,792 6,762 15,283 23,797 18,921 19,287 21,374 18,233 17,443 19,001 18,409 18,600
Libya 8,380 14,723 15,895 17,369 20,935 21,199 21,788 20,539 20,591 19,400 19,572 19,700 20,227
(continued)
K. Mattas et al.
Table 6.2 (continued)
1961–1970 1971–1980 1981–1990 1991–1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Morocco 45,753 52,626 77,829 87,449 91,304 92,423 90,636 98,594 109,212 99,392 106,508 107,787 111,013
Syrian Arab 249,117 255,290 301,978 471,329 579,556 452,262 509,212 594,150 606,907 469,892 438,018 451,207 455,319
Republic
Tunisia 13,295 20,560 30,246 27,635 25,841 25,297 24,472 23,944 27,616 26,313 26,017 26,129 25,230
Turkey 1,062,957 1,538,698 1,685,083 2,016,430 2,068,199 2,166,804 2,052,741 2,153,686 2,107,376 2,184,556 1,945,813 1,690,308 1,621,325
Source FAOSTAT
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies …
151
152 K. Mattas et al.

It is worth noting that for all countries but Algeria, Jordan and Libya, the value
of non-food products has dropped in the last decade; in Egypt it fell by more than
65 %, in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon by around 20 %, while in Libya and Tunisia it
fell by merely 2–3 %.
Nevertheless, the importance of agriculture for MPCs is more noticeable when
considering its contribution to employment. Almost all MPCs suffer from very high
unemployment rates (the average being just less than 10 %), despite the fact that
unemployment rates have shown a decreasing trend during the last decade. Tunisia
and Turkey had the highest unemployment rates in 2008 followed by Jordan and
Algeria. Noticeably, of all the studied MPCs, only Lebanon and Syria have
unemployment rates below 10 %.1 The agricultural sector is the major source of
employment for most MPCs; on average, 23 % of total employment is in the
agricultural sector regarding all MPCs (Table 6.3). Out of the studied countries,
Morocco exhibits the highest figure: more than 40 % of the labour workforce is
employed in agriculture, followed by Egypt and Turkey with over 30 and 20 %,
respectively. Only in Jordan are agricultural employment levels around 3 %.
The number of people employed in agriculture has been dropping steadily in the
last three decades in most countries, especially in Lebanon and Libya (Table 6.4).
In Egypt, Morocco and Turkey the decline of agricultural labour is more modest,
while in Jordan, Syria and especially Algeria there has been a significant increase
of people employed in agriculture. The breakdown of the economically active
population in agriculture reveals some interesting points: Although the total number
of agricultural labour has been falling in most MPCs, this is largely due to the drop
of male agricultural labour; in all countries but Lebanon and Libya the number of
female workers in agriculture has been increasing in the last thirty years.
In fact, agriculture represents the most important employment opportunity for
women in the MPCs. Although women’s access to jobs in the overall economy is
very low in the MPCs, as it does not exceed 30 % (Algeria) and can be as low as
17 % (Jordan), women are the majority in agricultural labour in Algeria, Jordan,
Libya, Syria and Turkey. Only in Lebanon and Tunisia is it below 40 % of the
total population employed in agriculture. 68 % of the employed women in Turkey
are working in agriculture and similar figures are noticed in Syria (57 %), Morocco
(50 %) and Egypt (41 %). As before, only in Lebanon and Libya does agriculture
constitute a fraction of total female employment (2.7 and 9.7 % respectively).
In essence, agriculture is very important to MPCs’ economies because of the large
number of rural population and the high levels of poverty. Taking also into consid-
eration the high share of young population and the steady high population growth,
along with the fact that most MPCs are net food-importing countries and thus highly
exposed to external shocks such as the 2007–2008 food crisis and the global recession,
it becomes apparent that agricultural growth could contribute to improving employ-
ment levels, reducing poverty levels and ultimately achieving food security through
incomes, domestic provision of food, and export earnings (Breisinger et al. 2010).

1
Data for Libya are not available.
Table 6.3 Employment in agriculture (% of total employment)
Name Middle East and North Algeria Egypt, Arab Jordan Lebanon Libya Morocco Syrian Arab Tunisia Turkey
Africa Rep. Republic
Code MEA DZA EGY JOR LBN LBY MAR SYR TUN TUR
1980 42.40 18.90 33.40
1981 40.30 32.50
1982 39.10 31.60 4.30
1983 41.00 6.70 15.30 30.60 4.80
1984 40.60 25.50 4.40
1985 16.80 45.00
1986 5.50 19.70
1987 6.60
1988 47.40
1989 42.40 26.50 25.80 48.20
1990 39.00 3.90 46.90
1991 31.30 3.90 28.20 47.80
1992 38.40 3.60 44.70
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies …

1993 35.30 3.20 31.10 42.20

1994 35.20 40.00 23.40 43.60
1995 34.00 6.30 28.40 43.40
1996 31.20 7.20 42.80
1997 31.30 5.10 17.80 40.80
1998 29.80 4.90 40.50
1999 28.70 5.70 27.80 41.40
2000 29.60 4.90 5.10 32.90 36.00
2001 21.10 28.50 4.10 4.90 30.60 37.60
(continued)
153
Table 6.3 (continued)
154

Name Middle East and North Algeria Egypt, Arab Jordan Lebanon Libya Morocco Syrian Arab Tunisia Turkey
Africa Rep. Republic
2002 27.50 3.90 44.40 31.20 34.90
2003 21.10 29.90 3.60 43.90 27.00 33.90
2004 20.70 31.80 45.80 34.00
2005 30.90 45.40 29.50
2006 25.55 31.20 43.30 27.30
2007 23.94 31.70 42.10 19.10 23.50
2008 23.41 31.60 40.90 23.70
2009 3.00 22.90
Source World Bank National Accounts Data, and OECD National Accounts Data Files
K. Mattas et al.
Table 6.4 Breakdown of agricultural labour by gender
1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2005 2006–2010 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2005 2006–2010
Total economically active population in Agr (1000) Male economically active population in Agr (% male active population)
Algeria 1.728 2.288 2.871 3.120 Algeria 22.4 17.3 16.2 15.5
Egypt 6.767 6.282 6.453 6.620 Egypt 40.9 29.5 24.4 21.2
Jordan 87 123 115 115 Jordan 10.4 7.4 4.6 3.3
Lebanon 100 60 42 32 Lebanon 9.7 4.7 2.7 1.9
Libya 166 116 95 77 Libya 11.9 4.9 2.4 1.4
Morocco 3.199 3.348 3.234 3.089 Morocco 41.8 30.3 23.3 19.1
Syrian Arab 778 1.054 1.226 1.316 Syrian Arab 24.2 18.2 13.5 10.9
Republic Republic
Tunisia 679 708 769 796 Tunisia 28.2 21.8 20.4 19.4
Turkey 9.245 9.956 8.967 8.295 Turkey 41.9 33.7 26.5 22.2
Male economically active population in Agr (1000) Female economically active population in Agr (% female active population)
Algeria 959 1.133 1.384 1.486 Algeria 63.3 50.9 41.5 35.1
Egypt 4.615 4.056 4.007 3.976 Egypt 71.4 55.7 47.1 41.3
Jordan 52 69 54 46 Jordan 49.6 35.8 28.5 23.8
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies …

Lebanon 70 40 28 21 Lebanon 15.3 7.2 4.1 2.7

Libya 103 58 36 24 Libya 45.3 21.2 13.6 9.7
Morocco 2.191 2.036 1.835 1.644 Morocco 67.8 59.8 54.4 50.5
Syrian Arab 503 570 580 548 Syrian Arab 73.4 66.0 60.9 57.3
Republic Republic
Tunisia 475 464 504 528 Tunisia 47.5 37.4 30.5 26.1
Turkey 5.195 5.157 4.448 4.000 Turkey 85.2 79.3 73.1 68.2
(continued)
155
Table 6.4 (continued)
156

1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2005 2006–2010 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2005 2006–2010

Female economically active population in Agr (1000) Female economically active population in Agr (% total active in agriculture)
Algeria 769 1.155 1.487 1.634 Algeria 44.5 50.5 51.8 52.4
Egypt 2.152 2.226 2.446 2.644 Egypt 31.8 35.4 37.9 39.9
Jordan 36 53 61 69 Jordan 40.7 43.6 53.2 59.9
Lebanon 30 19 14 10 Lebanon 29.9 32.4 33.2 32.9
Libya 63 58 60 53 Libya 37.9 49.7 62.7 68.4
Morocco 1.007 1.312 1.399 1.445 Morocco 31.5 39.2 43.3 46.8
Syrian Arab 275 484 646 769 Syrian Arab 35.3 45.9 52.7 58.4
Republic Republic
Tunisia 204 244 266 267 Tunisia 30.0 34.5 34.5 33.6
Turkey 4.050 4.799 4.518 4.295 Turkey 43.8 48.2 50.4 51.8
Female economically active population (% total active)
Algeria 22.1 25.7 29.6 32.7
Egypt 21.1 22.5 24.0 25.4
Jordan 12.5 13.7 15.5 17.1
Lebanon 21.3 23.8 25.1 25.8
Libya 13.8 18.6 22.6 24.3
Morocco 22.1 24.6 24.6 24.9
Syrian Arab 15.3 19.0 19.8 21.0
Republic
Tunisia 20.3 23.5 26.0 27.3
Turkey 27.7 28.3 26.9 25.9
Source FAOSTAT
K. Mattas et al.
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies … 157

The main agricultural commodities in all the studied MPCs are fruit and veg-
etables and meat products. Citrus fruit, melons, dates, grapes, olives and apples are
the most important fruits and potatoes, tomatoes and onions regarding vegetables.
Cereals (predominantly wheat as well as rice in Egypt), sugar crops (sugarcane in
Egypt, sugarbeets in Morocco and Syria) and cotton (in Egypt, Syria and Turkey)
are the most important other crops. Olive oil is also produced in most MENA
countries but its production is mainly concentrated in Tunisia, Syria, Turkey and
Morocco. Regarding livestock production, milk and chicken/turkey production are
the main products in most MPCs.
Crop production constitutes by far the most important element of agriculture,
accounting for 60 % (Libya) to 76 % (Egypt) of the value of agricultural produc-
tion. Livestock production on the other hand represents the remaining lesser por-
tion. Still, the share of livestock production has been steadily rising in all MPC
countries, excluding Turkey which is the only country where the share of livestock
production in 2009 is lower than in the 1960s.
Cereals are a major product for the majority of the MPC countries; in fact a clear
cluster formation can be observed: One cluster includes Egypt, Turkey and
Morocco accounting for a 14–19 % of the total value of agricultural production,
another with Algeria, Syria, Tunisia (around 10 %) and the final one includes the
remaining countries (Lebanon, Libya, Jordan) where cereal production constitutes a
lesser part of the total value (0.6–2.6 %). Interestingly, the share of cereals in the
period 1961–2009 shows a slow downward trend in all countries, with the
exception of Jordan, where the drop has been more dramatic: cereals in the 1960s
accounted for a little less than 10 %, only to drop to less than 1 % in 2009.

6.3 Agro-food Trade

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (in which all studied MPCs
belong) is the most food import–dependent region in the world, as food imports
accounted for 25–50 % of national consumption and they are projected to rise even
further in the future, primarily because of the exponential population growth in the
region on the one hand and the limited potential for land expansion and scarce
availability of valuable resources such as water and land on the other (Breisinger
et al. 2010; Alvarez-Coque 2012). In this sense, food security is a matter of great
concern in the MENA region; the escalating food prices worldwide and the wor-
rying FAO projections for the next decades further stress the importance of agri-
cultural and food production in the region.
MPCs included in the study are—all but Turkey—food importers with an
agricultural trade deficit that in most cases appears to be growing. As illustrated in
Table 6.5, Algeria and Egypt have by far the greatest deficit in the agricultural
products trade, followed by Morocco, Libya and Lebanon. Interestingly, the MPCs
exhibited a surplus in the agricultural products trade in the 1960s, as only Jordan,
Lebanon and Libya had a deficit. This is an indication of poor adaptation to
Table 6.5 Agricultural products (total) trade
158

1961–1969 1970–1979 1960–1969 1990–1999 2000–2009 1961–1963 1373–1973 1380–1983 1330–1333 2000–2009
Import value (1000$) Agric. products trade as % of total merchandise trade
Algeria 193,776 855,940 2,335,268 2,732,782 4,300,122 Imports
Egypt 275,104 1,035,258 3,243,513 3,112,120 4,562,030 Algeria 26.5 187 24.3 29.9 20.4
Jordan 49,527 214,092 583,029 796,153 1,499,249 Egypt 33.5 35.7 37.6 26.1 17.1
Lebanon 134,911 300,042 582,131 1,098,049 1,537,493 Jordan 32.1 26.5 21.2 22.8 15.7
Libya 56,325 470,844 1,097,750 1,155,293 1,416,797 Lebanon 29.4 21.2 21.4 18.9 15.2
Morocco 147,859 486,628 805,619 1,322,661 2,633,208 Libya 14.9 17.2 17.9 20.7 21.8
Syrian Arab 57,745 289,455 633,638 807,187 1,543,438 Morocco 30.8 24.0 18.9 16.0 12.1
Republic
Tunisia 60,233 224,391 523,118 744,347 1,330,772 Syrian Arab 22.4 18.5 17.9 20.1 16.1
Republic
Turkey 74,157 177,970 728,129 2,756,252 5,267,062 Tunisia 25.1 17.7 15.4 10.6 9.4
Export value (1000$) Turkey 11.3 5.1 6.5 8.3 4.9
Algeria 210,859 156,296 58,165 65,705 72,832 Exports
Egypt 400,284 688,832 662,294 478,809 1,426,495 Algeria 31.2 3.9 0.5 0.6 0.2
Jordan 13,194 54,928 150,080 235,693 623,737 Egypt 71.6 52.1 22.7 11.9 10.2
Lebanon 47,823 109,152 148,914 121,182 282,210 Jordan 52.9 33.5 18.7 15.6 14.4
Libya 3,135 2,451 628 39,549 15,002 Lebanon 44.1 22.6 21.4 17.2 12.7
Morocco 191,599 353,220 445,775 723,345 1,209,645 Libya 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.1
Syrian Arab 145,7 00 229,522 274,795 768,278 1,172,516 Morocco 46.3 29.9 17.5 14.8 10.6
Republic
Tunisia 66,269 147,205 167,266 429,539 907,763 Syrian Arab 87.1 30.3 14.7 21.5 13.8
Republic
Turkey 396,154 1,011,838 2,477,401 4,115,939 6,358,792 Tunisia 49.7 19.6 7.8 9.0 8.4
(continued)
K. Mattas et al.
Table 6.5 (continued)
1961–1969 1970–1979 1960–1969 1990–1999 2000–2009 1961–1963 1373–1973 1380–1983 1330–1333 2000–2009
Trade balance (1000$) Turkey 88.8 69.0 33.0 20.6 9.0
Algeria 17,083 −699,644 −2,277,102 −2,667,077 −4,227,290
Egypt 125,180 −346,426 −2,581,219 −2,633,311 −3,135,535
Jordan −36,333 −159,164 −432,949 −560,460 −875,513
Lebanon −87,088 −190,890 −433,217 −976,867 −1,255,283
Libya −53,190 −468,394 −1,097,122 −1,115,743 −1,401,795
Morocco 43,741 −133,408 −359,844 −599,316 −1,423,563
Syrian Arab 87,956 −59,933 −358,843 −38,909 −370,922
Republic
Tunisia 6,036 −77,186 −355,852 −314,808 −423,008
Turkey 321,997 833,868 1,749,272 1,359,687 1,091,730
Source FAOSTAT
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies …
159
160 K. Mattas et al.

changing dynamics in the globalised markets; for most MPCs agricultural pro-
ductivity lagged behind the growing incomes and most importantly the rising
population.
A study by Galanopoulos et al. (2011) assessed the Total Factor Productivity of
agricultural sectors for a number of European and MENA countries and concluded
that productivity growth in the MENA countries is quite low when compared to
other countries and regions, and also that there is no evidence of convergence
among the growth rates between the different geographic regions. In fact, the only
MPCs that were found to be converging in the high-productivity club were Egypt,
Turkey and Lebanon.
The most export-oriented agricultural sectors are in Turkey, Tunisia, Lebanon
and Jordan, as the value of exports represent around 20 % of the value of domestic
agricultural products. By contrast, in Algeria, Libya and (to a lesser extent) Egypt,
exports constitute only a fraction of agricultural production. Agricultural exports
still constitute a major part of national exports in most MPC countries (excluding
oil-exporting countries) although their share has been gradually dropping in the last
decades. In Jordan they account for more than 14 % of total merchandise exports,
13.8 % in Syria and 12 % in Lebanon. In all countries agricultural exports’ share is
higher than 8.4 %; only in Algeria and Libya do they constitute a negligible portion
of 0.1–0.2 %. On the other hand, for these two countries, food imports represent a
considerable share of over 20 % of total imports, while for the rest of the countries
this figure ranges from 9.5 % (Tunisia) to 17 % (Egypt). Only in Turkey do
agricultural imports account for a much lesser percentage (4.9 %). It is indicative
that trade coverage (i.e. percentage of agricultural exports to agricultural imports) is
for all countries but Turkey very low, ranging from 1 % (Algeria) to 60 % (Tunisia).
The country that achieves the highest per capita exports of fresh food is Jordan:
101 US$, followed by Turkey (76 US$) and Morocco (66 US$). Egypt, Lebanon,
Syria and Tunisia exhibit similar figures of around 30 US$, whereas the lower per
capita exports are recorded in Algeria and Libya. Turning to processed foods, it is
apparent that Tunisia becomes the most export-oriented country: Per capita exports
of processed foods exceed 90 US$, followed by Jordan (75), Lebanon (73) and
Turkey (71). Egypt and Syria have much smaller numbers (19.5 and 12.6 respec-
tively), indicating a less export-oriented food processing sector.
Some more interesting insights on the exporting profile and the competitiveness
of the food sectors in the MPCs are revealed by the Revealed Comparative
Advantage (RCA) and the Constant Market Share (CMS) analysis provided by
ITC2: Competitiveness is, as elsewhere indicated in the text, quite low and it
appears stagnant during the period 2005–2009; with the exception of Egypt that
exhibits a modest 0.06 % annual increase of world market shares, all the remaining
countries have either negative, or no change.

2
www.itc.org
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies … 161

6.4 Key Obstacles to Growth

The relatively limited contribution of agriculture to national GDPs, despite both the
significant percentage of employment as well as the high levels of agricultural
protection3, could be attributed—at least to a certain extent—to the low produc-
tivity of the sector. Low productivity in agriculture also results in a relatively large
share of poverty in rural areas (IFAD 2003). This in turn, has an adverse impact on
the countries’ ability to modernise their agricultural sectors and boost the sector’s
ability to provide employment opportunities (that are needed in countries with low
per capita incomes and scarce job opportunities) and reduce imports of agricultural
products (that do not only pose a severe fiscal budget, but expose MPCs to price
fluctuations similar to the food price crisis in 2007/08).
In fact, most studies that showed that agricultural productivity in the MPCs is
quite low often related it to (a) the low degree of market openness; (b) natural
constraints; (c) poor infrastructure. One key reason for MPCs’ low productivity is
the fact that they are faced with adverse climatic and soil conditions (low and highly
variable annual rainfall patterns, severe limitations in water resources, as well as
soil erosion and degradation due to increased salinization and soil compaction, salt
water intrusion, desertification, etc.) (Minot et al. 2010).

6.5 Retrospective View of Agro-food Policies: The Reform

Process

The MPCs have introduced a series of reforms in their agricultural sectors in the last
few years; protectionism has been reduced gradually, the role of state intervention
was reduced. Most quantitative import controls were abolished and tariff rates have
been reduced. Nevertheless, many reforms have been introduced, but have not
always achieved the desired effects. Several MPCs still have protective agricultural
sectors that operate under schemes of duties, tariffs as well as producer subsidies.
Guaranteed prices for staple as well as industrial crops are still common practice in
countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, as are also input subsidies
(World Bank 2008). In all countries, the tariffs for agricultural products remain
quite high, ranging from 23.6 % in Jordan to as high as 98.5 and 116.1 in Egypt and
Tunisia, respectively (Table 6.6). The applied tariffs for agricultural imports are
higher than the tariffs applied for non-agricultural products. Given the uncertainty
and the volatile political situation in several MPCs, it is yet unclear whether the
political and social unrest could hold the process to additional trade liberalisation
and market openness.

3
Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia are among the 15 most protected economies in the world (Minot
et al. 2010).
162 K. Mattas et al.

Table 6.6 Trade protection Year of MFN Simple average

indicators, 2011 applied tariff Bound MFN applied
EU 2011 13.8 13.9
Algeria 2010 23.3
Egypt 2011 98.5 66.3
Jordan 2010 23.6 17.9
Lebanon 2010 16.5
Morocco 2011 54.4 41.2
Tunisia 2011 116.1 32.7
Turkey 2011 61.0 41.7
Source WTO Trade Profiles and Tariff Profiles, 2011

Although each country had different objectives in their agricultural policy reform
agenda, there are several common key reasons that motivated the reform process in
the MPCs. These are:
• The low self-sufficiency rates and the reliance on imports
• The scarce natural resources, especially water
• The high unemployment rates
• The high poverty rates, especially in the rural areas
• The low productivity and competitiveness of domestic agricultural sectors
• MPCs’ willingness to participate in international trade organizations and
increase their access to world trading markets
In this respect, the main common objectives of agricultural policies in the MPCs
could be summarised as the following (Lindberg et al. 2006):
• Increase the volume and yield of agricultural production
• Increase the competitiveness of the agricultural sector
• Address food security issues by achieving partial or total food self-sufficiency
• Support farmers’ incomes
• Improve the living standard in the rural areas
• Protect the natural resources with special consideration given to water
It is evident that several objectives are rather contradictory in their nature (i.e.
increasing productivity and reducing subsidies and protection, while also preserving
the small farmers’ income and reducing poverty in rural areas), a fact that may also
explain the limited impact of these reforms.
In Algeria, the plan to renovate the agricultural sector, the Plan du renouveau
agricole et rural, accelerated in 2010. Under this plan, a significant part of the debt
owed by farmers has been written off, while the implementation of provisions for
the disposal of private state land also accelerated and the first civil, joint-stock
agricultural companies aimed at opening up the capital of agricultural holdings to
national savings were created (African Economic Outlook 2011).
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies … 163

In Egypt, the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in the agricultural sector is

composed of five instruments. These are: (i) removal of farm price control, (ii)
elimination of restrictions on crop area, (iii) cancellation of government control in
purchasing crops, (iv) phasing out subsidies on agricultural production inputs, and
(v) cancelation of governmental deregulation. The strategy for agriculture devel-
opment 1997/98–2016/17 aims at increasing agricultural productivity and output,
attracting domestic and foreign investment and increasing agricultural research.
Particular emphasis is put on promoting animal production, while subsidized inputs
(electricity and water) are also provided (Soliman et al. 2011).
In Jordan, under the agricultural sector restructuring program—National
Strategy for Agricultural Development for 2002–2010—subsidies have been
abolished and support is now provided through other, non-market distorting means.
In addition, export subsidies for agricultural products were bound at zero. Given the
concerns about national food security issues and the high reliance on imports, there
are plans to increase crop production since the last decade of the past century.
However, despite increasing investment there is a slow pace of progress.
Consequently, Jordan is implementing a two-pronged agricultural development
policy. The long-term strategy aims at increasing the total area under cultivation by
better harnessing water resources to increase irrigation of arid desert areas for the
cultivation of cereal crops. In the short term, the government is attempting to
maximize the efficiency of agricultural production in the Jordan River valley
through rationalization or use of resources to produce those items in which the
country had a relative advantage (Soliman 2011).
In Lebanon, agricultural policy is carried out in a highly fragmented, discon-
nected manner and as a low priority. A wheat and sugar beets subsidy is managed
by the Directorate General of Cereals and Sugar Beets at the Ministry of Economy
and Trade and a tobacco subsidy program is run by the Régie des Tabacs at the
Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for other crops,
agricultural services and cooperatives. It also supervises the Lebanese Agricultural
Research Institute and the Green Plan, which helps rehabilitate lands and rural roads
neglected or destroyed during the war. An export-promotion program is managed
by the para-governmental Investment Development Authority of Lebanon and the
Council for Development and Reconstruction manages infrastructure projects,
including irrigation and mobilizing foreign funding. The current agro-food policy
objectives of the Lebanese Government are focused on:
• Providing the necessary infrastructure such as roads, irrigation systems and
extension and research services,
• Securing a steady stream of reasonably priced produce for the Lebanese con-
sumer, giving assistance and support to the local producers,
• Creating a suitable environment for competition and the efficient flow of
information,
• Coordinating market activities to protect the economy from the negative effects
of market failure (El Hindi and Al Ashkar 2011).
164 K. Mattas et al.

Libya had begun some market-oriented reforms after 2000. Initial steps have
included applying for membership in the World Trade Organization, reducing
subsidies, and announcing plans for privatization. Even since the eighties the
Libyan government had paid more attention to agricultural development:
Agricultural development became the cornerstone of the 1981–1985 development
plan, which attached high priority to funding the Great Man-Made River project,
designed to bring water from the large desert oasis aquifers of Sarir and Al Kufrah.
Interest-free agricultural credit was provided by the National Agricultural Bank,
which in 1981 made almost 10,000 loans to farmers at an average of nearly 1500
Libyan dinars each. The substantial amounts of funds made available by this bank
may have been a major reason why a large number of Libyans, nearly 20 % of the
labour force in 1984, chose to remain in the agricultural sector (Thabet 2011a).
Agriculture and rural development are a strategic issue for Morocco given its
importance for the economic development of the country. Currently, the govern-
ment policy aims at strengthening human and physical resources that are needed to
reach the goals of the 2020 strategy for rural development. The overall vision is to
increase food security, improve farmers’ incomes and conserve natural resources.
Key instruments for the implementation of the national agro-food policy include the
Agricultural Development Fund (ADF), the Green Morocco Plan (GMP) and the
National Strategy for the Development of Water Sector. The new Plan Maroc Vert
adopted in 2008 is based on two pillars: support for the high value-added activities
which include a strong export performance, and the “Agriculture Solidaire” ori-
ented toward the small farmers’ sector (Belghazi 2012; Akka Ait El Mekki 2011).
Tunisia’s agro-food policy in the past relied on subsidizing staple food com-
modities at the consumption level, namely cereal products, sugar and vegetable oil.
This translated into much higher consumption levels of these products than
otherwise would be the case. At the same time, nominal prices at the production
levels were maintained constant during decades which, together with fluctuating
production resulting from climatic conditions, led to increasing import needs for
these products. Hence, policy in Tunisia as regards staple food commodities has
always tried to seek a compromise between the desire to boost producer prices so as
to support farm incomes and, at the same time, take advantage of the relatively low
prices that have prevailed in the world market during several decades. In the case of
cereals, this resulted in putting a ceiling on domestic producer prices throughout the
seventies, eighties and nineties. This situation prevailed practically all the way
through the world food crisis of 2007 and 2008. In the meantime, Tunisian cereals
imports kept increasing, mostly in terms of quantities. The resulting public com-
pensation was initially somewhat manageable, anywhere between a third and half of
the price of imports for durum wheat and 50 to 75 %, in the case of soft wheat.
During the food crisis period (2007 and 2008), the amount of subsidies was mul-
tiplied by 2 or 3 and, during some months of the year 2008, by 4. On the con-
sumption side, public policy has been for a long time that of maintaining low
cereals prices to preserve the income purchasing power of the middle to poor
income segments of the population.
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies … 165

Studies have shown that the universal Tunisian subsidy program allocated to the
cereals sector, as practiced during the seventies and early eighties, resulted in an
uneven distribution of public budgets between various segments of the population,
particularly the rich and the poor. While public subsidies were designed to help the
poor, in the first place, they ended up helping rather the least needy; i.e., the higher
income brackets of the population. This has resulted in a major economic reform
that the country went through during the eighties and nineties.
During recent decades, attempts were made to identify ways to target the sub-
sidies to the truly needy people of the country. First timid attempts were made to
target food subsidies to the poor by gearing them towards economically inferior
products (large size bread, bread made by bakeries located in remote areas, etc.).
Then there was the adjustment in the weight of bread itself, which was gradually
reduced from initially near a kilo per bread to about 400 g nowadays. In parallel
fashion, timid but continuous increases in the prices of basic bread, as well as other
basic cereal by-products, were initiated. Apart from what is usually considered in
the country as basic food commodities, i.e., other categories of bread and cereal by-
products destined as pastries became marketed freely of any administrative control
(Thabet 2011b). It should be noted that input subsidies have been abolished in all
products other than wheat, while state monopolies have been cancelled, leading to a
more liberalised agricultural production environment (Belghazi 2012).
Turkey’s key policy objectives for agriculture, as mostly set out in successive
Development Plans are: improving productivity; ensuring food security and food
safety; stability of food supply; raising self-sufficiency and exploiting export
potential; providing stable and sustainable income levels in agriculture; enhancing
competitiveness; fostering rural development; and intuitional-capacity building to
come into alignment with EU agricultural and rural development policies.
Historically, government intervention in agriculture has been considerable, with
price support, input subsidies and high border protection being the main policy
instruments. Over the mid-1980s–2000, domestic agricultural support measures in
Turkey were almost entirely based on commodity price support for crop com-
modities and variable input subsidies. Although the rates of support on products and
input use fluctuated considerably prior to 2000, there were no fundamental changes
to the kind of policies and delivery mechanisms used.
Agriculture was one of the sectors that were targeted for structural reform in
order to stabilise the Turkish economy. Aside from promoting allocative efficiency
in the agricultural sector, reforms were necessary for fiscal stabilisation. “The
Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP)”, was launched in 2001 and
implemented during 2001–2008. The project was underpinned by the World Bank
and it was also a pre-condition of obtaining International Monetary Fund (IMF)
support for the macroeconomic stabilisation programme, which aimed to reduce the
high inflation rate and stabilise the general price level. Under ARIP, Turkish
agriculture policy has been oriented towards closer alignment with the EU’s
CAP. Under the reform programme, agricultural related measures have been taken
in four main areas: (i) reducing output intervention purchases financed from the
budget leading to price cuts; (ii) phasing out price support, credit and fertiliser
166 K. Mattas et al.

subsidies, and replacing them by a less distorting direct income support (DIS)
scheme to farmers based on a uniform per-hectare payment; (iii) withdrawing the
state from direct involvement in production, processing, and marketing of crops;
and (iv) making available one-time transition grants to farmers. ARIP is imple-
mented to set up NFRS and provide technical and financial assistance to restructure
ASCUs, to facilitate the reform program described above. Within the reform
framework, indirect support policies (price and input subsidies) were phased out at
the end of 2002 and replaced with the DIS programme. DIS payments (about USD
90 per ha) were independent from crop type and quantity of agricultural production
and were made to those farmers (individual persons or legal entities) dealing with
land-based agricultural activity, regardless of the status of land tenure. Farmers
must be registered in the National Farmers’ Registry System (NFRS), which was
initiated in 2002. DIS payments were started in 2002 according to NFRS for land
between 0.1 and 50 ha. Agricultural land either needed to be tilled or otherwise
sustained for agricultural use. Farmers must be associated with agricultural activity
for a minimum of one production season (8–10 months) on the same land. State-
owned land, deserted or inaccessible agricultural land with no current use, forestry
areas and communal property, such as pastures, were excluded from DIS payments.
Additional DIS payments were granted to farmers who undertake soil analysis,
practice organic farming or utilise certified seeds on their land. Payments for soil
analysis were limited to a maximum area of 6 ha. DIS payments were applied to
over 16.4 million ha of land (around 63 % of total agricultural land) and have
benefited 2.8 million farmers (89 % of the total).
A key element of ARIP was the privatisation of SEEs and the restructuring of
ASCUs. The state-owned Turkish Sugar Company (TURK SEKER) and the state-
owned Tobacco Company (TEKEL) were to be privatised, whereas the TMO and
quasi-governmental ASCUs, which had previously administered support prices for
certain commodities, were to be restructured. ARIP supported the implementation
of the 2000 ASCU Law. Prior to this date, most of the ASCUs had been acting as
government purchasing agencies, and were highly overstaffed and lacked working
capital. It foresaw to lay off, with severance payments, more than half of the
workers in the ASCU system (WB 2001). In addition, TRY 250 trillion was made
available from the budget as a credit to the ASCUs in order to increase their
working capital.
The third element of ARIP comprised one-time payments to farmers to cover the
cost of switching away from crops in excess supply, such as hazelnuts and tobacco,
to alternative activities (net imported products). Initially, the programme intended to
cover the costs of shifting from producing hazelnuts, tobacco and sugar beet to the
production of oilseeds, feed crops and corn. Participation in the scheme has been
limited, and is mostly made up of tobacco farmers; as with the privatisation of
TEKEL, prices are determined by a bidding mechanism.
The ARIP has been amended and extended to the end of 2008. The amendment
included new sub-components such as cadastral works, rural development activities
and agri-environmental policies. The ARIP, which is restructured by the ASP, is
supported by a World Bank Loan Agreement (Çağatay 2011).
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies … 167

6.6 The Aftermath of the Reforms

The reform process of national agro-food policies in the MPCs has resulted in a
more liberalised agricultural sector, lower input subsidies and relaxation of import
protection. It is argued that liberalisation will ultimately result in more efficient and
competitive agricultural sectors, thereby enabling the countries to overcome
problems induced by over-protected economies, such as heavy costs incurred by
protecting agriculture using consumer and producer subsidies, distortion of pro-
duction decisions, causes of market inefficiencies, etc.
On the other hand, the real impact of these reforms is often put under ques-
tioning, as it is argued that liberalisation (given the low productivity in most MPCs)
could have adverse impacts especially to small farmers and low-income house-
holds, while also serving as an incentive for a more extensive exploitation of the
scarcely available natural resources and increasing the MPC’s susceptibility to
international price fluctuations.
Overall, the structural adjustments have indeed led to decreased levels of support
and more open economies, but evidence thus far, does not show compelling pro-
gress in productivity/competitiveness which is a necessity in order to increase food
security. Moreover, poverty in rural areas has hardly been tackled as the gap
between rural and urban incomes remains very high.

6.7 Agro-Food Policies: Future Outlook and Suggestions

The MENA region is comprised of countries with a considerable deficit in external

food trade, low self-sufficiency rates even for staple food and a large reliance on
food imports. At the same time, several MPC still have highly protective agricul-
tural sectors that operate under schemes of duties, tariffs as well as producer sub-
sidies. In recent years this protectionism has been reduced gradually as MPCs are
being incorporated in the globalised economy, entering world trade organisations
and signing bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. However, liberalisation has
not yet been fully adopted, while several critical aspects of food policy agendas
have not been addressed as not all reforms have met their intended objectives. In
this respect, the main challenge for future agro-food policy in the MPCs will be to
achieve a sustainable growth of agricultural output in order to alleviate pov-
erty and reduce dependency on imports, preserving at the same time the
scarcely available natural resources. This involves a carefully planned policy
agenda that will tackle four main issues, namely resources availability, reduction of
food dependency, productivity growth and alleviation of rural poverty.
For the past decades, agricultural sectors in the MPC relied on state protec-
tionism and subsidies, and aid to farmers as well as consumer subsidies for staple
goods. This paradigm has been changing as MPCs are liberalising their economies,
but the adaptation process has neither concluded nor will it be an easy one; lib-
eralisation will increase the exposure of domestic sectors to global competition, and
168 K. Mattas et al.

given their generally low level of competitiveness, adaptation to changing market

needs remains a question. As an illustration, even in the EU—which is the biggest
trading partner of the MPCs—the relaxation of its trade barriers (due to WTO
agreements) appears to have offset the advantages of the EU—Mediterranean
preferential agreements for the benefit of other, more competitive, third countries
(Galanopoulos et al. 2009).
In the past, attempts by governments to increase self-sufficiency had limited
effectiveness, as they were based on producer (and consumer) subsidies that led to
resource mismanagement, while also favouring the larger producers. In the next
years agricultural policies in the MPCs will have to shift not only to a more open
system, but also to a well-targeted scheme that will have certain key priorities, so as
to improve infrastructures and human capital. In addition, particular emphasis will
have to be placed in designing and implementing effective rural development plans
that will attempt to reduce the poverty in rural areas. The EU, being the most
important trading partner of the MPCs, could play a critical role in assisting the
reform process. The EU would need to strengthen its relations with the region and
introduce more mechanisms to support the modernisation of agricultural sectors in
the MPCs. Specific policies for assisting cooperation in research and rural devel-
opment are necessary as agricultural extension and research, along with public
support on infrastructures can have a significant impact on the productivity of
MPCs’ agriculture. In fact, agricultural extension and research, along with public
support on infrastructures, can likely have a significant impact on the productivity
growth of MPC agriculture, while also achieving a minimal distortion impact on
production and trade. R&D investments are quite necessary to be targeted on
efficient use of fresh-water and/or re-use of treated water, new varieties, harvesting
and post-harvesting techniques, etc. (CEDARE 2009).
The gradual modernisation of the agricultural sectors in the MPCs and the
liberalisation of their trade policies could have a positive impact not merely on
agricultural sectors, but on the whole national economies. Byerlee et al. (2009)
showed that agriculture can be a driving force acting as a trigger to the whole
economic growth of an emerging country, by having a favourable impact on four
other pillars, i.e. poverty reduction, equity by gender, food security and environ-
mental sustainability.
However, these are not the only problems faced by the MPCs. There are several
others that may not refer directly to the agricultural sector but may have a con-
siderable impact on its structure and performance. The political and social turmoil
in the last couple of years, fuelled by the 2007/08 food prices crisis, has given rise
to social unrest to a number of MPCs (mainly Tunisia, Egypt and Syria) and
stressed the need for democratic governance and transparency. Agriculture in these
countries will definitely be affected and predictions are difficult to make. In this
respect, future agro-food policies in the region in order to have a meaningful impact
will ultimately have to “… be an integral part of national and regional development
agendas … the chief aim should not be to liberalize trade but to set trade policies
that secure social, economic, and cultural rights for all, as illuminated in the UN
Millennium Development Goals” (Mohamadieh et al. 2007).
6 Agriculture and the Evolution of Agricultural Policies … 169

References

African Economic Outlook. (2011). Algeria 2011. www.africaneconomicoutlook.org.

El Mekki, A. A. (2011). Country Report MOROCCO. SustainMED Project.
Alvarez-Coque, J. M. G. (2012). Agriculture in North Africa: A chance for development.
mediterranean policy program. Series on the Region and the Economic. The German Marshall
Fund for the US, pp. 1–7.
Awwad, H. (2003). Euro-Mediterranean agriculture trade policies: Are they sustainable? In F.
Jacquet & F. Lerin (Eds.), Libre-échange, agriculture et environnement: L’ Euro-Méditerranée
et le développement rural durable: état des lieux et perspectives. Options Méditerranéennes :
Série A. Séminaires Méditerranéens; n. 52, 103–111.
Belghazi, S. (2012). Scenarios for the agricultural sector in South and East mediterranean
countries by 2030. Case Network Reports, No. 109.
Breisinger, C., Rheenen van T., Ringler, C., Pratt, A. N., Minot, N., Aragon, C. et al., (2010). Food
Security and Economic Development in the Middle East and North Africa. International Food
Policy Research Institute Discussion Paper 00985.
Byerlee, D., Janvry, A., & Sadoulet, D. (2009). Agriculture for development: Toward a new
paradigm. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 1, 1–20.
Çağatay, S. (2011). Country Report TURKEY. SustainMED Project.
CEDARE (Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe). (2009).
Country specific social and economic conditions for farming systems in mediterranean partner
countries. Report presented to the European Union.
El Hindi, A., Al Ashkar, H. (2011). Country Report Lebanon. SustainMED Project.
Galanopoulos, K., Surry, Y., & Mattas, K. (2011). Agricultural productivity growth in the Euro-
Med Region: Is there evidence of convergence? Outlook on Agriculture, 40(1), 39–44.
Galanopoulos, Κ., Nilsson, F., Lindberg, E., & Surry, Y. (2009). Fruit and vegetable production in
the New Millennium: Will mediterranean production satisfy increasing European demand?
Outlook on Agriculture, 38(3), 235–242.
IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development). (2003). Assessment of rural poverty:
Middle East and North Africa, Rome.
Lindberg, E., Nilsson, O. L. F., Surry, Y. (2006). National Agricultural Policies Synthesis Report.
Working paper, MEDFROL project.
Minot, N., Chemingui, M. A., Thomas, M., Dewina, R., Orden, D. (2010). Trade liberalization and
poverty in the Middle East and North Africa. International Food Policy Research Institute
Monograph. ISBN 978-0-89629-174-4.
Mohamadieh, K., Shaw, J., De France, J. (2007). The Arab Region and trade liberalisation
policies. A Look into Sectoral Implications. The Arab NGO Network for Development.
Available online: http://www.annd.org/english/data/publications/pdf/15.pdf.
Soliman, I. (2011). Country Report Jordan. SustainMED Project.
Soliman, I., Mashhour, A., Gaber, M. (2011). Country report Egypt. SustainMED project.
Thabet, B. (2011a). Country report Libya. SustainMED project.
Thabet, B. (2011b). Country report Tunisia. SustainMED project.
Chapter 7
Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern
and Eastern Mediterranean Countries

Lorena Tudela-Marco, José María García Álvarez-Coque

and Victor Martínez-Gómez

7.1 Introduction

In the framework of their trade policies aiming at a gradual opening of their

agricultural markets, Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) are
involved in deepening their relationships with the EU. The Euro-Mediterranean
relationship framed by the European Neighborhood Policy pursues a trade liber-
alization agenda covering agriculture, fishery and processed agricultural products.
On 14th December 2011, the Council authorized the Commission to open bilateral
negotiations to establish Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs)
with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. These DCFTAs go beyond trade liber-
alization to cover other regulatory issues relevant to trade, such as investment
protection and public procurement. The process also encompasses agreements
among SEMCs themselves. This process joins the Agadir Economic Agreement
between Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt (2004), which remains open to other
Arab Mediterranean countries or to a set of bilateral trade agreements involving
SEMCs.
Trade liberalization is combined with an “accompanying” program concerning
rural development, the promotion of Mediterranean products, and plans to liberalize
services and investments. The result of this process of trade liberalization has been a
large network of agreements which covers trade but also cooperation in a vast range
of areas of mutual interest including security, democracy, justice and sector poli-
cies, with the aim of promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.

L. Tudela-Marco
J.M.G. Álvarez-Coque (&)
V. Martínez-Gómez

Group of International Economics and Development, Universitat Politècnica de València,
València, Spain
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 171

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_7
172 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

In the following pages, a set of critical aspects regarding trade policies in the
region is discussed. After examining the trade patterns in some major food staples
in the region, we discuss the link with domestic concerns and food security in the
region. Then, we refer to the lack of understanding on the way agriculture has been
considered by agricultural and trade policies in the Mediterranean region. We will
move to the analysis of the main issues in the EU-Mediterranean association, with
reference to some specific topics, myths and realities of trade liberalization in the
region. After that, we focus on policy recommendations for the future agenda of
cooperation.

7.2 Trade Background

To date, the EU has largely dominated the agricultural trade relations of SEMCs.
Morocco shows a positive agricultural trade balance with the EU but other SEMCs,
in particular Algeria and Egypt, show a large deficit vis-à-vis the EU. The pre-
ponderance of the EU is also explained by the absence of understanding among
SEMCs themselves and their failure to achieve South-South integration in spite of
initiatives such as the Agadir Agreement. Trade flows between the two shores of the
Mediterranean indicate a high degree of complementarity: SEMCs are traditional
importers of EU’s temperate products and simultaneously exchange Mediterranean
products. Some instances from the last few years’ trade data illustrate this com-
plementarity: while on average about 10 % of EU agricultural exports have SEMCs
as their destination, SEMC markets account for close to 20 % of sugar and sugar
confectionery exported by the EU and a noticeable 45 % of EU’s cereals exports.
On the other hand, SEMCs are the origin of about 7 % of EU imports, but for
vegetables this share is close to 40 % and for fruits it is about 20 %.
However, the EU as a trading partner is losing relevance as trade diversifies
towards other countries outside the EU, in particular extra-regional powers like the
US and large emergent countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa). In
fact, nowadays about two-thirds of food imports in SEMCs are purchased at
countries outside the Euro-Mediterranean zone. The United States ranks as the
leading supplier for basic agricultural commodities (mainly grains, in particular
maize and soybeans) in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Algeria. Imports from
Brazil are also increasing (mainly beef, soybeans and sugar), and Russia and the
Ukraine are becoming major exporters of cereals to the Mediterranean region.
Figures 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 illustrate the main origins of SEMC imports for a set of
basic products. While trade diversification is a valuable strategy, these develop-
ments can reflect the lack of confidence on the possibilities to create a common
economic space in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 173

Fig. 7.1 Main origins of

SEMC maize imports (2009).
Note The SEMCs aggregated
are Algeria, Egypt, Israel,
Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco,
Tunisia and Turkey. RoW
Rest of the World. Source
FAOSTAT

Fig. 7.2 Main origins of

SEMC wheat imports (2009).
Note The SEMCs aggregated
are Algeria, Egypt, Israel,
Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco,
Tunisia and Turkey. RoW
Rest of the World. Source
FAOSTAT

7.3 Links Between Trade Patterns and Agricultural

Policies

Trade patterns in the region are clearly connected with the domestic situation, as
regards to natural conditions and farm and social structures (Garcia Alvarez-Coque
2012). In most SEMCs, there is a sharp dualism between traditional agriculture and
modern agriculture. Traditional agriculture continues to be poorly integrated into
the market and is highly dependent on weather conditions in rain-fed areas. In
contrast, modern agriculture, consisting of large farms oriented toward exporting, is
found mainly in irrigated areas devoted to fruit, vegetables and cultivated plains of
grain and olive trees.
174 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

Fig. 7.3 Main origins of

SEMC soybean imports
(2009). Note The SEMCs
aggregated are Algeria,
Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia
and Turkey. RoW Rest of the
World. Source FAOSTAT

Fig. 7.4 Main origins of

SEMC refined sugar imports
(2009). Note The SEMCs
aggregated are Algeria,
Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia
and Turkey. RoW Rest of the
World. Source FAOSTAT

Although SEMCs have made considerable efforts to improve their agricultural

conditions, in general terms they continue to struggle with a poor endowment of
cultivable land and water. Grain yields in rain-fed areas remain low in Morocco,
Tunisia and Algeria, where the yield per hectare is between 1 and 2 tons.
Agriculture is still the main livelihood of a substantial part of the rural poor in the
region. Close to three quarters of the poor in SEMCs live in rural areas. Although
agricultural production has increased in the region due to the efforts to enlarge the
irrigated agricultural area, it remains highly variable due to harsh weather condi-
tions. Food dependency has a lot to do with the agricultural constraints.
Simultaneously, there are also demand-side problems: food consumption con-
tinues to grow in a context of demographic change and urbanization. The
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 175

dependency problem is paradoxically aggravated by the emergence of the middle

classes, keen to shift their diet and consumption patterns. This has been a conse-
quence of economic growth and, at the same time, a reflection of the failure of
domestic agricultural production to meet the food needs of the population. The
direct consumption of cereals has been declining while being replaced by indirect
consumption as feed for livestock. Another crucial element in food dependency is
demography. Its evolution is quite varied in the region, with populations in the
Maghreb countries growing a little over 1 % annually after the decrease in popu-
lation growth experienced in recent decades, and significantly higher growth, about
2 % annually, in Egypt.
Fostering the productive sector has been a recurrent leitmotiv in many SEMCs to
increase food security and alleviate poverty. In the past century, development
options chosen in the fifties and sixties did not get the expected results: the revi-
talization of the agricultural sector, often based on land reforms accompanied by
large-scale irrigation projects, had limited impact. Later in the eighties the structural
adjustment programs included trade liberalization measures and the reduction of
public transfers to agriculture. In the last decades, SEMC policies have hesitated
between the exploitation of their comparative advantages in production and exports
of fruits and vegetables, and the support of their more vulnerable traditional farming
to reduce dependency on imports of the basic staples. For these objectives, pro-
grams like the Green Morocco Plan, launched in 2008, have given to irrigated
agriculture a strategic role in national development. With the political crisis after the
Arab revolutions, agricultural policies in many countries in the region remain weak
and still need to build up confidence of economic agents. In fact, the governance
deficits and the lack of a transparent regulatory environment constrain investment
and international cooperation.
Turning now explicitly to trade policies, the first thing to state is that the situ-
ation is not the same for all SEMCs. In spite of the wide range of shared problems
faced by agriculture and development in the region, there is still a long way to go
until the Mediterranean countries reach a common vision on the role of agricultural
policies in the future. Policy convergence across the region is not a must per se. But
existing differences reflect the difficulties for international cooperation and coher-
ence of policies. The lack of a common view can be illustrated by the approaches
followed by different countries in the region as to how agriculture can be inserted in
the multilateral trading system. The experience of agricultural trade negotiations
shows a variety of positions among SEMCs with respect to the Doha Agenda.
While the EU argues the need to reform farm policies through reallocating support
towards policies of a less distorting nature, namely policies addressed to decoupled
payments and public goods (e.g. “green payments”), other countries in the
Mediterranean region seem to be reluctant to farm subsidies. Moreover, the EU
direct payments are normally seen by SEMCs as a signal of the double standards in
the interpretation of the world trading system that favours EU farmers with respect
to farmers in the South and East of the Mediterranean basin.
What is common in agricultural policies in the region? Perhaps the defence of
flexible rules for trade liberalization, as most countries in the region have vulnerable
176 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

agricultural areas and many of them suffer import dependence on basic food staples
(Abis 2012; García Alvarez-Coque et al. 2012). However, as indicated in the
previous section, even with this significant pressure, many countries in the region
point to improving their exporting agriculture and see their market access in other
countries increased. The case of Turkey is different and takes a more protectionist
stand, as it argues for limited trade liberalization for special products.
Let us consider two case studies of Mediterranean countries with two alternative
approaches for agricultural and trade policies, Morocco and Turkey (see Compés
et al. 2013, for further details). Both cases reflect policies that accept trade spe-
cialization, but with a more open trade setting in the case of Morocco than in
Turkey. Policy approaches are different as Morocco insists on improving the
competitiveness of its export sector, while Turkey remains more cautious about
how to adapt the more vulnerable farms. Turkey is one of the more developed and
richer countries in the region. It is also its biggest agricultural producer. Turkey has
an incomplete Custom Agreement with the EU and it has been a candidate country
for decades. Morocco, at a lower human development rank, has evolved from
preferential trade status towards advanced association status.

7.3.1 Morocco

Morocco has relied on agriculture for its economic development but its performance
has usually been below expectations. Morocco’s agriculture has clear advantages in
land and labour, a long producing season, relative proximity to the EU markets, and
a history of trading relationships with European countries, especially France. A
dynamic exporting cluster is combined with traditional agriculture.
However, Moroccan agricultural potential is restricted by severe dry conditions
in many regions, over-exploitation of water resources, inadequate irrigation tech-
niques, weak farm structures, complexity of the land tenure system, illiteracy,
unequal land property, weak institutional capacity, insufficient extension, research
and marketing services, weak farming structures and high dependency on very few
export commodities and export destinations.
Since 2008, Morocco has been implementing the Green Morocco Plan (GMP) as
a major tool to reduce poverty and to improve competitiveness. Under its Pillar 1,
the Plan is expected to create 1.15 million jobs by 2020 with a projected annual
investment of 0.9 billion euro. Irrigation plans involve the transformation of
550.000 ha until 2020. The plan is intended to have an impact on more than
400,000 farms, both small family-run ones and intensive agri-food firms. The
GMP’s Pillar 2 focuses on the solidarity support of small-holder agriculture through
improving the most vulnerable farms, especially in remote areas. Under this Pillar,
300–400 social projects are registered under the regional agricultural plans.
In the years previous to the GMP, Morocco signed a set of trade agreements with
the aim of promoting agricultural exports as a means to ensure earnings that help to
alleviate its dependency on foreign basic staples. Among them, the aforementioned
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 177

Agadir agreement and the FTA with Turkey are two examples of South-South
cooperation, while the US–Morocco agreement and the Association Agreement
with the EU are cases of North–South integration. While the US–Morocco agree-
ment has certainly not translated into a boom of Moroccan exports (Akesby 2010),
the Association Agreement witnesses less straightforward assessments.
The approach followed in the Association Agreements for agricultural goods
follows a stepwise procedure: gradual liberalization extensions are agreed once
evaluations of the previous compromises and political negotiations are carried out.
The agreement grants preferential access to agricultural products from the other
partner. Preferential concessions to Morocco take several forms: in the most cases,
there is full exemption from tariffs, while for other products this exemption is
limited to a tariff-rate quota, often limited seasonally. In addition, another con-
cession for certain fruits and vegetables consists of a reduced entry price, which acts
as a sort of minimum import price for a series of fresh fruit and vegetables, quite
often coupled with quantitative limits and seasonal application.
The last review of this EU–Moroccan Free Trade Agreement faced strong
opposition in the European Parliament due partly to additional concessions to
Morocco, though the final vote was favorable in February 2012.1 This can be
understood as a sign of political support to Morocco’s reforms and as a clear step
towards further trade integration. In an attempt to offer something to the opponents,
in an accompanying resolution, Parliament called on the Commission to monitor
strict application of border measures, such as the tariff quotas applied on tomato
imports, and controls on the entry price system. The resolution also requested an
assessment of the impact on European farming.

7.3.2 Turkey

Turkey is a country with a diversified agriculture, to a great extent based on small

farms, many of them not very productive. Agriculture is not only an economic
sector, but plays an important social role. Its agricultural adjustment follows the
trend of the emerging countries. Plans for the conversion of Turkish agriculture
have led to a gradual liberalisation and a paternalistic agricultural policy, based on
payments recently linked to production. Turkey’s huge export potential is based on
value chains yet to be organised, with significant orientation towards extra-EU
markets and limited harmonisation of quality standards with the EU. Food security
concerns also apply in Turkey, with changing consumption patterns. The variety of
climatic zones allows the production of grains, but this is vulnerable to international
competition.

1
In the following section, an assessment of the value of the preferences given under this review is
presented.
178 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

The extent of the liberalization of agricultural products in the Custom Union is

still limited so full membership of Turkey in the EU could have significant effects
on agriculture on both sides. EU accession began in 2005. In May 2012, the
Turkish government and the European Commission declared the need to implement
a “positive agenda” to push the negotiations. Difficulties are amplified in a political
setting of growing nationalist pressures in both Turkey and the EU, and an unstable
macroeconomic climate. Closing positions are also constrained by the substantial
differences that still exist in approaches to agricultural policy and rural
development.
Turkey’s agricultural policy tends to pursue self-sufficiency. Turkey applies
market distortions through compensatory payments and subsidies linked to output.
In 2001, Turkey introduced direct payments not too different from decoupled
payments but they were withdrawn in 2009. So the policy evolution has been
contradictory to that of the reformed CAP, which introduced decoupled payments
(Ruiz et al. 2012). The interventionist approach of agricultural policy in Turkey is a
special case in the OECD area. Most transfers to agriculture remain based on
support mechanisms related to production and at market prices. Green box pay-
ments are practically non-existent.
Accession to the EU is expected to cause a significant impact on agricultural
systems in certain geographic areas, forecasting a significant drop in the levels of
protection for potatoes, table grapes, sunflower, corn and barley. These falls could
be softened in the context of future international markets, with an expected rise in
prices of livestock products. Although the costs of membership may be attenuated
by a gradual transition, the family farm model is threatened, which is a common
challenge in both the EU-27 and Turkey. Farm structures are atomized and over
90 % of holdings do not exceed 20 ha, with an average farm size of 6 ha.
EU membership will be a challenge for small producers, who will have to adapt
not only to a new type of consumer or concentrated distribution, but also to the food
safety standards in force in the Union. The integration of producers into coopera-
tives and other types of organizations varies by sector, with examples of cooper-
ative unions such as Marmarabirlik Taris and the olive oil sector, with less success
in the fruit and vegetable sector. The impact of accession would require adjustments
in Turkish agriculture. But the market exposure of small farms in the Member
States and in Turkey involves more or less similar challenges.

7.4 Issues in the Euro-Med Partnership

In the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, trade is not the least controversial topic.

A great number of studies have underlined the need to overcome the controversies
fuelled by the interest groups opposed to trade liberalization. In Europe, pressures
emerge from firms and workers of import-sensitive sectors. There are also concerns
related to the impact on the environment, in particular the impact of intensive
agriculture on global warming and water resources. Critics also argue that trade
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 179

liberalization hampers small-scale farmers, who represent the majority of the poor
in rural areas. Lack of trust also appears in many SEMCs, where the EU approach
to extend the scope of trade liberalization is seen supposedly as “colonialist”. These
views usually present Euro-Mediterranean agreements as tools through which
developed countries transfer their economic values into developing countries.
All in all, the distribution of trade impacts results in winners and losers within
the countries concerned, and these can be regions, sectors, consumers, workers or
firms. The role of agricultural policies in the region is to define an agenda that
makes it possible for both the SEMCs and the EU to favour the impact on losers
that can be minimized, compensated or avoided.
A great number of reports have studied the effects of the Euro-Med Agreements,
including aspects of agricultural trade liberalization.2 These works pay attention to
the following outcomes:3
• In general, the Barcelona process has not had significant impact on EU-SEMC
trade. Progress in expanding trade, fostering investment, and accelerating con-
vergence is below expectations.
• The agreement with Turkey has had significant effects on imports and exports.
• The Agadir agreement had a positive (but not significant) effect on increasing
trade between country partners.
• Aggregate liberalisation impacts on sensitive products in the Northern shore of
the Mediterranean basin (fruits, vegetables, and olive oil) are expected to be
small, but concentrated in certain producing areas and seasons. This concen-
tration of losses in specific areas would make it easy to devise accompanying
policies for the losers, but this is not taken into account in EU policies. The
SustainMED project’s WP4 suggests that a great deal of effort should be put into
strengthening the value chains.
• The production potential in SEMCs is not unlimited. Water resources are a
constraint in all the countries except for Turkey. The lack of organisation of the
fruit and vegetables sector and the weak implementation of standards are cur-
rently constraining the export potential. However, an increase in direct foreign
investment has been observed in recent years (mainly in Turkey and Morocco),
which have contributed to the exporters in the region complying with EU
standards.
• Consumers of SEMCs, particularly in urban areas, will gain significantly from
cheaper food prices, particularly prices of cereals and cereal-based food prod-
ucts. However, prices should not be artificially cheaper through untargeted
subsidy programs (see below).

2
Some of them have been supported by the EU research programmes, such as SustainMED (or the
previous project EUMED-AGPOL) or are linked to international organisations (e.g. IFPRI,
IEMED, CSER/CEPS, CEPR, CIHEAM, IMF, etc.).
3
See Garcia Alvarez-Coque (2002), Kuiper (2004), De Wulf, and Maliszewska (2009), Rastoin
(2009), Emlinger (2010) and Abis (2011).
180 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

• Small holders in the SEMCs, mainly in rain-fed crops, directly suffer from trade
liberalization.
• The growth potential of EU agricultural exports to the SEMC markets is
probably significant.
• Environmental pressures emerge linked to the increase of activities and
urbanisation in coastal areas and the intensification of agriculture. The improved
transport infrastructure will increase pressures on natural resources and
biodiversity.
• The Mediterranean diet is negatively affected by the agro-industrial model of
mass production.
Can trade liberalization continue? The answer depends partly on the SEMC
countries to take advantage of the new opportunities. And this fact is related to their
capacity to overcome domestic weaknesses, which have been enumerated above.

7.5 Selected Topics in Trade Liberalization

In this section we highlight some recent findings related to agri-food trade in this
area. These findings, stemming from some of the research carried out within the
SustainMED project found that some of the conventional thoughts about the impact
of trade policies are confirmed, while others have to be qualified. In particular, the
current section below discusses the following points: (i) The scope of the prefer-
ences given to Morocco as a result of the last review of the Morocco–EU protocol;
(ii) The impact of trade liberalization in fruit and vegetables, which are among the
main exporting interests of SEMCs; (iii) The extent to which non-tariff measures
(NTMs) are applied similarly by the countries in the Mediterranean region; and (iv)
The underlying factors affecting NTMs applied by the EU on developing countries,
in particular on some exporters in the region. We discuss, using EU data, to which
extent food alerts and border notifications are related to certain variables, namely
whether the implementation of NTMs depends on the import country within the EU
or the export countries supplying the EU market.

7.5.1 The Scope of Trade Preferences in the Reviewed

EU–Morocco Protocol

As indicated in previous sections, one of the cornerstones of the integration has

been the signature of the Association Agreements. The agricultural protocols in
such agreements have been reviewed, to various degrees, depending on the country,
leading to gradual trade liberalization between the EU and the corresponding
SEMC. In the case of Morocco, the Association Agreement was signed in 1996,
coming into force in 2000. The first review of agricultural protocol took effect in
2003 and the European Parliament approved the last review in 2012.
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 181

As a result of such a review, the majority of Moroccan products are nowadays

exported duty-free to the EU. Indeed, this is the main trade preference granted to
Morocco. However, for certain products that are sensitive for certain EU producers,
some restraints remain and preferences are then limited.
In particular, the entry price system remains in application and, for some fresh
products, the preferences granted to Moroccan goods consist of a reduced entry
price. This provision applies to tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, artichokes, sweet
oranges, clementines, table grapes, apricots and peaches. The last three products
were added in the last review from 2012, while the other six had already been
granted a reduced entry price since 2000. For other products that are not protected
with the entry price such as garlic or strawberries, the preference granted consists of
a tariff-rate quota.
In addition to the restrictive effect of the entry price system itself—see
Agrosynergie (2008), Cioffi and dell’Aquila (2004), Goetz and Grethe (2009) and
Santeramo and Cioffi (2012) for thorough evaluations of the system—a seasonal
quota is set for some of these products. They are tomatoes—with monthly quotas
gradually increasing until the full implementation of the reviewed agreement—
cucumbers, courgettes and fresh clementines. Quantities exported beyond this quota
do not benefit from the reduced entry price, but usually still enjoy reduced tariffs.
The reduced entry price is not constrained by a quota on the other products.
With this framework, an assessment of the last review of the Agricultural
Agreement is presented here. The aim of this assessment is to compute the mon-
etary value of the preferences given to Moroccan exporters, also comparing it with
the same value in the previous preferential conditions. To do so, the Value of the
Preference Margin (VPM) granted by the EU to Morocco is calculated. This
indicator corresponds to the tariff revenue forgone by the EU as giving Morocco a
preferential border treatment compared to the Most Favored Nation (MFN) con-
ditions, and hence indicates the monetary size of the potential economic transfer to
Morocco due to the preference. In fact, the preference can be transformed in market
advantages compared to non-preferential competing products, either through a
lower market price that permits gains in market share, or through a greater price
received by exporters per unit sold (Grethe 2005). By definition, it is the difference
in prices received by preferential and non-preferential exporters multiplied by the
quantity that is exported under these conditions.
When the preference is expressed in terms of an ad valorem tariff reduction, the
formula to calculate the VPM is (7.1):

ðtMFN  tP Þ
VPM ¼ P P qP ð7:1Þ
1 þ tMFN

where t stands for the ad valorem tariffs (or ad valorem equivalents) for the
exporters, each type noted by the subscripts MFN and p (MFN and preferential).
P and q correspond, respectively, to the prices and quantities exported under the
preferential regime. Martinez-Gomez (2008) proposed a modification of formula
(7.1) to consider cases where entry prices are applied and the preferences consist of
182 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

reduced entry prices. In this case, two elements of the value of the preference were
added, one due to the reduced entry price and the other related to the reduced ad
valorem custom duty for countries benefiting from preferences.
We have used these formulae in two fruits—clementines and oranges—and two
vegetables—cucumbers and tomatoes. All of them are relevant products in the trade
of fruit and vegetables from Morocco to the EU. In the last years, among all the
fresh tomatoes imported by the EU, about three quarters have originated in
Morocco, and about 90 % of tomatoes exported by Morocco are sent to the EU. In
the case of cucumbers, Morocco sends about one half of its exports to the EU and
Morocco represents about 12 % of the value of extra-EU imports of this product.
Among the citrus fruits, clementines from Morocco account for about 40 % of
extra-EU imports, and this market represents close to 20 % of total Moroccan
clementine exports. In the case of Moroccan fresh sweet oranges, they cover more
than 10 % of EU imports, while the EU is the destination of above 50 % of the
Moroccan fresh orange exports.
The VPM of the previous and the current agreements are compared in Table 7.1.
The last review of the Agricultural Agreement increased by more than one third the
value of the potential transfers granted to Morocco in the group of fruit and veg-
etables considered, reaching about 50.5 million Euros after the full implementation
of the agreement. Another remark is that the gains calculated in the VPM are due to
the enlarged quotas with reduced entry price, with the exception of oranges, where
the quota is eliminated but trade flows are experiencing a downward trend.
Source: authors’ calculations
In particular, tomatoes accrue about 60 of the VPM of the group of products
considered. Whereas this figure might seem quite high, it is not, considering that the
yearly value of Moroccan tomatoes exported to the EU is about 250 million Euros.
Therefore, preferences account for about 10 % of the trade value in this product. In
the other products, the VPM values are more modest in absolute terms, also being
modest relative to the trade value in the case of the two citrus fruits—about
15–20 % of the trade value. Conversely, for cucumbers the potential gains boost up
to 4.6 million Euros, which is greater than the current trade value. It reflects the
fact that the new quotas set increased significantly in this case compared to the

Table 7.1 Comparison of the value of preference margin for selected Moroccan products:
previous and current agreement
VPM (€) VPM (€)
Previous agreement Current agreement
(full implementation after 4 years)
Tomatoes 21,877,477 30,628,468
Cucumbers 1,702,768 4,597,474
Oranges 6,057,621 6,057,621
Clementines 7,553,175 9,214,873
Overall VPM (€) 37,191,041 50,498,436
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 183

quantities currently traded; therefore, there might be a wide opportunity for

Moroccan exporters to increase their consignments to the EU under the new
preferential circumstances.
In any event, what is uncertain is the medium-term evolution of the productive
potential of these products, as a result of the investments made in the light of the
GMP which may foster the sectors with good market perspectives.

7.5.2 Simulating F&V Trade Liberalization

Literature on the Euro-Mediterranean trade liberalization provides some insights

from different theoretical approaches. From a general equilibrium perspective, a
recent paper by Boulanger et al. (2013) produced simulations considering simul-
taneous trade liberalization and increased foreign direct investment and capital
flows. While their results indicate general productivity gains, in the agri-food sector
the effects are not fully conclusive, such as in the case of food security for SEMCs.
Their results also highlight the distorting role played by NTMs in trade in the area
—subsequent sessions of this chapter discuss NTMs.
From another approach, the partial equilibrium models allow representing in
more detail trade policies that may affect sectors or groups of products (Paris et al.
2010). Among this perspective, trade in the Mediterranean area is framed by a
series of regulations such as TRQs, entry prices or seasonality that make this
approach advisable. Several studies on this token have been carried out by Britz
et al. (2006), Bunte (2005), Garcia Alvarez-Coque et al. (2009, 2010) and Kavallari
(2009).
As mentioned above, the policies applied by the EU to protect its fruit and
vegetable markets consist of tariffs, TRQs, entry prices and seasonal variations.
Hence, a set of partial equilibrium simulations was carried out under the
SustainMED project considering these specificities to depict the EU import market
for fruit and vegetables.4 The simulations were carried out for monthly or shorter
periods, taking into account seasonality in the preferential and MFN trade policies.
We considered a number of origins for every product—namely intra-EU origins,
Morocco, other SEMCs of relevance depending on the product, and the rest of the
world. The import demand is distributed following a two-stage Armington
approach, meaning imperfect substitutability among products from different origins,
assuming similar elasticity of substitution. The first stage differentiates between
intra-EU and the other suppliers, and the second among the other suppliers. The
composite price “Pc” for the good from the “i” different origins are calculated as
shown in (7.2)

See the Ph.D. dissertation of Hassan Oaubouch for further details on methods and findings. The
4

methodology is explained in Garcia Alvarez-Coque et al. (2009, 2010).

184 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

hX i11=q
Pc ¼ ari P1r
i ð7:2Þ

where ari is a weight factor, σ, the elasticity of substitution weight, and ρ = (σ − 1)/
σ2..
The market prices for every origin were computed considering their respective
export prices, the tariffs applied “t” and a price wedge “w” that incorporates the
effect of entry prices and quotas. This is illustrated in Eq. (7.3):

Pi = Pi
ð1 þ ti þ wi Þ ð7:3Þ

The model is also fed with import demand and export supply behavior param-
eters—the trade elasticities. They were calculated departing from domestic supply
and demand elasticities, and consumption, production, import and export FAO data
for every country.5
Three different scenarios were discussed for the same four products considered
in the previous section: oranges, clementines, tomatoes and cucumbers. The three
scenarios account for different stages of trade liberalization on the EU fruit and
vegetables market. These scenarios evaluated the expected changes in trade flows
and prices compared to the baseline scenario—the average trade flows and prices
for the period 2007–2009. Again, we took Morocco as a reference in two of the
studied scenarios but we also explored the effect of a full removal of trade barriers
by the EU. The scenarios were defined as follows:
Scenario 1: Elimination of the entry price system for Moroccan Fruit and
Vegetables. Other policy instruments such as quotas or the ad valorem tariffs were
kept as they are currently. Thus, this scenario means a partial liberalization of EU
imports from Morocco.
Scenario 2: Full liberalization of imports from Morocco. In this case, besides the
entry price, ad valorem tariffs and quantity limits are eliminated. Therefore, here we
assess a full access of Morocco’s exports to the EU.
Scenario 3: Full trade liberalization of imports from all SEMCs. In this scenario,
the EU eliminates the entry price system, the tariffs and all the quantitative restraints
affecting their imports. Then, it is a full liberalization of EU import markets
granting SEMC products full access.
The average yearly results are shown in the Tables 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 and 7.5 for every
product.6 Changes in sales and in prices refer to each product (origin) sold in the
EU market.
For tomatoes, the first and second scenarios resulted in significant increases for
Moroccan exports, with moderate losses to other partners—inclusive of intra-EU

5
See McCalla and Josling (1985, pp. 36–41) to review the methodology of the trade elasticities
calculation.
6
The monthly detailed results are available upon the authors’ request, and more details are also
available in Ouabouch (2013).
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 185

Table 7.2 Trade impacts of liberalization scenarios: comparison with 2007–2009 data—tomatoes
Scenario 1: EP removal Scenario 2: full trade Scenario 3: full trade
for Morocco liberalization to Morocco liberalization to SEMC
Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in
sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%)
Intra-EU −2.11 −0.39 −2.43 −0.46 −3.68 −0.70
Morocco 92.13 −6.22 111.05 −7.20 109.16 −7.47
Turkey −4.32 −0.16 −5.03 −0.21 92.15 −7.14
Israel −2.46 −0.35 −3.36 −0.36 66.12 −5.86
Tunisia −6.64 −0.02 −6.57 −0.03 93.70 −8.50
Rest of the −4.06 −0.20 −4.72 −0.22 84.56 −6.79
world

Table 7.3 Trade impacts of liberalization scenarios: comparison with 2007–2009 data—
cucumbers
Scenario 1: EP removal Scenario 2: full trade Scenario 3: full trade
for Morocco liberalization to Morocco liberalization to SEMC
Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in
sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%)
Intra-EU −0.06 −0.06 −0.11 −0.11 −0.63 −0.63
Morocco 73.58 −9.48 121.51 −13.88 119.01 −14.24
Turkey 0.01 −0.08 −0.14 −0.11 83.54 −12.08
Rest of the 15.81 −1.21 15.72 −1.25 65.07 −8.37
world

Table 7.4 Trade impacts of liberalization scenarios: comparison with 2007–2009 data—oranges
Scenario 1: EP removal Scenario 2: full trade Scenario 3: full trade
for Morocco liberalization to Morocco liberalization to SEMC
Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in
sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%)
Intra-EU −0.08 −0.08 −0.08 −0.08 −1.49 −1.49
Morocco 13.91 −1.27 13.91 −1.27 8.76 −2.37
Turkey −0.47 −0.04 −0.47 −0.04 36.79 −4.43
Israel −0.49 −0.04 −0.42 −0.04 8.43 −2.28
Tunisia −0.49 −0.05 −0.45 −0.05 2.72 −2.05
Rest of the −0.78 −0.01 −0.78 −0.01 246.95 −10.87
world
186 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

Table 7.5 Trade impacts of liberalization scenarios: comparison with 2007–2009 data—
clementines
Scenario 1: EP removal Scenario 2: full trade Scenario 3: full trade
for Morocco liberalization to Morocco liberalization to SEMC
Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in
sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%) sales (%) prices (%)
Intra-EU −0.41 −0.19 −0.51 −0.25 −1.63 −0.82
Morocco 9.63 −2.06 16.68 −3.33 16.22 −3.63
Turkey −0.41 −0.19 −0.51 −0.25 11.09 −4.42
Rest of the −0.24 −0.24 −0.29 −0.29 22.57 −5.04
world

sales. In the third scenario, all the extra-EU partners increase their exports to the EU
at the expense of the intra-EU sales. A noteworthy instance is that the Moroccan
results do not differ significantly between the second and third scenarios. Preference
erosion is observed in Scenarios 1 and 2 with slight losses for Mediterranean
countries other than Morocco. Prices at the EU market of each of the origins
liberalized go down significantly, but the general intra-EU prices don’t fall sig-
nificantly, given the large size of the EU market for tomato. So the conclusion is
that the results of a trade liberalization do not show dramatic changes for the EU
tomato market.
For cucumbers, the first and second scenarios result in significant increases for
Moroccan exports with a little reduction of intra-EU sales. If trade is liberalized for
all the SEMCs, Turkey also greatly benefits from this. All in all, the losses for intra-
EU sales are small. MPC countries would become more competitive with trade
liberalization but the effect on EU internal prices for EU producers would not be
significant, in a context of product differentiation.
Removing barriers in the orange market would only result in noticeable varia-
tions if trade is liberalized for all the SEMCs. In this case, Turkey would be the
country that benefits most. As a consequence of this scenario, the intra-EU sales
would be affected by a small but noticeable reduction.
In the case of clementines, when trade is liberalized for the SEMC, the gains for
them are moderate in terms of additional exports to the EU, and they happen at the
expense of intra-EU sales. In the other scenarios, the increases in exports that
Morocco experiences are moderate.
In general terms, the results presented here show that trade liberalization,
including the removal of entry prices for Morocco would boost its exports for the
two vegetables. These are the cases where its effect seems more protective. In all the
products, eliminating the entry price for Morocco would not affect domestic prices
in the EU to a significant extent. Moreover, our results indicate that trade liberal-
ization in EU markets would not result in dramatic price and sales changes for EU
producers, in spite of the fact that extra-EU import flows could rise significantly.
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 187

This is one of the myths that we want to qualify in this section. That the marginal
impact of trade liberalization does not provoke substantial trade impact does not
mean the absence of problems in the value chain for exporters and farmers.
Pressures on prices are in many cases related to the lack of transparency, lack of
organization and asymmetric information among the different agents in the value
chain. Very often, market pressures are attributed to foreign competition when the
source of problems may be perfectly related with the weak functioning of the value
chains.

7.5.3 NTMs in SEMCs

Recent research has clearly illustrated the trade restrictiveness of NTMs (Hoekman
and Nicita 2008; Lloyd et al. 2009; Manole and Spatareanu 2010). However, NTMs
do not necessarily restrict trade; on the contrary, some evidence indicates that many
rules are precisely set to facilitate transparency and predictability. For example,
Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
can bring significant social benefits even to low income countries (Chemnitz et al.
2007), such as reduced agrochemical use and a framework that guides good agri-
cultural and management practices.
As part of their integration process, SEMC countries are in different stages of
harmonization concerning their NTMs (Gonzalez-Mellado et al. 2010). For this
reason, providing knowledge and fostering better harmonization of NTMs in the
Mediterranean area may be helpful in fostering trade rather than restricting it.
We present here a quick view of the estimates of ad valorem equivalents of
NTMs (AVE) by Kee et al. (2009) calculated for the Mediterranean Partner
Countries. Calculating AVE involves converting a non-ad valorem tariff into a
percentage of the value of the product (see Tudela et al. 2013). The group of
countries considered in our study consisted of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon,
Morocco and Tunisia. AVEs were considered for products defined at tariff lines up
to 6 digits of the Harmonised System (HS).
Summarizing the main results, the first element that should be pointed out is that
most SEMCs have AVEs that can be considered as peaks.7 Concretely, 79 % of
products present an AVE value that can be considered as an AVE peak, if we define
it as a value greater than 0.20. In addition, the total AVE peaks over 0.75 is 47.8 %.
Figure 7.5 reflects the situation for the set of products selected, but detailed results

7
We keep the “usual” criteria for identifying peaks: the literature identifies as tariff peaks those
above 0.2 (mentioned in ICTSD 2009). Among these peaks, the modalities document circulated in
the WTO current negotiations, suggests that the highest tariff reductions shall be done in those
where the final bound tariff or ad valorem equivalent is greater than 75 % (World Trade
Organization 2008). Following this, we will identify as “high AVE peaks” those AVE values
greater than 0.75.
188 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

Fig. 7.5 Total AVE of NTMs in MPCs, by AVE class: percent of products in each class. Source
AVE Classes Quick Search, NTM Inventory

Table 7.6 Number of high AVE peaks by product code

Chapter Product description Number of highest Percentage of high AVE
AVE peaks peaks (%)
02 Meat and edible meal 83 13
offal
20 Prep. of vegetables, fruit 80 12
and nuts
08 Edible fruits and nuts 72 11

show that this situation persists in all the studied countries.8 These results suggest
there is still a long way to go until NTMs lose relevance in constraining trade in
SEMCs.
Another finding to highlight is that higher AVE peaks take place mostly in a set
of products: chapters 02 (meat), 08 (fresh fruits) and 20 (processed fruit and veg-
etables) show the highest number of AVE peaks over 0.75. These three chapters
account for above one third of these high peaks. Table 7.6 illustrates the results
concerning the number of high AVE peaks for the countries considered.
The three leading categories in SEMC exports to the EU are fruit, vegetables and
preparations based on these two fresh products. Altogether, they represent 54 % of
MPC exports. The large AVE applied to these products seems somewhat contra-
dictory with the aim of building up at the intra-regional market. Apart from the
“protectionist hypothesis”, sensitiveness to sanitary and phytosanitary problems
may lead to exigent NTMs on certain products. It is interesting to note that all
countries have NTMs with high AVE values for the product code 020629 (edible
offal of bovine animals). That might correspond to concerns regarding consumers’
health protection.

8
These country results are omitted for space reasons, but are available upon the authors’ request.
More details can be found in Tudela et al. (2013).
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 189

Fig. 7.6 Number of AVE by Country by AVE classes and by product: high AVE peaks. Note As
a rule, missing country/period data means that the reporting country had not reported data for that
specific year, e.g.: Jordan chap. 20 in this figure. Source Kee et al. (2009) Authors’ calculations

NTMs in the region are far from being harmonized. Focusing on AVE over 0.75,
Algeria is the country with a larger number of AVE peaks (22 % out of the total)
and Jordan with the least (4 %). It might be understood that Jordan is the country
which is less trade-restricted by NTMs.
Focusing on the two chapters with the greatest number of high AVE peaks (meat
and preparations of fruit and vegetables), the Fig. 7.6 provides a breakdown of the
distribution of the high AVE peaks (over 0.75). For both products, Algeria and
Tunisia show the highest absolute frequency of the high AVE peaks. Egypt and
Jordan have the lowest frequency of high AVE peaks, whereas Morocco seems to
apply more restrictive NTMs on preparations of fruit and vegetables than on meat.

7.5.4 Food Alerts and Notifications by the European Union

Limited resources in developing countries preclude their participation effectively in

the World Trade Organization (WTO) and they are still unable to fully benefit from
the opportunities generated by multilateral agreements (Michalopoulos 1999),
given their lack of capacity to comply with standards and controls. The EU applies
strict standards compared to other standards required in the OECD area. Indeed,
accomplishing the EU standards is still a challenge for import products. However,
according to Grazia et al. (2009), the main exporting sectors from SEMCs are less
affected by border rejections as a consequence of a higher compliance effort
undertaken by exporting countries, including infrastructure, skills, human resour-
ces, control and test procedures.
190 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

7.6 Reputation Effects

Literature on the effect of NTMs is still scarce and does not provide a complete
image on NTMs and the reputation effect on the cross-trade system. This reputation
effect is the core point of the analysis introduced in this section. The underlying
idea under this concept is that one product’s rejections in one year may affect the
probability of future rejections, and that such effects may appear at the product,
sector and country level. All constitute a set of so-called reputation effects.
To our knowledge, there are only two studies that have focused on the reputation
effect regarding the exports of developing countries: the analyses by Baylis et al.
(2010) and by Jouanjean et al. (2012). Departing from these two documents, we
extended knowledge on the reputation effect concerning EU imports.
To do so, the notifications registered by the EU and included in the Rapid Alert
System for Food and Feed (RASFF) were used. The database used consists of 6757
observations representing the number of notifications registered by the EU during
the period of 2000 and 2012 from 21 developing countries, including Turkey and
some other SEMCs. Suppliers in the sample were selected on the basis of their
export volume to the EU and the number of registered notifications. A conditional
fixed-effects negative binomial regression was applied to determine the effects of
certain variables in the number of notifications in the year “t”. Among the
explanatory variables, there are a set of reputation effects—related to the product
and sector, and related to the geographic area and country of origin—as well as
GDP per capita of the originating country, and the growth and volume of imports.9
Taking into account the conventional thoughts stated regarding the effect of trade
policies, the main result from this analysis is that the product reputation effect is
found to be statistically significant, suggesting that NTM decisions are affected by
the past history of the notifications registered: at the product level, the notifications
in the year “t − 1” increase the likelihood of expected notifications in the year “t”
for that same product.
In contrast, sector and country reputation effects are found to be not statistically
significant. Regarding the regional reputation effects, only the variable representing
the reputation effect of the Latin American region shows a positive statistically
significant coefficient. Nevertheless, the quantitative contribution of such an effect
is fairly low. No positive regional effect takes place for the SEMC taken as a region.
Hence, another conventional thought that can be qualified is that the agri-food
exports from the Mediterranean region are particularly discriminated in the EU
border, since the empirical evidence found suggests that it does not happen.

9
All the details of the analysis can be found in Taghouti and Garcia Alvarez-Coque (2013).
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 191

7.7 Differences Between EU Member States

Another conventional thought that can be discussed is as follows: there are different
propensities to issue notifications across different EU borders. One of the reasons
for those different propensities to report notifications might arise from the likeli-
hood of new blights and animal and plant diseases contaminating domestic pro-
ductions in the importing countries. This argument is sometimes used by EU
producers’ organizations, indicating that the “zeal” of border authorities diminishes
in the customs located in countries with low productive levels.
To empirically test this statement, we explored 1123 notifications for fruit and
vegetables, considering which EU Member States issued them.10 We also distin-
guished between notifications related to exports from all the extra-EU origins from
the ones related to the SEMC origins.
The first focus was put on the EU Member States that are big producers of fruit
and vegetables and import low volumes of these products—that includes the
majority of the EU Mediterranean countries. Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus tend to
issue fewer notifications than the rest of the EU Mediterranean countries in general
terms. But the situation switches when the test is restricted to SEMC origins, as
these three countries then have a significantly higher frequency of notifications than
the rest of the EU Mediterranean countries.
Besides this case, Greece’s frequency is more significantly ahead than Italy’s
and Spain’s. Another finding that might be surprising is that Spain issues the least
frequency of notifications out of this entire group of EU Mediterranean Member
States. This again seems to contradict the use of sanitary and phytosanitary rules as
barriers to foreign competitors, since Spain is one of the European fruit and veg-
etable producers more affected by SEMC exports.
Turning our attention to the big EU importers, again some changes in the
ranking appear according to the different origins considered. The most remarkable
fact is that Germany’s frequency is the lowest considering all the extra-EU origins,
while it passes to first position when only SEMC origins are taken into account.
Maybe the strong trade flows with Turkey together with a big number of notifi-
cations affecting the same Turkish product are responsible for this fact. A second
element to stress is that the Northern EU countries show a statistically higher
frequency of notifications than the Benelux, irrespective of the origin considered.
Like in the Spanish case, we could then state that there is little argument for a
disguised barrier to trade posed by the Benelux countries although representing a
significant share of the EU supply for certain vegetables.
In summary, there is no evidence that the implementation of NTMs, included in
the RASFF database, are used by large EU producers of fruit and vegetables as a
disguised form of protectionism.

10
As in the previous case, more details can be found in the SustainMED report “Agricultural trade
liberalization in the Mediterranean region” SustainMED, Deliverable D10. Available at http://
sustainmed.iamm.fr/index.php/publications/project-reports.
192 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

7.8 Concluding Remarks and Policy Implications

for the Euro-Mediterranean Space

The main aim of this chapter has been to analyse the increasing opening of SEMCs’
agricultural markets. In the last decades there has been an increased trend towards
trade liberalization. The trend is confirmed by a set of bilateral trade agreements
involving SEMCs, which have been implemented in recent years. Our analysis
contributed towards illustrating the complex nature of trade liberalization in the
Mediterranean area. Moreover, it drew on the lessons learned from trade policies
and the monitoring of trade liberalization.
Inspite of the important differences between social and political situations among
the SMECs, they share experiences regarding their agricultural situation. Trade
liberalization involves pressures on Mediterranean agriculture and there is a place
for a comprehensive approach that highlights the situation of small farmers and
their vulnerabilities across the region. The key points to underline from our study
are the following:
a. The scope of trade preferences in the reviewed EU–Morocco protocol, based
on a comparison of the value of preferences granted between the previous
agreement and the current situation for selected Moroccan products.
b. Simulating F&V trade liberalization: The results of the different scenarios
studied suggest that the trade liberalization process does not have an overall
negative impact on EU producers. Certainly, it should be noted that problems
and vulnerabilities observed for sectors in the Northern shore are mainly due to
the functioning of the value chains, related to the lack of transparency, weak
organization and inefficient and asymmetric information, rather than competition
from SEMC exports.
c. NTMs in SEMCs and notifications by the EU: According to the results,
SEMCs are in different stages of harmonization of their NTMs. The higher AVE
peaks vary across countries depending on the products, although they are
concentrated on product chapters 02 (meat), 03 (fish), 20 and 22 (processed fruit
and vegetables). Those products are especially sensitive to sanitary and phy-
tosanitary problems. This is consistent with the main result from the analysis of
the RASFF database. Notifications are statistically related to product reputation
effects. By contrast, sector and country reputation effects are found to be not
statistically significant. Specifically, the EU does not show separate regional
effects for the SEMCs taken as a region, so there is no sign of discriminatory
implementation of NTMs by the EU on Mediterranean exporters.
From the facts observed, we can highlight the following elements of the
discussion:
Challenges faced by small farmers in the value chains in the SEMCs are similar
to those observed in Europe, particularly in many parts of Southern and Central
Europe. Linked to different production systems in the region, in the Mediterranean
region various value chain models exist with very different levels of organization.
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 193

Value chains aimed at the domestic market tend to have a lower level of organi-
zation than chains aimed at agricultural exports. The small farms that dominate are
poorly organized and suffer from poor infrastructure and considerable loss of
product. By contrast, large-scale farms, able to meet the demands of European
retailers in terms of plant health and quality, characterize the agro-export chains.
It is not surprising that SEMCs mainly export to Europe, since a South-South
regional market fails to consolidate. Few policies have explored the organization of
the value chain or considered the opportunities offered by transnational cooperation
in the Euro–Mediterranean region. The development of marketing partnerships
could strengthen quality, predictability and speed of supply for all actors in the
value chain.
The decision to reform the CAP in 2013 did not explicitly consider the possi-
bility of partnerships with SEMCs. However, the new CAP discussed some ele-
ments that could be included in a future partnership between countries in the
Mediterranean basin. Among them, two relevant approaches are (i) the organization
of agricultural production chains to ensure the sustainable distribution of value
added, including transnational cooperation; and (ii) measures to help the compet-
itiveness of rural areas based on innovation, preservation of ecosystems, develop-
ment based on local governance and social inclusion. Both approaches support the
idea that it is not only with trade liberalization that a shared development will be
reached in the Euro–Mediterranean region.
We cannot deny the local impacts of agricultural trade liberalization on vul-
nerable agricultural systems. However, this debate has been distorted by the lack of
understanding about the real problems of rural areas. First of all, we have to identify
what should not be observed as problems but as normal challenges related to the
rapid changes in the international economy. Most of these effects can be managed
through targeted policies equipped with adequate instruments. The standard
approach of agricultural policies, which has been based on a large subsidy com-
ponent to farming (including the last CAP’s single payment scheme), might have
been helpful to soften the social impacts of adjustments but it is less effective to
guarantee a sustainable development in rural areas. The new CAP represents a
move to a more targeted support, but links with the provision of public goods are
not yet completed (Mathews 2013).
Why then not talk about a common agenda for agricultural cooperation including
the whole region? The need to strengthen agricultural cooperation between the EU
and Southern Mediterranean countries is urgent. Trade liberalization alone is not
sufficient to alleviate the urgent need for new jobs for rural youth in SEMCs, which
lack infrastructure, education, health, human rights and peace. It is necessary to
support more effective partnerships, which promote an emergent civil society
seeking to build a basis for developing democracy. Trade liberalization in SEMCs
must be accompanied by increased development aid and support to civil society.
The EU initiative for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation is the European
Neighbouring Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD)
which puts agriculture at the core of the relationship between the EU and SEMCs. It
recognises the key role of agriculture in terms of food security, sustainable
194 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

production and rural employment and tries to respond to the challenge of mod-
ernizing agriculture and rural areas in their countries.
As for agriculture, more efforts have to be taken to consolidate cooperation
between economic and social agents. The paper by Compés et al. (2013) lists some
successful initiatives in the field of agricultural and rural cooperation. The condi-
tions for dialogue are being established. The EU and SEMCs can take advantage of
the available expertise in strengthening local initiative networks, involving stake-
holders, NGOs, and public research and extension institutions.
Cooperation can be extended to cover regulatory areas of mutual interest. As far
as agriculture is concerned, the Deauville Partnership launched an agenda in 2011
which covers six priorities: improving market access for agricultural products and
encouraging investment, upgrading standards, promoting agricultural research and
extension, and delivering efficient and sustainable irrigation services. Priority has to
be given to building capacities to provide farmers with adequate information and
training.

Acknowledgments Prof. Garcia-Alvarez-Coque and Ms. Tudela are grateful to the SustainMED
project “Sustainable agri-food systems and rural development in the Mediterranean Partner
Countries” (SustainMED, FP7 European Commission). Victor Martinez-Gomez is grateful for the
support received from the Universitat Politècnica de València, (PAID-06-12).

References

Abis, S. (2012). Wheat in the Mediterranean Region: Societies, Trade and Strategies,
Mediterranean. European Institute of the Mediterranean. IEMED, Barcelona.
Agrosynergie (2008). Evaluation of the system of entry prices and export refunds in the fruit and
vegetables sector. Framework contract no 30-CE-0035027/00-37. Evaluations. Fruit and
vegetables.
Baylis, K., Nogueira, L., & Pace, K. (2010). Food import refusals: Evidence from the European
Union. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 93, 566–572.
Boulanger, P., Kavallari, A., Rau, M.L. & Rutten, M. (2013). Trade openness and investment in
North Africa. A CGE application to deep and comprehensive free trade areas (DCFTAs)
between the EU and respectively Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Paper prepared for the 2013
International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium Symposium. productivity and its
impacts on global trade 2–4 June 2013 Seville, Spain.
Britz, W., Junker, F. & Weissleder, L. (2006). Quantitative assessment of EU-Mediterranean trade
liberalization using the CAPRI modelling system. EU-MED AGPOL Deliverable D24.
Bunte, F. (2005). Liberalising EU imports for fruits and vegetables. Paper prepared for
presentation at the XIth Congress of the EAAE (European Association of Agricultural
Economists), The Future of Rural Europe in the Global Agri-Food System, Copenhagen,
Denmark, August 24–27.
Chemnitz, C., Grethe, H. & Kleinwechter, U. (2007). Quality Standards for Food Products—A
Particular Burden for Small Producers in Developing Countries? Contributed paper at the
EAAE Seminar “Pro-poor Development in Low Income Countries: Food, Agriculture, Trade,
and Environment”, 25–27 October 2007, Montpellier, France.
Cioffi, A. & dell’Aquila, C. (2004). The effects of trade policies for fresh fruit and vegetables of
the European Union. Food Policy, 29, 169–185.
7 Issues in Trade Liberalisation in Southern and Eastern … 195

Compes, R., Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J. M., & Garcia Azcarate, T. (2013). The EU’s relations with
morocco and turkey in the field of agriculture: An example for the EU and its neighbours.
Jacques Delors Institute: Notre Europe.
De Wulf, L. & Maliszewska, M (Eds.) (2009). Economic Integration in the Euro-Mediterranean
Region. Final report, elaborated by the Centre for Social and Economic Research and Centre
for European Policy Studies for the European Commission: DG Trade.
Emlinger, C. (2010). Accords euro-méditerranéens et libéralisation des échanges agricoles: quel
accès au marché européen pour les fruits et légumes des pays méditerranéens? Les Notes
d’analyse du CIHEAM, N° 55—Janvier 2010.
Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J. M. (2002). Agricultural trade and the Barcelona process. Is full
liberalisation possible? European Review of Agricultural Economics, 29, 399–422.
Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J. M. (2012.). Agriculture in North Africa: A chance for development.
Policy Brief the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Prepared in Partnership with
Paralleli Euromediterranean Institute (Turin) October 2012, http://www.gmfus.org
Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J. M., Martinez-Gomez, V., & Villanueva, M. (2009). A trade model to
evaluate the impact of trade liberalization on EU tomato imports. Spanish Journal of
Agricultural Research, 7(2), 235–247.
Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J. M., Martinez-Gomez, V., & Villanueva, M. (2010). Seasonal protection
of F&V imports in the EU: Impacts of the entry price system. Agricultural Economics, 41,
205–218.
Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J.M.; Jordan, J.M.; Martinez-Gomez, V. (2012). Globalisation of
agricultural trade—what will be the place of Mediterranean products? In Mediterra 2012,
The Mediterranean diet for regional development (Chap. 17, pp. 345–367) Paris: CIHEAM
Goetz, L., & Grethe, H. (2009). The EU entry price system for fresh fruits and vegetables—Paper
tiger or powerful market barrier? Food Policy, 34, 81–93.
Gonzalez-Mellado, A., Hélaine, S., Rau, M. L., & Tothova, M. (2010). Non-Tariff measures
affecting agro-food trade between the EU and Africa. Summary of a Workshop, JRC Technical
Notes: Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, JRC European Commission, Sevilla.
Grazia, C. Hammoudi, A. & Malorgio, G. (2009). Regolamentaziones Della qualità sanitaria degli
alimenti e acesso dei Paesi Della riva Sud del Mediterraneo ai Mercali europei: un’analisi
empirica, Comunicazione XLVI Convegno di Studi, SIDEA, Piacenza settembre 16–19 2009.
Grethe, H. (2005). The future of agriculture trade preferences granted by the eu to developing
countries. Contributed paper to the IATRC Summer Symposium “Pressures for Agricultural
Policy Reform: WTO Panels and the Doha Round of Negotiations”
Hoekman, B. & Nicita, A. (2008). Trade policy, trade costs, and developing country trade. World
Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series 4797, The World Bank.
ICTSD. (2009). Capping Unusually High Tariffs: The WTO Doha Round and Tariff Peaks.
Number 9, November 2009
Jouanjean, M-A., Maur, J-C. & Shepherd, B. (2012). Reputation matters: Spillover Effects in the
Enforcement of US SPS Measures. In Non-tariff measures-a fresh look at trade policy’s new
frontier. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. NW,
Washington: USA.
Kavallari, A. (2009). Agricultural trade policy reforms and trade liberalisation in the
Mediterranean Basin. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Kee, H, Nicita, A. & Olarreaga, M. (2009). Estimating trade restrictiveness indices. Economic
Journal, 119, 172–199.
Kuiper, M. (2004). Fifty ways to leave your protection. comparing applied models of the Euro-
Mediterranean association agreements. ENARPRI Working Paper Nº. 6/April 2004.
Lloyd, P., Croser, J. & Anderson, K. (2009). Global distortions to agricultural markets: New
indicators of trade and welfare impacts, 1955 to 2007. World Bank Policy Research Working
Paper No. 4865, March 2009.
Manole, V. & Spatareanu, M. (January 2010). Trade openness and income—A re-examination.
Economics Letters, 106(1), 1–3.
196 L. Tudela-Marco et al.

Mathews, A. (2013). A triumph for the Irish Presidency—A damp squib for CAP reform, at http://
capreform.eu/a-triumph-for-the-irish-presidency-a-damp-squib-for-cap-reform/
McCalla, A. F., & Josling, T. E. (1985). Agricultural policies and world markets. New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company.
Michalopoulos, C. (1999). The developing countries in the WTO. World Development, 27, 117–143.
Ouabouch, H. (2013). El sector agroalimentario marroquí y la liberalización del comercio. PhD
Thesis dissertation, unpublished. Universitat Politècnica de València.
Paris, Q., Droqué, S. & Anania, G. (2010). Calibrating mathematical programming spatial models.
AgFoodTrade Working Paper 2009–10 (revised March 2010) http://www.ecostat.unical.it/
Anania/varie%20main/Paris-Drogu%C3%A9-Anania,%20Calibrating%20Spatial%20Trade%
20Models,%20WP%20March%202010%20_revised_pdf
Rastoin, J.-L. (2009 B). Agriculture méditerranéenne : les trois défis de la mondialisation, Options
Méditerranéennes.
Ruiz, J., Bardaji, I., Garrido, A. and Iglesias, E. (2012). Reforma de la PAC de 2003. Evaluación
del impacto de la reforma sobre la superficie, los rendimientos de secano y la diversidad de
cultivos en España. Economia Agraria y Recursos Naturales 12(2), 103–105. doi: 10.7201/
earn.2012.02.05.
Santeramo, F. & Cioffi. (2012). The entry price threshold in EU agriculture: Deterrent or barrier?
Journal of Policy Modeling 34, 691–704.
Taghouti, I. & Garcia Alvarez-Coque, J. M. (2013). Agro-food trade and reputation: An
investigation of non-tariff measures applied by the European Union on developing countries’
exports. Contributed paper to the AEEA “IX Congreso de Economía Agraria. La innovación
rural y alimentaria frente a la crisis”, Castelldefells, Barcelona, September 3–5 2013.
Tudela, L., Martinez-Gomez, V. & Garcia Alvarez-Coque, J. M. (2013). NTMs and AVE peaks in
agrifood trade in MENA countries. Contributed paper to the AEEA “IX Congreso de
Economía Agraria. La innovación rural y alimentaria frente a la crisis”, Castelldefells,
Barcelona, September 3–5 2013.
World Trade Organization. (2008). Revised draft modalities for agriculture, Committee on
Agriculture Special Session. TN/AG/W/4/Rev.1, Geneva. February 8 2008.
Chapter 8
From Value Chain Analysis to Global
Value Chain Analysis: Fresh Orange
Export Sector in Mediterranean Partner
Countries

Christopher Sausman, Marian Garcia, Andrew Fearne,

Melanie Felgate, Akka Ait El Mekki, Selim Cagatay,
Ibrahim Soliman, Boubaker Thabet, Chokri Thabet,
Mohamed Ben Saïd, Abderraouf Laajimi, Haitham Al Ashkar,
Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier, Samir Mili and Carolina Martínez

8.1 Introduction

Preceding chapters outlined some of the challenges facing Mediterranean Partner

Countries (MPCs), from stubborn rural poverty to a crisis in its rapidly changing
demographics. The region is facing a predicament over agricultural policy and
competitiveness in its agri-food sector. MPCs and the wider region of the Middle

C. Sausman
M. Garcia (&)
A. Fearne
M. Felgate

Kent Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
A.A.E. Mekki
Department of Agricultural Economics, ENA Meknes, Meknes, Morocco
S. Cagatay
Department of Economics, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
I. Soliman
Department of Agricultural Economics, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
B. Thabet
C. Thabet
M.B. Saïd
A. Laajimi
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Management,
Institut National Agronomique, Tunis, Tunisia
H.A. Ashkar
National Agricultural Policy Centre, Damascus, Syria
F.E. Hadad-Gauthier
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAM), Montpellier, France
S. Mili
C. Martínez
Centre for Human and Social Sciences, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC),
Madrid, Spain

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 197

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_8
198 C. Sausman et al.

East and North African (MENA) are failing to meet the challenge of averting heavy
rural-urban migration and the current policy strategy has not brought the economic
growth to the region that it desperately needs (Baldacci et al. 2008). Poor economic
opportunities are pushing rural households into the city where instead of finding
new prospects, poverty is merely concentrated in urban slums and unemployment
continues to be a looming threat for the region (Nabli 2004). The population
in MPCs that depend on agriculture coupled with a job crisis that must be con-
fronted over the next decade suggests that the agri-food sector is, at least in the
short term, the only realistic sector to bring economic improvements to rural areas
in MENA. Yet growth in value-added agriculture in MENA is on par with sub-
Saharan Africa and is significantly less than all other developing regions
(Binswanger-Mkhize and McCalla 2010). Agricultural policies in the region con-
tinue to link competitiveness, with volume being the overarching aim (Lindberg
et al. 2006). All of this suggests that the region presents fertile ground to test a new
value-orientated tool that goes beyond ‘conventional industry studies’ (Kaplinsky
and Morris 2002).
The present chapter contrasts with other chapters in this book. Rather than an
analysis from the subject area of economics, a method that is more aligned with the
business management discipline is presented.
Using a methodology adapted from the work of Taylor (2005) and taken from
the Supply Chain Management (SCM) literature, this chapter applies a Global
Value Chain Analysis (GVCA) which identifies where value is created in the eyes
of the end consumer and highlights bottlenecks based on the flow of materials, the
flow of information and the strength of relationships between actors, from spot
market and opportunistic to integrated and trusting relations. The contribution is
primarily methodological in that it is an attempt to link process tracing and con-
sumer-orientated demand pull concepts in the SCM literature (Collins 2009; Fearne
2009) with creating policy recommendations within the context of export
competitiveness.
The chapter begins with a literature review of value chain thinking concepts and
a review of past methodological approaches in the SCM literature to value chain
analysis, leading to our justification for contributing to the literature with a sectoral
level of analysis and combining it with qualitative key informant information to
create policy recommendations. Then an overview of the fresh orange sector in the
region is described and justification for using MPCs as a context is offered. Based
on the methodology we adapt from Taylor (2005) which provides a multi-faceted
view of the global value chain, a set of insights are gathered about the nature of
value creation and where constraints exist. Resulting policy recommendations
provide examples of how a value-chain-centric approach could be used to highlight
innovative policy solutions to MPCs’ agri-food export sector, for instance, dis-
seminating consumer information to relevant stakeholders and incentivising
investment in supply chain activities that add value for European consumers. A
broad aim of our chapter is to generate a discussion over how value chain thinking
can be used as a tool to inform policy debate.
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 199

8.2 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain

Analysis

The concept of a value chain was first introduced by David and Goldberg (1957)
and popularised by Porter (1990). The value chain presents the input-output
structure of supply chains as one which is composed of particular value-adding
activities. Value chain thinking starts from the basic and widely held assumption
that the value of a finished product is decided by the final consumer and thus, the
value chain is defined as the activities that add value to a product from basic raw
materials to the final consumer (Lindic and da Silva 2011; Slywotzky and Morrison
1997; Soosay et al. 2012; Walters and Lancaster 2000). It therefore advocates a
demand pull strategy where consumer value dictates the value attributed to activ-
ities along the chain rather than a supply-push approach (Walters and Lancaster
2000). The end result from this line of thinking is that all components of the value
chain play a role in formulating and creating consumer value; therefore a weakness
with one component has an adverse effect on the creation of value for the whole
value chain.
Value chain thinking requires this broad analysis because constraints or
opportunities can exist in any part of the chain (Campbell 2008), rather than just
focusing on a single actor which only tells a fraction of the story. Effective chain
practises, built on holistic concepts of strong strategic partnerships founded on
inter-firm trust and a high degree of quantity and quality in information sharing
between firms, create a competitive advantage that, in turn, improves organizational
performance, and conversely, a spot market relationship where little information is
shared and relations are opportunistic and could have a detrimental impact on
performance (Carson et al. 2003; Delbufalo 2012; Dyer and Singhe 1998; Handfeld
and Bechtel 2002; Kannana and Tanb 2005; Li et al. 2006; Zaheer et al. 1998). This
presents a strong argument against firms acting in ‘functional silos’ (Christopher
2011). The implication is that competition is moving away from ‘between firms’ to
‘between value chains’ where it is the entire chain which becomes the vehicle for
adding value and eliminating waste and not the individual organization in isolation
(McGuffog and Wadsley 1999). This holistic, multi-dimensional view of agri-food
chains sets the conceptual basis for Value Chain Analysis (VCA).
There is a variety of different approaches and conceptions of what constitutes a
VCA, each stemming from different sub-disciplines in the literature.1 One such
approach is from SCM where VCA finds its origins in Value Stream Mapping
(VSM) (Womack and Jones 1994). VSM is a lean manufacturing method, based on
the work by Hines and Rich (1997), to analyse the efficiency of material and
information flows between segments in the value chain with the aim of eliminating
waste through the facilitation of efficient flows. This kind of technique to eliminate
waste has a strong record of revealing and eliminating waste along the value chain

1
Trienekens (2011) outlines four distinct theoretical models for VCA; Global Value Chains, SCM,
New Institutional Economics and the Network Approach.
200 C. Sausman et al.

(Francis 2000; Jones and Simons 2000). VCA borrows from this but with the added
dimension of relationships between chain members which relates to the organisa-
tion, management and control of the chain (Taylor 2005) and has a significant
impact on supply chain outcomes (Christopher and Juttner 2000; Cousins and
Menguc 2006; Li et al. 2006). In line with Porter’s (1990) notion of value addition
and based on the idea that consumers have the final say on what constitutes value
(Slater and Narver 1992), a number of studies have incorporated consumer research
into the methodology (Adhikari et al. 2012; Bonney et al. 2007, 2008; Soosay et al.
2012).
Therefore, in accordance to its evolution in the SCM literature, VCA is a
diagnostic tool to assess the strengths and weaknesses within a value chain based on
three constructs: (1) the material flow, judged based on where value lies in the eyes
of final consumers, identifying where investment should be targeted and what
activities should be eliminated; (2) the dynamics of information flow between
actors; and (3) the strength of relationships, constructed from notions of trust and
commitment between actors. VCA looks at the stages a product goes through, all
the way from raw materials to final consumption (Rieple and Singh 2010). While
VCA has had a strong presence in the motor and I.T. sectors, the agricultural sector
presents a more challenging picture of transactional, arms-length relationships
between partners (Simons et al. 2003).
A number of studies have built on the VCA tool to analyse different dimensions
of agricultural value chains and competitiveness, demonstrating the versatility of
VCA to tackle a variety of concepts and issues. Bonney et al. (2007) use VCA to
identify the processes and key factors for co-innovation between value chain
stakeholders. Expanding the scope of VCA to environmental sustainability, Soosay
et al. (2012) modify the methodology into Sustainable Value Chain Analysis
(SVCA) by quantifying the environmental impacts of activities in the value chain.
Focusing on the notion of consumer value, Adhikari et al. (2012) demonstrates how
segmentation could be a powerful tool for reforming the tomato value chain in
Nepal.
While the applications of VCA have varied, to date it has tended to be utilized as
an in-depth tool bounded by an inter-/intra-firm unit of analysis (Fearne et al. 2012).
However because current methods choose contextual depth over generalizability, a
single chain method restricts the ability to make the broader generalizations nec-
essary to inform agricultural policy. The findings from VCA studies within the
SCM literature have been mostly restricted to the chain in question. In the past,
research on agricultural policy has been informed by conventional industry studies
from the economics profession based on a focus on size and growth, especially in
terms of gross output rather than value addition (Kaplinsky and Morris 2002). The
necessary step to bring VCA into relevance for policy makers would be to make a
move towards a sectoral level of analysis (Schmitz 2005).
To reflect a change in the unit of analysis, we shift terms from ‘value chain’ to a
‘Global Value Chain’ (GVC) defined as value-adding activities that typify an
industry and go beyond borders, typically from developing country suppliers to
developed country consumers, and representing a multitude of stakeholders bound
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 201

by their participation in the same sector (Gereffi 1999; Gereffi et al. 2005;
Kaplinsky 2000; Kaplinsky and Morris 2002). Mirroring the change in the unit of
analysis, we also redefine the method of VCA to Global Value Chain Analysis
(GVCA). It is important to note that we use this term not for the same purposes as in
the framework offered by Gereffi et al. (2005) and Humphrey and Schmitz (2002).
These authors’ framework is more in line with the governance paradigm of power
relationships and lead firm coordination, rather than the lean concepts contained in
SCM. Therefore, while there have been policy implications drawn from the GVC
governance framework (Kaplinsky and Morris 2002; Schmitz 2005), these impli-
cations have not been fully considered in a SCM approach to policy problems.
The novelty of our contribution is the combination of a methodology developed
by Taylor (2005) with a GVC aggregated view of the fresh orange sector, placed
within the context of sustainable development in the Middle East. There is scope for
making a methodological contribution to the literature by demonstrating the lessons
learnt in adapting VCA from a single value chain with a low number of participants
and a narrowly defined value stream, reflecting current VCA methods in SCM,
towards a more aggregated level that involves a larger sample of participants. At the
same time, we also wish to demonstrate how value chain thinking can be utilized as
a lens to view policy.

8.3 Research Methods

8.3.1 Data Collection

As noted in the review of the literature, the research methods used in the study are
different to those used in previous VCA in that we take process tracing from the
SCM literature and aggregate it to the industry level as a means to generate broad
policy recommendations. As a result, the research was expanded from a small
number of participants to a larger sample. Participants included:
• Citrus input suppliers who provide fertilizer and pesticides to growers
• Orange growers
• Extension services that, despite not participating in the flow of materials, pro-
vide advice and training to growers
• Orange packers
• Citrus exporters
• Citrus buyers from UK, France, Germany, Spain and Russia
• Consumers from UK, France, Germany and Russia
European countries were chosen based on their prominence as destination
markets for oranges coming from the region. The data that makes up the GVCA
comes from both quantitative and qualitative sources through survey and interview
methods. Two areas are examined as part of the methodology: consumer value and
global value chain dynamics (material flow, information flow and relationships).
202 C. Sausman et al.

Consumer value was constructed through three exploratory focus groups in the
UK, with eight participants in each, and segmented by place of shop, to build a
basic understanding of shoppers’ attitudes towards oranges. From this, formalized
surveys were implemented in France, Germany, UK and Russia using consumer
panels. Consumer surveys were completed by 1031 participants in total, out of
which 266 were from the UK, 248 from France, 258 from Germany and 259 from
Russia. The whole sample had a gender split of 50/50 and a one third split across
three age groups: 18–34 years; 35–64 years; and 65+ years. All survey respondents
were responsible for most of the household food shopping and were themselves a
consumer of oranges. To enhance the consumer element of the GVCA, the study
incorporated Dunnhumby’s UK consumer data using two years of Tesco super-
market transactions from the period 23rd February 2009 to 14th February 2011.
A European buyers’ survey was also implemented and completed by 27 par-
ticipants. Out of the sample respondents, there were: three from the UK; 19 from
France; two from Germany; and one from Russia. To enhance the data, secondary
data was used from a study on Spanish orange buyers (Mili and Martínez 2012),
even though Spanish consumers were not analysed in the consumer value construct.
In addition to the above data sources associated with consumer value and
European buyers, surveys were distributed to stakeholders along the fresh orange
value chain for all five case study countries:
• Egypt—surveys from stakeholders completed by: 10 input suppliers; 1 exten-
sion/agronomy service; 31 citrus growers; 9 citrus packers; 10 exporters;
3 logistic companies; and 27 European buyers.
• Morocco—surveys from stakeholders completed by: 7 input suppliers;
4 extension/agronomy services; 45 citrus growers; 7 citrus packers; 12 export-
ers; 5 logistic companies; and 27 buyers.
• Syria—surveys from stakeholders completed by: 9 input suppliers; 14 exten-
sion/agronomy services; 113 citrus growers; 15 citrus packers; 12 exporters; 11
logistic companies; and 27 European buyers. Interviews were also carried out
with: one fertilizer and pesticide input supplier; one agent; and a chamber of
commerce meeting, including one farmer/packing house/export owner who
became a principle informant.
• Tunisia—surveys from stakeholders completed by: 20 input suppliers; 9 exten-
sion/agronomy services; 89 citrus growers; 11 citrus packers; 12 exporters;
6 logistic companies; and 27 buyers.
• Turkey—surveys from stakeholders completed by: 10 input suppliers;
10 extension/agronomy services; 107 citrus growers; 50 citrus packers; 30
exporters; 10 logistic companies; and 27 buyers. Interviews were also carried out
with: one fertilizer and pesticide input supplier; two growers; two packaging/
exporting firms; and one logistics firm.
Surveys distributed to stakeholders were concerned with information flow and
relationship constructs throughout the chain. Interviews with Syrian and Turkish
stakeholders also sought to qualitatively measure these constructs, as well as setting
the basis for mapping the material flow. To augment the data gained from these
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 203

interviews, key informant information compiled from local experts were utilized to
better understand how materials flowed through the chain and to generate policy
implications from the research.

8.3.2 Data Analysis

Findings from focus groups were thematically organized into a list of potential
attributes that informed the survey tool for consumer panels. From our consumer
panel surveys, orange attributes were ranked based on a mean average of our 5-
point Likert scale, from ‘not at all important’ = 1 to ‘very important’ = 5, such that a
framework could be developed where activities in the value chain are judged based
on their contribution (or lack of contribution) towards attributes regarded as
important to European consumers. In addition, a comparison of means using
independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests were undertaken to determine how
gender, age group and country of residence impacted on attitudes towards fresh
oranges. We also analyzed promotional data to understand the impact on orange
sales using a multiple regression model developed by Felgate et al. (2011). The
model used to measure the effect of promotions was specified as follows:

SALESit ¼ b0 þ b1PCit1 þ b2YXit2 þ b3BOGOFit3 þ b4EXFit4

þ b4MBit5 þ b4SPit6 þ eit

In the model, SALES represents the dependant variable sales value per store for
a given product sub-group, i, in a given time period, t. Sales value per store was
used rather than total sales, since it takes into account fluctuations in distribution
over the time period and growth in the total number of Tesco stores. The parameters
of the model are β0, which represents a fixed unknown parameter, and a series of 0–
1 dummy variables representing the different types of price promotion for product
sub-group i in the time period t. The types of promotion incorporated in the model
were price cuts (PC), Y for £X offers (YX), buy one-get-one-free (BOGOF), extra
free promotions (EXF), 3-for-2 multi-buy promotions (MB) and special promo-
tional packs (SP). The error term, e, incorporates all the immeasurable factors which
may also be influencing sales aside from promotions.
The material flow was thematically analysed from qualitative interviews and key
informant information. A ‘map of the chain’ was created which shows all the
activities along the chain (Fig. 9.1). The efficiency and effectiveness of the material
flow in the fresh orange global value chain is judged based on:
• Timeliness in allowing continuous, efficient flow through processing, while
avoiding unnecessary inventory and product movements;
• Minimising waste caused by unnecessary processing or by production of
unusable raw material or by-products; and
• Maximising areas for adding value.
204 C. Sausman et al.

From the classification of consumer attributes and the evaluation of whether

activities were necessary to bring the product to market from qualitative interviews
and key informants, we labelled activities along the chain as: value adding (V);
non-value adding but necessary (N); or wasteful (W).In addition to the material
flow, mean averages were taken from stakeholder surveys based on a 5-point Likert
scale, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ = 1 to ‘strongly agree’ = 5, with a set of
statements reflecting information flows and strength of relationships. Qualitative
interviews supplemented survey data such that triangulation could take place and a
more in-depth understanding of potential barriers and enablers could be imple-
mented. Using our GVCA findings, key informants proposed policy
recommendations.

8.4 The Fresh Orange Export Sector in Mediterranean

Partner Countries

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data (2013) shows that the value of
global orange exports increased significantly during the period of 2000–2008,
although a small decline took place between 2004 and 2005. From 2000 to 2008,
the value of global orange exports doubled with an increase of 122.1 %. Spain, US
and South Africa are the three largest orange exporters with respect to value. Spain
dominates the European market with over 50 % of its export quantity and value for
fresh oranges going to Germany and France alone (FAO 2013).
Within the region, fresh fruit is the third largest crop and citrus dominates fresh
fruit production (Montgomery 2009). The quantity of exported oranges from case
study countries varies significantly, from 821,812 tonnes exported from Egypt in
2009 compared to 18,016 tonnes exported by Syria (FAO 2013). Egypt represents a
unique case where the growth in exports has exponentially risen by 1343 %
between 2000–2008; between 2007 and 2008 alone, export value rose by 141 %
(FAO 2013). In 2008, Egypt overtook Morocco to become the highest orange
exporter (by value) within the selected case study countries. Case study countries
have in general seen growth in the value of fresh orange exports since 2005,
although Morocco and Tunisia reached a peak in 2008 and then fell slightly in
2009.
As Table 8.1 shows, the fresh orange export price per tonne for MPCs and
globally has risen substantially since 2005, reflecting wider global food inflation
figures (World Bank 2012). In 2011, only Turkey and Morocco have a higher
export price than the world average and other MPCs are substantially lower. Indeed
from the FAO data (2013), the leading exporters in the world market such as Spain
and the US are able to capture significantly higher prices for their exported oranges
than MPCs.
Many countries in the MPCs have initiated programs that directly have an
impact on orange production. The Egyptian government has implemented the
‘Sustainable Agriculture Development Program’ to improve irrigation systems and
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 205

Table 8.1 Fresh orange export price per tonne (2001–2011)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Egypt $196 $209 $235 $298 $350 $231 $365 $526 $602 $625 $516
Morocco $331 $365 $416 $471 $450 $448 $413 $664 $631 $653 $720
Syria $535 $399 $525 $235 $442 $217 $327 $365 $397 $377 $487
Tunisia $358 $371 $536 $633 $618 $542 $654 $689 $655 $574 $541
Turkey $325 $301 $333 $385 $392 $326 $382 $592 $621 $674 $718
World $383 $439 $491 $556 $521 $516 $602 $675 $657 $694 $698
Source FAO (2013)

water resource management, and put into practise a modernization programme to

improve the production of its fruit and vegetable exports by incentivising the
adoption of new production techniques. The Morocco Green Plan, a state-imple-
mented rural development strategy by the Moroccan government, is seeking to
generate 30,000–35,000 ha of new citrus plantations over the next several years
through extensive projects and financial incentives for farmers. Other MPCs offer
similar support mechanisms to the citrus sector.
Although fresh orange production in MPCs is being supported through gov-
ernment programs and projects, where it is to position itself relative to its strengths
and weaknesses has not been sufficiently addressed. Exports to the European
market are immediately impeded by the quota and entry price system set up by the
EU, although arguably this is less of a barrier with trade liberalization between
MPCs and the EU such as the case of Morocco. Despite liberalization, trade barriers
are still an issue for MPCs. MPCs export their fresh oranges to different markets in
Europe. For example, the Russian market is important for Morocco and Turkey
with 37 and 32 % of total export value respectively, whereas for Tunisia the French
market is critical to the industry with a sizeable 91 % share of total export value
(FAO 2013). This data also reflects differences in diverse versus concentrated
export markets. Morocco exports its oranges all across Europe (as well as the
world) but Tunisia is almost completely dependent on the French market with the
Tunisian Maltese—a half-blood orange variety. For Syria, the European market is
inconsequential compared to its neighbouring Middle East market. Table 8.2 lists
the main destination markets for fresh orange exports of MPCs.

Table 8.2 Main destination Main destination market and % of total

markets and percentage of fresh orange export value
total export value for fresh
orange exports of MPCs Egypt Russia (24 %)
(2007, 2010) Morocco Russia (37 %)
Syrian Arab Iraq (78 %)
Republic
Tunisia France (92 %)
Turkey Russia (32 %)
Source FAO (2013)
206 C. Sausman et al.

The trade system facing orange exporters, coupled with large-scale competitor
countries in the US and South America, goes against a strategy where cost disad-
vantages may push agri-food stakeholders out of the chain if they do not switch to
the creation of value for their respective end consumers (Drucker 1999). It has been
argued that previous agricultural policy in the region has not brought the gains that
the agri-food sector desperately needs (Baldacci et al. 2008). In the past, agricul-
tural policy in the region has focused mainly on market liberalization (although still
protective of some agricultural sectors) and linked competitiveness exclusively to
volume and production yields (Lindberg et al. 2006). Although policy based on
maximising productivity has merit and is certainly not dismissed here, there is room
for introducing a new approach to competitiveness.

8.5 Findings

8.5.1 Consumer Value

Research from the three UK-based focus groups revealed a number of attributes that
were in the forefront of consumers’ minds when purchasing oranges which
informed the attributes in the consumer survey data. In the focus groups, partici-
pants regularly identified ‘juiciness’ and ‘sweetness’ as words that came up when
thinking about what the best thing about oranges were. This matched the consumer
data from consumer panel surveys that showed these two attributes to be the most
important attributes for consumers across all four countries (Table 8.3).
When segmenting for consumers’ country of residence from consumer panel
surveys, peel ability was regarded as being more important for Russian consumers

Table 8.3 Important versus Attributes judged quite Attributes judged less than
less important orange important or more (>5*) quite important (<5*)
attributes from consumer
panel surveys Juiciness Organic
Sweetness Variety
Free from pesticide residues Country of origin
Peelability** Size of orange
Cost Promotion
Blemishes Enough in a pack
Colour Fair trade
Perishability Packaging
*1 = not at all important, 3 = not very important, 5 = quite
important, 7 = extremely important
**Peelability was statistically more significant in importance for
Russian consumers than other countries
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 207

than the other three European countries. When segmenting for age and gender,
female consumers and those which were considered older attached greater impor-
tance to attributes considered generally important by the whole sample, suggesting
that these segments are more sensitive to orange characteristics during the pur-
chasing decision than other consumer types. This corresponded with the UK loyalty
card data which showed that the main consumers of oranges are pensioners; older
families and affluent households were the most dominant purchasers of oranges.
Organic oranges appeared to accentuate the effect of affluence where up-market
consumers were almost twice as likely to purchase organic than the average
consumer.
Using the model developed by Felgate et al. (2011), the effect of promotions on
orange sales indicated that, in general, promotions do not have a particularly strong
effect on sales and that in some cases it actually had a negative impact. When
looking at the impact of promotions on sales of oranges in total, at an aggregated
level, only price cuts and buy-one-get-one-free promotions were found to have a
significant impact. Promotions were found in total to account for 16.7 % of the
change in sales of oranges at the aggregated level. Price cuts were found on average
to increase sales per store by £113 per week, while buy-one-get-one-free promo-
tions increased sales by £158 per week, per store. This paralleled with the consumer
panel surveys that showed that oranges on promotion was not an attribute con-
sumers found to be particularly important during the purchasing decision.

8.5.2 Perceptions of European Buyers

The buyers’ research showed that when deciding whom they source their oranges
from, participant buyers look for a large range of characteristics—9 out of 13
characteristics were rated more than ‘quite important’. Of the 27 buyers who were
interviewed, few judged case study country suppliers in terms of how they com-
pared to their best suppliers. In the case of Syria, nothing could be concluded
because no buyers interviewed sourced their oranges from Syria and therefore were
not able to be judged. This outcome indicates that Syrian oranges are not well
known in the European market, mirroring export data that shows that Syrian fresh
orange exports do not primarily go to European consumers (FAO 2013).
Where European buyers judged the supply of fresh oranges from individual case
study countries, results were mixed. Egypt has a good rating for volume and cost
but rated poorly for the willingness of suppliers to collaborate with buyers
for mutual advantage. Turkey failed in its quality of oranges in the eyes of
European buyers, an attribute that buyers identified as important in their sourcing
decisions. The open-ended answers indicated that one of the principle barriers
behind why European buyers do not source more oranges from case study countries
is a lack of contacts with exporters, suggesting that it is not necessarily the quality
of relationships between exporters and importers in the value chain that is the
208 C. Sausman et al.

principal bottleneck, but rather the existence of relationships at all. This has
implications for policy in terms of promotional activity as a common good for the
GVC, an issue further discussed in Sect. 8.6.
For Spanish buyers, the attributes they consider to be important to consumers
and the characteristics of suppliers that are important to themselves mirror many of
those identified by other European buyers. Moroccan suppliers are the dominant
supplier of Spanish oranges and the reasons provided for this were based on the low
cost of oranges they supply, although the quality of oranges was brought up as a
concern. Other MPC suppliers were stated as having deficiencies based on post-
harvest handling and cultural differences, particularly concerning conflicts in
delivery times where suppliers injected a level ‘flexibility’ in this regard compared
to the tighter schedule required by Spanish buyers. In addition, pre-payment rep-
resented a barrier to sourcing from case study countries. Logistics was also iden-
tified as being a problem where the poor quality of transportation led to perished
and wasted produce when received by Spanish buyers, correlating with findings
from the ‘mapping the chain’ stage where transportation is identified as a value-
adding activity. Related to this was the idea of reputation ‘contagion’, where
because a Spanish buyer received wasted oranges from an Egyptian supplier, the
buyer then cut off future dealings with all Egyptian suppliers rather than just the
single exporter.

8.5.3 Flow of Materials

Using consumer value as the framework for measuring value in the fresh orange
chain, activities along the chain are classified as: “value adding” (V) which con-
tribute to the attributes considered at least “quite important” to consumers; “nec-
essary but non value- adding” (N) for activities that do not contribute to attributes
important to consumers but are necessary for bringing the product to market; and
“wasteful” (W) for activities that are not important to consumers and are unnec-
essary to bringing the product to market. The classification of activities is presented
in Fig. 8.1.
Input suppliers supply fertilizer and pesticide chemicals to growers. Fertilizers,
particularly major elements such as potassium, were identified as a value adding
activity because they contribute towards the juiciness and sweetness, and negate
against blemishes, all of which are deemed as important by European consumers.
Pesticide use however does not contribute towards these attributes and could even
potentially destroy value because consumers consider ‘free from pesticide residues’
as an important consideration during the purchasing decision. Strict standards are
also imposed by European markets on the level of pesticide use for fruit and
vegetable imports, for instance the Ecophyto plan 2018, which seeks to reduce the
use of pesticides in France by 50 % which gives some indication of how attitudes
are changing. However, pesticide inputs prevent disease and insect infiltration
which can destroy the fruit and, as a result, are classified non-value adding but
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 209

Fig. 8.1 Material flow in the MPCs’ fresh orange chain

necessary rather than waste. It is suggested here that there is a tight rope that
growers must walk between negating against harmful diseases and destroying
consumer value (as well as failing export/import standards).
It was suggested by key informants that varieties grown by producers embody
particular attributes, such as sweetness and juiciness, and therefore the variety
grown is a value-adding activity. However, according to stakeholder interviews, it
typically takes up to 25 years for a seedling to reach maximum yield, meaning that
growers cannot easily move between varieties without initial losses in productivity.
The irrigation program implemented by growers, and typically advised upon by
input and equipment suppliers, is also a value-added activity in that it boosts the
juiciness of oranges which is valued by European consumers. The oranges are then
harvested according to the harvest calendar organized by packers and informed by
the export program coordinated by exporters and European buyers, an activity
which is not value-adding in the eyes of consumers but necessary to move the
product along the chain while minimising inventories throughout. From the
stakeholder interviews, it appeared that inventories are not held at this point in the
chain because buyers bring the oranges straight from the orchards to the packing
house rather than growers storing oranges prior to purchase.
During the packing stage, oranges are washed to remove dirt and pesticide
residue. This is deemed as a value-adding activity because European consumers
place value on the lack of pesticide residue on the orange. Waxing is also under-
stood as value-adding because it reduces the perishability of the fruit. Packaging,
210 C. Sausman et al.

although not considered value-adding by European consumers, is still a necessary

process because it prevents damage to the fruit during transit and is typically a
requirement set by buyers.
The oranges are then labelled, mostly for the purposes of identifying the country
of origin for consumers. However, although where an orange comes from is not
something that consumers regard as particularly important during the purchasing
decision, displaying country of origin is necessary for retailers to follow. Citrus
packaging houses must also conform to a traceability system and implement an
HACCP quality control process (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) that
must be certified by an accredited body or a product quality system control, based
on the target importing market to be certified by an accredited body. Prior to
despatch, oranges are kept as inventories, meaning that coordination with exporters
is key to minimising these costs.
Exporters organize transportation for fresh oranges with logistics firms to move
the products to export markets. Oranges are held by the exporter prior to trans-
portation. The principle obstacle that exporters face is meeting the standards and
regulatory requirements for international markets. If these standards are not met,
then rejections occur either at the EU border (with the exception of Russia) or from
buyers’ own private standards. Where these rejections occur, exporters must incur
the cost which represents a waste in the material flow. In this regard, the need for
exporters to coordinate upstream is fundamental to meeting the required standards
for export markets.
Logistics is typically organized by exporters to move products to the export
market. The quality of transportation affects the perishability and reduces blemishes
which consumers value and therefore transportation is considered a value-adding
activity. Planning shipping times and coordinating with exporters and buyers over
time delivery is essential for avoiding delays at ports which can lead to oranges
going to waste. Logistic firms then distribute goods to the importer and buyer which
is necessary to bring the product to market.

8.5.4 Information Flow and Relationships

In general, the survey data showed that the information flow and strength of rela-
tionships between actors were in most part strong. Tunisia was demonstrated as
having particularly strong information flow and relationships along the chain.
However there were some relatively weak (but not weak in absolute terms) areas of
the chain. The information flows between input supplier-grower, extension service-
grower and grower-packers were not very strong in the case of Egypt. Turkey, in a
similar fashion, had partial flows between growers-packers and logistics-exporters.
What was most notable from these findings was that there was no particular pattern
of bottlenecks in the information flows and business relationships, with each
country facing a different challenge in its global value chain.
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 211

Interviews with Syrian stakeholders indicated that the information flow between
actors in the chain was poor, particularly between exporters (or agents) and
importers. Commitment and the strength of relationships between packers/exporters
and farmers were also signalled as being limited in the interviews. There were
suggestions that institutional structures, such as the Syrian chamber of commerce
and Turkey’s export union, were not particularly effective in bringing actors
together to cooperate. The relationship between the interviewed Turkish exporter
and the EU policy-setting body was signalled as being particularly problematic.
It was suggested in interviews and from key informant data that cultural norms
and behaviour set the boundaries around the degree that actors cooperate and share
information, as one farmer said when rationalizing why he didn’t ask buyers where
his oranges were going: “it’s none of our business”. Building on this concept of
culture as a driver/barrier to value chain relationships, Spanish buyers identified that
a problem in sourcing oranges from MPCs was attributed to a different cultural
understanding of “time” where MPCs’ fresh orange suppliers did not keep to strict
delivery times that are required by Spanish buyers.

8.6 Discussion: Policy Implications

The above findings provide some key implications for maximizing the competi-
tiveness of the fresh orange export industry of MPCs based on the adopted
approach. A broad finding in the consumer research was that the price of an orange
is not as important to European consumers as certain quality attributes. The
implication of this is that agricultural policies that seek to drive down production
costs with little concern about what the impact on consumer value could be doing
harm the competitiveness of the value chain. Modernization plans in MPCs should
be put within the context of maximizing value—driving down production costs and
increasing output should not be the only indicator of competitiveness. Farm pro-
duction capabilities have historically been the focus of agricultural research,
especially considering the dominance of traditional theories of rural development
over the past century (Cruickshank 2009; Marsden et al. 2001), and MPCs are no
exception.
Findings from the GVCA suggest that market information, when made available
to growers, technicians, packers and exporters, could contribute towards the com-
petitiveness of the fresh orange export sector. The creation of information networks
can be an important component of value chain competitiveness (Asem-Bansah et al.
2012); for instance the creation of a national database or training workshops with
relevant organizations can be utilized so that market information is disseminated to
stakeholders. This would allow the kind of findings generated from the consumer
research in the GVCA to be capitalized on and actors along the chain would have a
better understanding of their target market values, thereby negating misconceptions
brought up in stakeholder interviews (such as the idea that European consumers
attach importance to the country of origin during the purchasing decision).
212 C. Sausman et al.

Consumer value identified key areas for improving main quality attributes
considered by consumers: variety selection; rootstock selection; irrigation tech-
nology; pest and disease control, that are consistent with ensuring juiciness,
sweetness, and reducing perishability. Main actions and programs could:
• assess varieties and rootstock combinations against their ability to create the
attributes that European consumers regard as important,
• breed and test the species, and
• incentivise the substitution of old orchards with new varieties that maximize the
attributes valued by European consumers.
Extension actions should include adequate training programs on irrigation
methods to improve citrus quality. For example, improving irrigation scheduling,
especially during sensitive periods of fruit growth, is an important key for guar-
anteeing juiciness and facilitating peel ability. While modernization programs in
MPCs appear to be mainly concerned with boosting volume (Lindberg et al. 2006),
there is also some overlap with the value-adding activities identified in the present
research. For example, the Sustainable Agriculture Development Program in Egypt
is placed within a context of critically scarce water resources in the region, yet its
development of irrigation systems is also associated with improving product attri-
butes important to European consumers. In addition, the subsidization of inputs
(e.g. fertilizers), a common practise in most MPCs (World Bank 2008), may also be
beneficial from this point of view if it encourages producers to improve important
quality attributes. While the continuation of these programs from the perspective of
value addition would be recommended, there also needs to be reflection over the
extent this conflicts with broader institutional reforms under the EU Common
Agricultural Policy reform.
Relevant to agricultural policy is the substitution of orchards to new varieties
that are in line with the target market. As noted at the beginning of this chapter,
MPCs do not export fresh oranges to a uniform European consumer. Even those
MPCs which share borders and cultures have diverse destination markets—Tunisia
sells 91 % of its exported fresh oranges to the French market whereas Morocco is
very much diversified, with Russia consuming the largest share of 37 %. Taking
these two examples and linking back to the consumer research, the rationale for the
Moroccan export industry (or at least those fresh oranges which are destined for the
Russian market) would be to incentivize substitution towards varieties that maxi-
mize peel ability whereas the Tunisian market should focus on those that are
aligned with the tastes of French consumers. Syria presents a more unique case
where regional neighbours that import the majority of its fresh oranges are likely to
present a diverse set of tastes compared to potential European consumers (although
given the political situation at the time of writing, inroads into the European market
are unlikely for the foreseeable future). Since there are a multitude of citrus varieties
with different characteristics (Hodgson 1967), a debate over which varieties match
the tastes of target consumers while at the same time considering a complexity of
trade-offs (e.g. climatic suitability) is needed to shape where policy incentives
should be placed.
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 213

Production represents a fruitful area for policy. However post-harvest operations

are also key, including post-harvest disease control techniques that are important for
improving quality of fruits and preserving shelf-life (negating perishability):
• Quality control technology
• Preservation treatments
• Controlled environment storage technology, and
• Incentives for purchasing quality cold-controlled transportation.
Activities that did not add value but were judged necessary to bring the product
to market include those which ensure import standards for the European market.
Policy makers could assist citrus sector enterprises in improving quality and safety
systems, especially those stages that lead up to and including HACCP quality
control. Given that a barrier to adoption is the fixed costs involved, credit facili-
tation could act as a strong enabler. In addition, pesticide usage was revealed as a
‘tightrope’ where, although it is necessary to negate against disease, it can also
destroy value because European consumers have concern over pesticide residues
according to the consumer research. Facilitating training could be an important
policy tool to ensure stakeholders walk this tightrope successfully. Stages and
activities of the chain where intervention could be effective are:
Level 1. Farm: Use of certified rootstocks and fertilization, training in the type
of chemicals used, management of irrigation water resources, soil management
and plant protection against pests and diseases.
Level 2. Post-harvest Treatment and Packing: Sizing technology, quality control
technology, cleaning technology, preservation treatments, controlled environ-
ment storage technology, raw materials.
Level 3. Transport and Distribution: Vehicles used, used pallets or containers,
temperature and humidity control technologies.
Level 4. Marketing and Export: Transport conditions, insurance programs, etc.
As noted, a lack of known exporters was a significant barrier for buyers in
sourcing oranges from MPCs. This suggests that promotion and networking could
be areas for policy such that relationships are established between European buyers
and exporters. Incentivising the use of trade fairs for exporters could be a start to
this process.
The material flow indicated that many of the wasteful activities were a direct
result of poor coordination between actors which could be tackled through col-
lective organizations, directing the flow of goods in a timely and cost-efficient
manner. The interviews supported these findings where a lack of information flow
and poor relationships were concurrent with the lack of effective horizontal orga-
nization. Fragmented farms also make it difficult to apply quality systems and
disseminate market information (Roy and Thorat 2008).
Based on a New Institutional Economics perspective (North 1990), it is gener-
ally understood that horizontal cooperation in developing countries reduces the
transaction costs between suppliers and buyers. A supportive policy structure that
incentivizes the development and effective management of collective organizations
214 C. Sausman et al.

was recommended by key informants such that coordination problems which cause
wasteful activities along the value chain can be tackled. External costs are also
incurred to the sector as a whole when one firm fails in this regard. Spanish buyers
suggested that there is a ‘contagion effect’ such that all the exporters from
respective countries were tarred with the same brush when just one exporter failed.
In Morocco, the Autonomous Establishment of Export Control and Coordination
represents a public institution dedicated to regulatory compliance for food exports
and plays a role in coordinating export activity (EACCE 2011). This kind of public
sector support in the Moroccan context could at least provide a model which other
MPCs can follow.

8.7 Conclusion

In this chapter, we have demonstrated how GVCA can make an important con-
tribution when it comes to the issues facing MPCs and the wider agricultural policy-
making in the region. Previous ideas on competitiveness in the agri-food sector of
MPCs have primarily been approached through a neo-classical lens, based on
liberalizing markets and productivity (Lindberg et al. 2006). While we do not
dismiss this as a perspective, particularly given the multitude and sometimes
conflicting objectives for agricultural policy, a strategy of driving down costs may
not be beneficial from a value creation point of view, particularly given the poor
state of its value-added agriculture compared to other developing countries
(Binswanger-Mkhize and McCalla 2010). It appears evident that up until now,
agricultural policy has had little success in tackling the serious economic challenges
facing the region (Baldacci et al. 2008).
Prior to this chapter, using a value-stream method such as that proposed by
Taylor (2005) was confined to the SCM literature and had not been used to inform
policy at the macro-level, arguably because it was restricted to a single-chain case
study methodology. Furthermore, using comparable value chain concepts from the
SCM literature have only more recently been transferred to a developing country
context (Adhikari et al. 2012). To achieve the end of informing policy, the meth-
odology was adapted from a single case study chain method with a small number of
participants and a narrowly defined value stream to a sectoral level of analysis
analogous to the Global Value Chain literature but conceptually closer to the SCM
stream, such that broader generalizations could be made about the fresh orange
industry. Policy recommendations resulting from the GVCA and key informant data
can be summarized as follows:
• It facilitates the dissemination of market information made available to value
chain stakeholders. The creation of information networks such as a national
database or training workshops would allow consumer research to be capitalized
on and negate misconceived ideas of what European consumers regard as
important;
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 215

• Given that the main barrier of European buyers in sourcing from MPCs was the
lack of known contacts, policy contributes through investing in export promo-
tional campaigns and facilitating networking opportunities, for example funding
participation in international trade fairs.
• It provides incentives for investment in those activities that add value to the final
consumer, namely: variety selection and substitution where necessary, irrigation
systems and methods, and quality cold-controlled transportation.
• Activities that do not add value but are necessary to bring fresh oranges to
market are fundamental to enabling access to European markets. Most notably,
this includes quality and safety systems along the chain. Stages and activities
where policy support could intervene and thereby provide access to the market
for stakeholders are: certified rootstocks and fertilization, quality control during
post-harvest treatment, and controlled environment storage technology. Not
only are these elements necessary, but they were also brought up by European
buyers as being a barrier to sourcing from MPCs.
• The elimination of wasteful activities was identified as a problem of poor
coordination along the chain. This could be tackled through policy that provides
greater support to collective organizations, therefore enabling better coordina-
tion along the chain.
While the methodology proposed here has enabled policy recommendations that
are value-centric, it also comes with limitations. This was the first time that the
single chain method, where the target market can be identified easily, has been
shifted to an aggregated sector-level chain. With this methodological shift it was
difficult to identify the target market because different individual chains serve
different markets (high income vs. low income, price vs. quality, pensioners vs.
single mother families, university education vs. school leavers etc.).
The heterogeneity of chain structures, not just between case study countries but
within them as well, provides a challenge to aggregating the results into a single map
of the chain. The basic problem that emerges from this is one of comparing ‘apples
and oranges’, where a global map is constructed with vertically integrated and highly
fragmented chains. Within the survey, stakeholders were asked to identify who their
customers are. From this a diversity of structures emerged. For instance, in the
Moroccan sample, the customer base of growers were almost evenly split between
citrus packers, citrus exporters, citrus grower-packers, citrus packer-exporters, fully
integrated citrus grower-packer-exporters and non-citrus specific customers.
In addition to the above methodological limitations, the policy recommendations
proposed here are broad and do not go into specific policy initiatives in significant
detail. What was touched upon however was the way that current initiatives such as
Morocco’s Green Plan and Egypt’s Sustainable Agriculture Development Program
may have an impact on consumer value, although not intentionally, especially with
regard to the development of irrigation infrastructure. Further research that assesses
individual policy initiatives based on their ability to contribute towards creating
consumer value would be beneficial in furthering value chain thinking as a
framework for evaluating policy.
216 C. Sausman et al.

Appendix 1

See Fig. 8.2.

Fig. 8.2 Differences in importance attached to orange attributes based on consumers’ country of
residence. Attributes presented passed test of significance (2-tailed) if below 0.05, and test of
homogeneity of variance

Appendix 2

See Fig. 8.3.

Fig. 8.3 Impact of gender on the importance attached to orange attributes. Attributes presented
passed test of significance (2-tailed) if below 0.05
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 217

Appendix 3

See Fig. 8.4.

Fig. 8.4 Impact of age on the importance attached to orange attributes. Attributes presented
passed test of significance (2-tailed) if below 0.05
218 C. Sausman et al.

Appendix 4

See Table 8.4.

Table 8.4 Strength of Citrus input supplier

information flow and
Information flow 47 %
relationships in Egypt’s fresh
orange global value chain Customer relationships 65 %
(mean score percentagesa) Relationship average (downstream) 67 %
Extension services
Information flow 40 %
Customer relationships 63 %
Relationship average (downstream) 63 %
Growers
Information flow 52 %
Supplier relationships 70 %
Customer relationships 69 %
Relationship average (downstream) 76 %
Packers
Information flow 71 %
Supplier relationships 82 %
Customer relationships 82 %
Relationship average (downstream) 85 %
Logistics
Information flow 81 %
Customer relationships 85 %
Relationship average (downstream) 85 %
Exporters
Information flow 80 %
Supplier relationships 89 %
Customer relationships 90 %
Relationship average (downstream) 90 %
a
0–33 % = weak, 34–66 % = partial/basic, 67–100 % = strong
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 219

Appendix 5

See Table 8.5.

Table 8.5 Strength of Citrus input supplier

information flow and
Information flow 90 %
relationships in Morocco’s
fresh orange global value Customer relationships 88 %
chain (mean score Relationship average (downstream) 81 %
percentagesa) Extension services
Information flow 88 %
Customer relationships 65 %
Relationship average (downstream) 65 %
Growers
Information flow 80 %
Supplier relationships 74 %
Customer relationships 75 %
Relationship average (downstream) 80 %
Packers
Information flow 94 %
Supplier relationships 85 %
Customer relationships 85 %
Relationship average (downstream) 88 %
Logistics
Information flow 82 %
Customer relationships 85 %
Relationship average (downstream) 85 %
Exporters
Information flow 87 %
Supplier relationships 92 %
Customer relationships 89 %
Relationship average (downstream) 89 %
a
0–33 % = weak, 34–66 % = partial/basic, 67–100 % = strong
220 C. Sausman et al.

Appendix 6

See Table 8.6.

Table 8.6 Strength of Citrus input supplier

information flow and
information flow 80 %
relationships in Syria’s fresh
orange global value chain customer relationships 73 %
(mean score percentagesa) relationship average (downstream) 73 %
Extension services
Information flow 85 %
Customer relationships 77 %
Relationship average (downstream) 77 %
Growers
Information flow 70 %
Supplier relationships 73 %
Customer relationships 69 %
Relationship average (downstream) 74 %
Packers
Information flow 87 %
Supplier relationships 79 %
Customer relationships 78 %
Relationship average (downstream) 80 %
Logistics
Information flow 72 %
Customer relationships 66 %
Relationship average (downstream) 66 %
Exporters
Information flow 85 %
Supplier relationships 82 %
Customer relationships 77 %
Relationship average (downstream) 77 %
a
0–33 % = weak, 34–66 % = partial/basic, 67–100 % = strong
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 221

Appendix 7

See Table 8.7.

Table 8.7 Strength of Citrus input supplier

information flow and
Information flow 74 %
relationships in Tunisia’s
fresh orange global value Customer relationships 76 %
chain (mean score Relationship average (downstream) 75 %
percentagesa) Extension services
Information flow 79 %
Customer relationships 83 %
Relationship average (downstream) 83 %
Growers
Information flow 77 %
Supplier relationships 73 %
Customer relationships 72 %
Relationship average (downstream) 80 %
Packers
Information flow 100 %
Supplier relationships 88 %
Customer relationships 88 %
Relationship average (downstream) 80 %
Logistics
Information flow 80 %
Customer relationships 88 %
Relationship average (downstream) 88 %
Exporters
Information flow 91 %
Supplier relationships 72 %
Customer relationships 82 %
Relationship average (downstream) 82 %
a
0–33 % = weak, 34–66 % = partial/basic, 67–100 % = strong
222 C. Sausman et al.

Appendix 8

See Table 8.8.

Table 8.8 Strength of Citrus input supplier

information flow and
Information flow 68 %
relationships in Turkey’s
fresh orange global value Customer relationships 64 %
chain (mean score Relationship average (downstream) 66 %
percentagesa) Extension services
Information flow 80 %
Customer relationships 73 %
Relationship average (downstream) 73 %
Growers
Information flow 62 %
Supplier relationships 68 %
Customer relationships 67 %
Relationship average (downstream) 68 %
Packers
Information flow 73 %
Supplier relationships 68 %
Customer relationships 72 %
Relationship average (downstream) 70 %
Logistics
Information flow 68 %
Customer relationships 69 %
Relationship average (downstream) 69 %
Exporters
Information flow 74 %
Supplier relationships 69 %
Customer relationships 72 %
Relationship average (downstream) 72 %
a
0–33 % = weak, 34–66 % = partial/basic, 67–100 % = strong

References

Adhikari, R. P., Collins, R., & Sun, X. (2012). Segmenting consumers to inform agrifood value
chain development in Nepal. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 15(4),
93–114.
Asem-Bansah, C. K., Sakyi-Dawson, O., Ackah-Nyamike, E. E., Colecraft, E. K., & Marquis, G.
S. (2012). Enhancing backyard poultry enterprise performance in the Techiman area: A value
chain analysis. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 12(1),
5759–5775.
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 223

Baldacci, E., Benedict, C., Sanjeev, G., & Qiang, C. (2008). Social spending, human capital, and
growth in developing countries. World Development, 36(8), 1317–1341.
Binswanger-Mkhize, H., & McCalla, A. F. (2010). The changing context and prospects for
agricultural and rural development in Africa. In R. Evenson & P. Pingali (Eds.), Handbook of
agricultural economics (Vol. 4, pp. 3591–3712). Amsterdam: Elsevier/North-Holland.
Bonney, L., Clark, R., Collins, R., & Fearne, A. (2007). From serendipity to sustainable
competitive advantage: Insights from Houston’s Farm and their journey of co-innovation.
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 12(6), 395–399.
Bonney, L., Clark, L., Collins, R., & Fearne, A. (2008). Value chain innovation: A diagnostic
assessment of opportunities for market development and process improvement in the Coles-
Simplot frozen vegetable value chain. The University of Queensland, Australia: Tasmanian
Institute of Agricultural Research.
Campbell, R. (2008) Briefing paper: Key elements of the value chain approach. US aid/
accelerated microenterprise advancement project. [Online]. http://bit.ly/laDjrG. Accessed 27
June 2012.
Carson, S. J., Madhok, A., Varman, R., & John, G. (2003). Information processing moderators of
the effectiveness of trust-based governance in interfirm R&D collaboration. Organization
Science, 14(1), 45–56.
Christopher, M. (2011). Logistics and supply chain management (4th ed.). Dorchester: Pearson
Education Limited.
Christopher, M., & Juttner, U. (2000). Supply chain relationships: Making the transition to closer
integration. International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, 3(1), 5–23.
Collins, R. (2009). Value chain management and postharvest handling: Partners in competitive-
ness. In W. J. Florkowski, R. L. Shewfelt, B. Brueckner, & S. E. Prussia (Eds.), Postharvest
handling: A systems approach. San Diego, CA: Elsevier.
Cousins, P. D., & Menguc, B. (2006). The implications of socialization and integration in supply
chain management. Journal of Operations Management, 24(5), 604–620.
Cruickshank, J. A. (2009). A play for rurality—Modernization versus local autonomy. Journal of
Rural Studies, 25(1), 98–107.
Davis, J. H., & Goldberg, R. (1957). A concept of agribusiness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Delbufalo, E. (2012). Outcomes of inter-organizational trust in supply chain relationships: A
systematic literature review and a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence. Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal, 17(4), 377–402.
Drucker, P. F. (1999). Management challenges for the 21st century. Cambridge, MA: Harper
Business School Press.
Dyer, J. H., & Singhe, H. (1998). The relational view: Cooperative strategy and sources of
interorganizational competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(4), 660–679.
Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de Coordination des Exportations (EACCE). (2011).
http://web2.eacce.org.ma. Accessed 27 June 2012.
FAO. (2013). FAO statistics. [Online]. http://faostat.fao.org. Accessed 20 December 2013.
Fearne, A., Garcia Martinez, M., & Dent, B. (2012). Dimensions of sustainable value chains:
Implications for value chain analysis. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17
(6), 575–581.
Fearne, A. (2009). Sustainable food and wine value chains. Australia: Government of South
Australia.
Felgate, M. K., Fearne, A., & DiFalco, S. (2011). Analysing the impact of supermarket
promotions: A case study using Tesco Clubcard Data in the UK. In Kent business school
working paper series (No. 234).Canterbury: Kent Business School.
Francis, M. (2000). Mapping information flows. In P. Hines (Ed.), Value stream management
(pp. 53–68). London: Pearson Education.
Gereffi, G. (1999). International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain.
Journal of International Economics, 48(1), 37–70.
224 C. Sausman et al.

Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J., & Sturgeon, T. J. (2005). The governance of global value chains.
Review of International Political Economy, 12(1), 78–104.
Handfeld, R. B., & Bechtel, C. (2002). The role of trust and relationship structure in improving
supply chain responsiveness. Industrial Marketing Management, 31(4), 367–382.
Hines, P., & Rich, N. (1997). The seven value stream mapping tools. International Journal of
Operations and Production Management, 7(1), 46–64.
Hodgson, R. W. (1967). Horticultural varieties of citrus. In W. Reuther, J. H. Webber, & L.
D. Batchelor (Eds.), The citrus industry. Volume I: History, world distribution, botany, and
varieties. California: University of California.
Humphrey, J., & Schmitz, H. (2002). Developing country firms in the world economy:
Governance and upgrading in global value chains. In INEF report. Germany: University of
Duisburg.
Jones, D. T., & Simons, D. (2000). Future directions for the supply side of ECR in ECR in the
Third Millennium. In D. Corsten and D.T. Jones (Eds), Academic Perspectives on the Future of
Consumer Goods Industry. Brussels: ECR
Kannana, V. R., & Tanb, K. C. (2005). Just in time, total quality management, and supply chain
management: Understanding their linkages and impact on business performance. Omega, 33,
153–162.
Kaplinsky, R. (2000). Is globalisation all it is cracked up to be? Journal of International Political
Economy, 7(5), 1–21.
Kaplinsky, R., & Morris, M. (2002). A handbook for value chain research. Brighton: Institute of
Development Studies.
Li, S., Ragu-Nathan, B., Ragu-Nathan, T. S., & Rao, S. S. (2006). The impact of supply chain
management practices on competitive advantage and organizational performance. Omega, 34
(2), 107–124.
Lindberg, E., Nilsson, O. L. F., & Surry, Y. (2006). National agricultural policies synthesis report.
Working paper, MEDFROL project.
Lindic, J., & da Silva, C. M. (2011). Value proposition as a catalyst for a customer focused
innovation. Management Decision, 49(10), 1694–1708.
Marsden, T., Banks, J., Renting, H., & Van Der Ploeg, J. D. (2001). The road towards sustainable
rural development: Issues of theory, policy and research practice. Journal of Environmental
Policy and Planning, 3(2), 75–83.
McGuffog, T., & Wadsley, N. (1999). The general principles of value chain management. Supply
Chain Management: An International Journal, 4(5), 218–225.
Mili, S., & Martínez, C. (2012). Sourcing agricultural produce from MPCs and Turkey into the
EU: A buyer market research in Spain. Working paper, Spanish National Research Council.
Montgomery, S. (2009). Crop production in the mediterranean partner countries continues to
increase. In Agriculture and fisheries. Luxembourg: Eurostat.
Nabli, M. K. (2004). Jobs, growth and governance in the middle east and north Africa.
Washington, DC: The World Bank.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Porter, M. E. (1990). The competitive advantage of nations. New York: Free Press.
Rieple, A., & Singh, R. (2010). A value chain analysis of the organic cotton industry: The case
retailers and Indian suppliers. Ecological Economics, 69, 2292–2302.
Roy, D., & Thorat, A. (2008). Success in high value horticultural export markets for the small
farmers: The case of Mahagrapes in India. World Development, 36(10), 1874–1890.
Schmitz, H. (2005). Value chain analysis for policy-makers and practitioners. Geneva:
International Labor Organization.
Simons, D., Francis, M., & Fearne, A. (2003). Identifying the determinants of value in the U.K. red
meat industry: A value chain analysis approach. Journal on Chain and Network, Science, 3(2),
109–121.
8 From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis … 225

Slater, S. S., & Narver, J. C. (1992). Superior customer value and business performance: The
strong evidence for a market-driven culture. Working paper No. 92–125, Marketing Science
Institute, Cambridge, MA.
Slywotzky, A. J., & Morrison, D. J. (1997). The profit zone. New York: Wiley.
Soosay, C., Fearne, A., & Dent, B. (2012). Sustainable value chain analysis—A case study of
Oxford landing from “vine to dine”. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17
(1), 68–77.
Taylor, D. H. (2005). Supply chain analysis: An approach to value chain improvement in agri-food
chains. The International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 35(10),
744–761.
Trienekens, J. H. (2011). Agricultural value chains in developing countries: A framework for
analysis. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 14(2), 51–82.
Walters, D., & Lancaster, G. (2000). Implementing value strategy through the value chain.
Management Decision, 38(3), 160–178.
Womack, J., & Jones, D. (1994). From lean production to the lean enterprise. Harvard Business
Review, 72, 93–103.
World Bank. (2008). Agriculture and rural development in MENA. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank. (2012). Food price hike drives 44 million people into poverty. [Online]. http://tinyurl.
com/4wzbyac. Accessed 27 June 2012.
Zaheer, A., McEvily, B., & Perrone, V. (1998). Does trust matter? Exploring the effects of
interorganizational and interpersonal trust on performance. Organization Science, 9(2),
141–159.
Chapter 9
Challenges in Citrus Market Chains
in Tunisia and Morocco

Etienne Montaigne, Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier and Leila Khefifi

List of Abbreviations
AKIS Agricultural knowledge and innovation systems
AVFA Agence de vulgarisation et de formation agricole
CLAM Comité de liaison de l’agrumiculture méditerranéenne
CNSTN Centre National des Sciences et Technologies nucléaires
CTA Centre technique des agrumes
CTV Citrus tristeza virus
DAP Di-ammonium phosphate
DGPDA Direction générale de la production et du développement agricole
DTN Dinar tunisien
GIFRUIT Groupement inter-professionnel des fruits
INAT Institut National Agronomique de Tunis
INRAT Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie
IOCV International Organization of Citrus Virologists
SMVDA Société de mise en valeur et de développement agricole

9.1 Introduction

In a global market, competitiveness of fruit agricultural value chains is essential.

This is especially true as plants are perennial and changes are made only slowly. In
the citrus industry, the specificities of technical developments do not reduce their
importance. They must therefore be understood and supported by the supervisors of
the economic policy. In addition, many stakeholders interact, conflict, compete,

E. Montaigne (&)
L. Khefifi

SUPAGRO, Montpellier, France
e-mail: [email protected]
F.E. Hadad-Gauthier
CIHEAM-IAM, Montpellier, France

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 227

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_9
228 E. Montaigne et al.

undergo natural constraints and organize themselves to bring their products to the
final consumer. These value chains are dynamic and change over time due to
various constraints and objectives, mainly in export sectors.
In the tradition of the French school of agri-business and rural economy, the
objective of this chapter is to analyse the challenges and opportunities of the citrus
industry in two Maghreb countries: Tunisia and Morocco. The method of analysis is
not undisputed as choices, mobilized disciplines and methods are different.
Although away from academia, this approach of “meso-systems” remains rich,
particularly as its results are enhanced with new theoretical frameworks. In this
perspective this chapter complements Chap. 7 on global value chain analysis, which
stressed consumer value as the most important parameter in value chain analyses.
The heart of the method remains the same with a description of the technical
itinerary, the bargaining power of players and the systemic approach with reference
to the definition of boundaries, cutting and regulations of the filière. But the method
was completed by the dynamics of innovation, international links and the firms
steering chains, the transactional approaches and the managerial vision. So, for
example, in the citrus market chain we observe all the actors involved: farmer,
broker, packager, exporter, shipping merchant, importer, wholesaler, and retailer.
Each stakeholder could be differentiated by size, market power and localisation.
Each producer or firm realises a part of the technical operation, aiming at bringing
an orange on the table of the local or foreign consumer. When we pay attention to
the question of bargaining power or market power and domination, we can analyse
the transfer of productivity gains, the share of value added, and prices. Generally,
farmers are not in a dominant position. They suffer the domination of the merchants
and are “price followers”. A large part of the value added is unequally shared and
captured downstream of the market chain.
The production practices in the citrus industry, professional organizations, the
supply of labour and implementation, scientific and technical research, and mar-
keting and distribution beyond the farm gate must also be taken into account.
Despite conflicts, players often cooperate and establish mutually beneficial con-
tracts generating quasi-rents. Moreover, knowhow on markets and product qualities
are defined by feedback loops between stakeholders. In the citrus chain, the quality
problem must really be viewed from a systemic perspective. The characteristics of
the oranges depend on the variety, the nutrition of the trees, and the storage con-
ditions. Each stakeholder has a precise role to play in its improvement. The major
operators, on the one hand, desire to control the relationships with suppliers and
customers, while on the other hand, the public authorities want to plan, control and
intervene in the industrial sectors.
The citrus market chains are also associated with a group of innovation chains
that contribute to both the technology and competition dynamics in the agricultural
or industrial sector. The creation, development and implementation of technological
change are the result of ‘innovation chains’; that is to say, a group of firms and
public or private organizations participating in the process (Montaigne 1992). The
main technologies concerned are integrated pest management and the creation of
new varieties.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 229

The transaction costs are also observed. These costs influence the organizational,
contractual and strategic choices in the short and long term. Each stakeholder of the
chain minimizes the production and transaction costs; accordingly they choose
various forms of organization such as spot markets, contracts or integration.
In Tunisia we place emphasis on the analysis of innovation and issues related to
biotic stresses. In Morocco we discuss the Green Morocco Plan to discuss the
ongoing changes and major reforms to be implemented, with particular attention to
the players and their strategies. We conclude on the similarities and differences in
these two countries.

9.2 Innovation in the Tunisian Citrus Fruit Farming

We have endeavoured to incorporate this vision of innovation in the analysis of

value chain competitiveness. Our presentation is divided into two complementary
sections: the first positions the Tunisian citrus fruit value chain on the international
market and describes its originality with a view to hierarchizing the technological
factors studied in the second part. This section identifies and examines the tech-
nological factors of strategic importance to the international competitiveness of this
value chain, including the risk of major biological crises, varietal dynamics, bio-
logical combat and reduced use of pesticides. We will see in the following section
that some of these issues, in particular the tristeza virus disease, arise under the
same conditions in Morocco.
Research work follows a number of paths, some of which are relatively tradi-
tional in the field of improving production: improving rootstock for increased
efficiency in the use of water and mineral elements, varietal improvement, farming
techniques, micro-grafting and techniques for fighting parasites, including biolog-
ical control. Our aim was not to study all the research programmes but to assess
those which underline the risks or concern important economic objectives for the
value chain. In the end, we adopted two: the issue of rootstock with regard to the
tristeza virus and the difficulties associated with implementing biological control. In
the first case, we took into account the risk of the orchard disappearing in its
entirety, while in the second case, we examined the commercial importance of a
significant reduction in the use of pesticides and in their residues.

9.2.1 The Particularity of the Tunisian Citrus Fruit Value

Chain in the Global Market and Innovation

In this section, we explore the workings of the Tunisian citrus fruit value chain with
a view to deriving the characteristics demonstrating the importance of the choice of
varietal innovation, and thus to studying the objectives.
230 E. Montaigne et al.

Tunisia is a very small producer of citrus fruits (Fig. 9.1). Although production has
grown by 60 % over 10 years, it nevertheless totalled only 360,000 tonnes in 2011/
2012, i.e. 1.7 % of Mediterranean production, which in turn, accounts for only 20 % of
global production. The production of citrus fruits covers a large period of six months,
running from November to April. With the new varieties of clementines, navel
oranges and tangerines introduced in 1995, the production period was extended to run
from October to May, representing a total production period covering eight months.
The main varieties of citrus fruit farmed in Tunisia are as follows (Fig. 9.2): (1)
Oranges: Maltese (1/2 blood, early Bokhobza, late Barlerin, blonde); navels
(Thompson, Washington); Double Fine and Double Fine improved; Sweet
(Maltese, Meski, Ansli); Chémi; (2) Clementines: Cassar; (3) mandarins: Arbi;
tangerines; (4) lemons: Eurêka, Lunari, Arbi; (5) pomelo (Marsh Seedless, Star
Ruby); (6) limes (sweet lime, acid lime, Bearss lime), citron, etc.
The surface area dedicated to citrus fruits totalled 21,000 ha in 2010, i.e. more
than 0.4 % of total useful farming land in Tunisia. Three-quarters of orchards are
located in Cap Bon. Cap Bon remains the main production zone, accounting for
almost 74 % of the total citrus farming area. The structure of Tunisian orange
groves has changed and we not only observe an increase in total surface area but
also an increase in the number of farmers, with a majority of small-scale farms

Source: CLAM data based on the European Commission AGRI.C.2 / AGR26 / 2012

Fig. 9.1 Citrus fruit production in the Mediterranean basin (million tons). Source CLAM data
based on the european commission AGRI.C.2/AGR26/2012
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 231

160

140

120
Maltaises
100
Clementines
1 000 t

80 Mandarines
lemons
60
Sweet O.
40 Navels

20 Valencia
Diverse
0

Source: GIF ruits, inter-professional fruit group

Fig. 9.2 Citrus fruit production in Tunisia by variety (thousands of tons). Source GIFruits, inter-
professional fruit group

(32 % of the surface area is occupied by small-scale farms). The number of trees has
increased by 26 % since 1999.
The citrus farming sector in Tunisia is highly strategic in Tunisian agriculture as
it provides income for more than 11,600 producers and more than 18,000 families.
It accounts for casual labour estimated at 3 million man-days per year.
On average, Tunisia exports 25,000 tonnes of citrus fruits, representing 7 % of
its production. However, these exports largely consist of the Maltese variety with
almost 80 % of production intended for export, primarily to France. For the crop
year 2011/2012, exports of oranges per variety were composed of 95.2 %Maltese,
2.8 % Navel, 1.4 %Valencia and 0.6 % others.
With regard to technical innovation, the main characteristics of this citrus
farming draw our attention to a number of essential points: first, there is the issue of
variety and the importance of the Maltese variety as well as the privileged relations
with France on this market. This variety of orange is marketed as a high-quality
product at a higher price than other categories. In February 2013, the Marseille
border price of Maltese oranges reached one-and-a-half times that of Spanish
navels. French consumers appreciate the ease of peeling, the balance of sweetness
and acidity, its juice content and the lack of pips. The flesh is very juicy, very
aromatic and slightly acidic. The red colour is spread throughout the inside of the
fruit with varying levels of stripes depending on the farming conditions (GIFruits).
Nevertheless, the supply of citrus fruits is becoming more diversified. The
Maltese orange now faces competition from the Thomson variety as well from as
clementines, although these are almost all marketed locally. The prices are
232 E. Montaigne et al.

relatively high, encouraging producers to devote more resources to them (land,

water, etc.). The development of domestic demand should be analysed from a
qualitative point of view.

9.2.2 Research: Innovation, Technical Controversy

and Technological Orientation

Following interviews with operators in the Tunisian citrus fruit value chain, we
identified certain scientific and technical questions subject to controversy and
associated with major economic objectives.1
In Tunisia, certain research actions in the field of citrus fruit farming covered the
following themes: clonal selection of some varieties of citrus fruit farmed in
Tunisia: viral sanitation and the improvement of citrus fruit varieties and rootstock,
the study of phytophagous citrus fruit mites and the introduction of methodologies
to combat them, citrus fruit mal secco with its diagnosis, chemical measures and
varietal resistance, and finally the study of stubborn and tristeza, diseases found in
citrus fruits, and their vectors.
In light of the objectives and the focus of the SustainMED study on international
competitiveness for the citrus fruit value chain, we chose to explore two essential
subjects in detail: the question of rootstock and the tristeza virus on the one hand,
and the conditions of implementing measures to combat diseases and parasites on
the other.

9.2.2.1 Rootstock: The Bitter Orange or Not?

Very often, in the fields of perennial plants and tree crops, technological progress is
achieved through the improvement of plant material, rootstock or variety,
depending on the case, with clearly defined selection criteria: plant productivity,
fruit quality, production period, adaptation to the edaphic conditions, temperature
and soil, and, increasingly, resistance to disease.
In the case of citrus fruits, a technical controversy has arisen concerning the
oldest and most widespread rootstock in Tunisia—the bitter orange.2 The bitter
orange is a rootstock which is sensitive to the tristeza viral disease. The biological
solution to combat this viral infection involves substituting the rootstock for more
resistant varieties.

1
To achieve this, we combined an analysis of the literature in the scientific and extension reviews
such as Fruitrop, the reports of the Euromed citrus net project, the conferences of the IOCV and a
selection of technical manuals to understand and summarise these objectives.
2
The bitter orange originally comes from south-east India. It was brought to the Middle East by the
Arabs before being introduced in Europe during the Crusades in the 11th century.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 233

The Economic Importance of the Illness

The importance of this disease makes it the source of a major economic and tech-
nological risk. The Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is the causal agent of the most eco-
nomically important disease affecting citrus fruits worldwide. During the last century,
the disease destroyed almost 70 million citrus fruit trees grafted on bitter orange trees
around the world. In Spain alone, 40 million trees were destroyed (Marroquin et al.
2004). The range of tristeza virus hosts is essentially restricted to the Citrus
spp. genus. CTV is transmitted by grafting and by several species of aphid, the most
prolific of which is the brown citrus aphid (Toxoptera citricida). The second half of
the last century was marked by a considerable extension of this potential vector.
The following prevention strategies can be adopted: (1) consolidation of quar-
antine measures and vigilance at border posts; (2) controls in nurseries producing
seedlings; (3) sensitisation of producers to the significance of tristeza; (4) pro-
duction of certified seedlings; (5) monitoring of the dynamics of the aphid popu-
lations responsible for transmitting CTV; and (6) substitution of the bitter orange
with another rootstock which is more resilient (ONSSA sd et al. 2013).
The symptoms caused by CTV differ according to the isolates and species of the
host plants. Seedlings grafted on bitter orange trees wither and the size of the fruit is
reduced. The trees turn a bronze colour before losing their leaves, then die fol-
lowing the destruction of the conductive tissue for nutrients or sap at the grafting
points (ONSSA). In some cases, the primary and secondary veins become lighter,
while depressions form on the trunk of the plant, taking the form of longitudinal
grooves, hence the term “stem pitting”. According to Roistacher and Moreno
(1989), the destruction of millions of trees by tristeza between 1930 and 1950 was
even one of the main reasons underlying the creation of the IOCV3in 1957.
“Historically speaking, when Toxoptera citricida is introduced into a country,
citrus fruits grafted on the bitter orange leave the country for good. Numerous
indexing and eradication programmes were introduced between 1970 and 1980,
accompanied by numerous grubbing-up operations in Argentina, California, Spain
and Israel. These programmes, supported by the development of ELISA indexing
techniques, did not all achieve their objectives. Every attempt to save the bitter
orange as a rootstock by means of cross protection failed4” (Roistacher et al. 2010).

The Advantages of the Status Quo

In light of this objective, all the citrus fruit producers around the world, and in
particular in Tunisia, should renew their orchards. However, Tunisia has as yet
remained unscathed by this virus. The rootstock is one of the essential factors of

3
IOCV: International Organization of Citrus Virologists
4
Cross-protection consists of infecting the rootstock with mild strains of the virus: it is a kind of
pre-immunisation.
234 E. Montaigne et al.

production success due to the resistance it confers with regard to biotic constraints
(destructive diseases and pests as well as degenerative and abiotic diseases: soil
acidity or alkalinity, salinity, reaction to cold or drought) (CTA 2010). The root-
stock has a strong impact on factors such as robustness and the first production age,
the output and quality of the fruit. Use of the bitter orange presents numerous
advantages of which producers are aware.
The quality of the citrus fruits adapts well with the bitter orange—in particular
the variety “Maltese half-blood” for which we have already seen the importance,
and particularity of the market—and demonstrates a better adaptation and a better
quality than with other rootstocks, while also adapting better to both climatic and
edaphic conditions, and this for all types of varieties. This is also the case with new
varieties such as “New Hall”, “Washington Navel” and “Navelate”.
Although the other rootstocks adopted in Spain and imported to Tunisia boast
the advantage of resisting the tristeza virus, the price of these rootstocks is very high
and does not, therefore, encourage small-scale farmers to adopt them. Citrus fruit
farmers are familiar with the bitter orange and demonstrate good mastery of the
grafting technique.
We must also cite the importance of the link between the rootstock and the
demands of the market. On the fresh fruit market, the quality of the “Maltese half-
blood” makes the difference and it is its organoleptic characteristics which enable it
to compete with the oranges of the other countries of the Mediterranean (cf. supra).
The definition of organoleptic quality varies between the different countries in line
with the ease of peeling, the colouring and the thickness of the bark. All of these
elements contribute to defining the quality of the fruit. As a rootstock, the bitter
orange preserves the quality of this product. Finally, despite its sensitivity to the
tristeza virus, this product remains the most frequently adopted by farmers.
The “Poncirus”,“Citrange” and “Citrumelo” are now available as replacements
for the bitter orange, with its sensitivity to “Tristeza”. New rootstocks are created by
hybridisation or through biotechnologies, including “Citrange Carrizo”, “Citrumelo
4475”, “Citrange C-35” and “ C. volkamérina”. These varieties are more resistant to
tristeza and better adapted to the new densities and production techniques (CTA
interviews 2010), although their adoption by farmers remains critical.
In conclusion, we identified the adoption of new rootstocks as an indicator of
attention to innovation, although we are fully aware that this adoption can be
viewed differently by the producers who evaluate the advantages and risks in light
of the costs of change.

9.2.2.2 From Chemical Measures to Integrated Mechanisms

As in most producer countries, Tunisian citrus fruit farming has followed an evo-
lution of techniques for combating pests aimed at reducing the quantity of pesti-
cides used, reflecting developments in society including environmental protection, a
reduction in residues, the development of import standards, specifications (Global
gap), resistance to treatment and the destruction of useful insects (bees).
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 235

It is recognised that shifting from a treatment schedule to an integrated

mechanism requires very good familiarity with the biology of the plant and its
parasites, a much higher level of technicality, a significant technical supervision and
the mobilisation of major collective and public resources.
As for all crops, the number of parasites and potential diseases is very high. The
“EuroMed Citrus Net”5 programme presents ten sorts of virus or viroids, one
bacterium and one phytoplasm, five types of fungus, four types of nematodes, nine
species of spider, seven species of insect and eight species of cochineal. Of course
not all of these species have the same economic importance either in terms of the
damage caused, their spatial dissemination or the difficulty experienced in eradi-
cating them or limiting their extension.

The Example of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly

In the Mediterranean region, Ceratitis capitata, the Mediterranean fruit fly, is the
most formidable pest as a result of the favourable conditions observed in a large
part of this area, in particular the climate and diversity of crops. Being very
polyphagous with a high level of ecological tolerance also enables it to express its
biotic potential to the full and to make optimum use of its environment by devel-
oping several generations every year and attacking numerous species of fruit tree,
demonstrating year-round production (Mazih 1992).
The fly lays between 300 and 1000 eggs throughout its life and the larvae create
galleries through which the fungi and bacteria responsible for decomposition and
premature falling of the fruit can enter. This damage represents a major obstacle to
exports due to the depreciation of the value of the goods and the quarantine measures
imposed by certain importing countries. On citrus fruits, the Mediterranean fruit fly
targets early varieties and varieties with a thin skin, in particular the clementine.
The high risk period is at the start of autumn and the end of spring.6
Over the past two decades, Malathion,7 a non-selective insecticide applied from
September until the end of November, a period when the fruit fly causes maximum
damage and multiplies the most, was the weapon of choice in the fight against this
fly. This product is now prohibited in Europe. Furthermore, the Mediterranean fruit
fly has developed resistances through mutation. The chemical measures proved
insufficient to control this pest. Despite the treatments carried out, losses due to the
Mediterranean fruit fly in Tunisia are roughly USD 10,500,000 per year (Driouchi
1990; quoted by Lachiheb 2008). Nor should we forget the impact of these treat-
ments on the environment, human health and useful auxiliary entomofauna

5
http://www2.spi.pt/euromedcitrusnet/
6
Source: http://bacteries-champignons.blogspot.fr/2012/02/methodes-de-lutte-contre-la-ceratite.
html
7
For the European Union: this active ingredient is prohibited by decision 2007/389/EC following
the examination of the inscription in appendix I of directive 91/414/EEC—since 2012, the residue
rate for this pesticide in food is regulated in Europe.
236 E. Montaigne et al.

(Lachiheb 2008). Despite the numerous works carried out on the different parasites,
the results are relatively weak due to the difficulties of breeding and the complexity
of the host-parasite (Lachiheb 2008).
In looking for substitution solutions, the CTA experimented with the technique
of releasing sterile males from 2005 to 20068 (Lachiheb 2008). This technique was
implemented in 2003 with a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and
the National Centre for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (CNSTN) in Sidi
Thabet where the insects were bred and sterilised. This project received funding
from FAO and CNSTN.
To eradicate the fruit fly, a large number of sterile males must be released for the
approach to be successful. However, the number produced in Sidi Thabet was
limited to between 8 and 10 million pupae or chrysalis per week to cover all the
citrus fruit farming areas. The personnel and logistical resources were also limited.
The experts therefore chose a zone measuring 5000 ha, isolated and bounded by the
sea around Hammamet. The sterile insects were released three times a week on
plots each measuring 1 km2 at 196 points identified by GPS, with a double dose
around the edge to avoid contamination. The sex ratio, weight and quality of the
insets released were monitored.
The project lasted two years but did not achieve its objectives. Hammamet is a
tourist area, the farmers were absent from their farms and were neither attentive to
nor made aware of the presence of the fly. The relay funding of DTN 500,0009was
not obtained. It also proved difficult to optimise the breeding process and only
2 million pupae or chrysalis were produced instead of the expected 10 million.
The project of releasing sterile males was thus replaced by the installation of a
network of traps to monitor the fruit fly population, thereby facilitating the reasoned
applications of chemical treatments by the farmer. From an integrated approached,
we had returned to the reasoned approach.
We observe here a limit to technological development. The action undertaken
requires public investment and collective action which is difficult to implement. A
“diffusionist” vision of technical progress is not relevant in this case as an action
must be introduced with sufficient resources. If the critical mass is not achieved, the
technology cannot be disseminated.

Pursuing Biological Control Actions

The CTA has nevertheless not given up and, as part of a new strategy of the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, is pursuing the development of
biological control by creating an insectarium with a view to producing auxiliaries
which attack the main parasites. The insectarium of the Citrus Fruit Technical
Centre Technique has launched the following biological control programmes:

8
For a detailed presentation of the technique, see Lachiheb (2008)
About €250,000
9
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 237

• biological control of Planococcus citri with the predator Cryptolaemus mont-

rouzieri and the parasitoid Leptomastix dactylopii,
• biological control of the citrus leaf miner10 Phyllocnistis citrella, the exotic
ectoparasitoid Citrostichus phyllocnistoides.
• biological control of Icerya purchase by means of the predator Rodolia
cardinalis.
The CTA is developing its breeding farms and increasing the number of bio-
logical enemies from 30,000 to 50,000. The limitations of these actions can be seen
in the technical optimisation of production, the means of disseminating these
auxiliaries and thus the size of the protected zones. The resources allocated to
developing this type of collective action should probably be increased.
Similarly, the CTA calls on its employees to implement a mass trapping
approach by distributing 40–50 traps per ha to the tree farmers at a subsidised price.
These traps are sold by specialist manufacturers who combine an attractive sub-
stance (DAP11) with an insecticide. The product can be purchased directly by the
citrus fruit farmers, although the price remains high at about TND 600 (€300).
The integrated approach remains the de facto reference: it is encouraged by
research institutions and large farms such as the SMVDA12. This practice is based
on eliminating weeds, introducing balanced fertiliser, watering the citrus-fruit
seedlings regularly, annual pruning to aerate the plants, burying infected plants and
the rest of the harvest deeper than 50 cm, and complying with the harvest times
before the risk of infection by the pests (AVFA 2010).

9.2.2.3 Improving Production Techniques

Naturally, in the field of citrus farming and in Tunisia, we observe the improvement
of a set of production techniques, which are significant when combined, but which
are no longer subject to any real controversy or difficulty at the research stage. We
have nevertheless made an inventory of these improvements to demonstrate the
innovative attitude of the farmers studied.
Irrigation: in dry areas, irrigation is essential. It can be practised by sprinkling
under foliage or in a localised manner (diffuser, drip system). In this case, fertil-
isation can be combined with irrigation (ferti-irrigation) to save on inputs and
ensure a regular supply of minerals (Alary et al. 2009). This practice can be seen as
modern and efficient. Similarly, it is possible to observe the existence of automatic
or computer-operated irrigation. This practice is costly but has been adopted by
certain SMVDAs and farmers with the necessary resources (source: our survey).

10
The citrus leaf miner or “Phyllocnistiscitrella” was identified in Tunisia in 1994 having already
been detected in other countries within the Mediterranean basin. This pest causes leaves to dry out
and makes the citrus plant weak. Its presence can be identified by the symptom of the leaves
rolling up (AVFA 2010).
11
DAP: Di-Ammonium Phosphate
12
SMVDA: agricultural enhancement and development companies
238 E. Montaigne et al.

Fertilisation: mineral fertilisation must offset exports of mineral elements by the

fruit and pruning and ensure the growth of vegetative organs. Fertilisation can be
based on the results of mineral analyses of the leaves and soil. This practice is an
indicator of innovative practices. In the survey, we observed that certain SMVDAs
have these analyses conducted in Spain.
Water and soil analysis: before and after installing a fruit plantation, it is
essential to know the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil. Similarly,
controlling water quality is also an important practice. While nothing new, these
techniques are indicative of a farmer’s genuine understanding of technical matters.

9.2.3 Conclusion

With regard to the technological dynamics in the citrus fruit value chain in Tunisia,
we retain two main questions, which mark its competitiveness: the risk linked to the
potential arrival of the tristeza virus and the massive destruction of orchards. The
solution of using resistant rootstocks exists. Specific actions coordinated by the
CTA are implemented to counter this risk. Nevertheless, major risk management is
always faced with the same problem: as long as the producers are not directly
concerned, as long as they do not see the consequences of this potential biological
crisis,13 they are not ready to sacrifice their “acquired advantages”.
The question of biological control is of a different type. Protection by pesticides
is not really called into question. However, the attitudes of society in this respect
change very rapidly. We simply have to look at the Ecophyto plan 2018,14 which
recommends reducing the use of pesticides in France by 50 %, to understand one of
the main market orientations. The difficulty encountered concerns resources and
collective action. The solutions are accessible.

9.3 Reconfiguration and Performance of the Citrus Fruit

Value Chain in Morocco

We will now examine the issue of the competitiveness of export value chains in the
Mediterranean partner countries (MPCs) against the backdrop of a changing national
and international socio‐institutional framework. We focus on the example of the citrus

13
France in the 19th century and California in the 1990s were faced with a major Phylloxera crisis
which demonstrated the economic importance of such diseases and epidemics.
14
Ecophyto 2018: in the wake of the Grenelle Environment Forum, the Ecophyto plan represents
the commitment of the stakeholders—who together drafted the plan—to reduce the use of pesti-
cides at the national level. In particular, the Ecophyto plan aims to reduce the dependence of farms
on phyto products while maintaining a high level of agricultural production in terms of both
quantity and quality.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 239

cultivation value chain in Morocco and we call on qualitative surveys15 to demon-

strate that this value chain is currently undergoing a restructuring process, and that
despite notable progress with regard to production, an improvement in the competi-
tiveness of the export value chain continues to be hampered by major constraints.
Upstream in the value chain, we identify the positive impacts and main limi-
tations of the Green Morocco Plan (1). We then examine a number of questions
deemed to be important by the professionals, including the translation of production
potential into commercial gain (2), logistical organisation (3), economic organisa-
tion and the structure of governance within the value chain (4). Finally, we have
identified the main recommendations of the operators within the value chain with a
view to accelerating the processes of upgrading the value chain and to strengthening
the competitive position of Morocco on the international market (5).
Together with early market gardening products, citrus fruits are the country’s
main export products. Furthermore, since the middle of the first decade of this
century and following ten years of stagnation, this sector—which is of prime socio‐
economic performance16—has experienced a resurgence under the impetus of both
the policy of privatising Sodea public land (2004) and the reform of the agricultural
policy known as the Green Morocco Plan (2008).17 Finally, the introduction of a
new agricultural liberalisation agreement with the EU on 1 October 2012, and the
opening of new negotiations with the EU concerning a complete and far‐reaching
free trade agreement at the beginning of 2013 have offered new business per-
spectives in the markets of the EU. Nevertheless, despite strong institutional sup-
port, the share of exported production has stagnated (30 % compared to 70 % at the
beginning of the 1990s) while the value chain has become more vulnerable. At
present, one of the main concerns of both the operators within the value chain and
the public authorities is to enhance the competitiveness of the value chain abroad
with a view to winning back the EU markets and diversifying into other markets
(Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe) while consolidating their competitive position in
traditional outlets (Russia, Canada, USA).
The EU, which was the main market for Moroccan citrus fruits until the
beginning of the 1990s (70 % of the country’s total exports), now accounts for only

15
We conducted field investigations and semi-structured interviews with the heads of public
institutions, professional organisations and production and export companies in order to collect
their points of view and recommendations for enhancing the competitiveness of the value chain.
16
According to the statistics of the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, the sector contributes Dh
2–3 billion (€186 à 279 million) to the agricultural trade balance, accounting for between 9 and
12 % of the value of agricultural exports. It generates 21 million work days and concerns 13,000
producers working on 92,000 ha.
17
The objective of the Green Morocco Plan is to place agriculture at the heart of economic
development in Morocco. It aims to reduce poverty in rural areas and improve the competitiveness
of Moroccan agriculture. By 2020, it is hoped that the GMP will contribute 15.6 billion euros to
the country’s GDP, create 1.15 million jobs and treble the incomes of 3 million rural inhabitants. It
can be divided into two main pillars: the first targets modern agriculture while the second concerns
solidarity in agriculture. For the first pillar, the citrus fruit value chain is one of the value chains
targeted.
240 E. Montaigne et al.

25–30 % of total exports from Morocco. Despite the existence of trade preferences
stipulated in the agricultural section of the Morocco‐EU association agreement as
well as a comparative advantage (production costs, climatic advantages), the
operators in the value chain have been unable to resist the highly intensive com-
petition in this market which currently demonstrates very limited absorption
capacities. When it joined the Community market, Spain gained a decisive com-
petitive advantage (support for the value chain within the framework of the CAP,
and proximity to satisfy the supply requirements of large‐scale distribution com-
panies). The difficulty experienced by Moroccan exporters in adapting to the
requirements of this market also contributed considerably to the “marginalisation”
of this source. Consequently, Morocco turned towards other, more distant markets,
primarily Russia. In this expanding market, which is somewhat less demanding than
the markets of the EU in terms of quality, Moroccan products have enjoyed
longstanding notoriety and Morocco is more competitive (in terms of approach
costs by sea transport) than Spain. Depending on the year in question, Russia
absorbs 45–50 % of total Moroccan exports. In recent years, however, competition
between the countries of the Mediterranean basin18 has intensified due to the
globalization of the markets and the improved performances of new entrants
(Turkey and Egypt). In light of the saturation witnessed on the EU market (slow
growth of demand in terms of volume), the countries of the Mediterranean basin are
now looking for new “growth relays” and are turning towards Russia, the countries
of Eastern European and other markets where Morocco has historically been
present, i.e. North America (USA and Canada). The competition has thus “shifted”
from the EU towards these new markets. This process has caused the cards to be
reshuffled throughout the Euro‐Mediterranean area and the value chains to be
reconfigured. In the case of Morocco, the restructuring and improvement in the
value chain’s competitiveness and an international repositioning by means of an
“offensive” export strategy are major objectives which will decide the future of this
value chain as an export sector serving as a source of growth and job creation.

9.3.1 The Green Morocco Plan: Positive Impacts and Main

Limitations

9.3.1.1 The Renewal of Orchards, an Increase in Production,

but with Uncertainties Surrounding Quality and Productivity
Levels

Within a 5‐year timeframe, the citrus fruit value chain programme contract between
the public authorities and the profession stipulates a production objective of

18
With 18 % of global production estimated at 121 million tonnes, the Mediterranean basin is the
second leading production area (24 million tonnes) after China and the leading global trading area
(63 %).
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 241

2.9 million tonnes accompanied by an export volume of 1.3 million tonnes (trebling
exports in the process). Over the same period of time, global investment totalling
Dh 9 billion19 will be mobilised, two‐thirds of which (Dh 6 billion) will be provided
by private operators. For professionals, the GMP was an absolute necessity to
ensure the development of the citrus cultivation value chain. In terms of production,
the aim of the state support policy is to accelerate the upgrade of Moroccan
orchards through the renewal of plantations, the dissemination of modern produc-
tion techniques, the renewal of varieties and improvement in orchard productivity,
which is currently insufficient (15 t/ha if we take account of all plantations and 26 t/
ha if we only consider orchards which are actually productive).
Since the mid‐2000s, major investments have been injected by private operators.
The privatisation of Sodea public land (from 2004 onwards) within the framework
of public‐private partnerships20 and the subsidies (certified seedlings, localised
irrigation equipment, etc.) granted as part of the GMP have provided decisive
incentives for renewed investment. Production band plantation renewal demon-
strates steady growth.21 In total, approximately 30,000 ha of orchard should be
renewed. The creation of new orchards concerns some 20,000 ha. In light of water
stress, extending farming areas is a primary target according to the water potential
of each region. It would appear that the objectives set for 2015 as part of the
programme contract are exceeded by 35 %.22 Nevertheless, certain producers and
exporters stress that volume‐related objectives are predominant and that, despite
considerable efforts, many of the operators in the value chain do not pay sufficient
attention to two essential performance parameters: the quality level of future pro-
duction potential and the improvement in orchard productivity (yield).
Consequently, uncertainties remain for these two parameters with regard to the
progress made.
One of the reasons put forward for this is the limited dissemination of modern
production techniques which perpetuates uneven production quality and major
disparities between farms. Furthermore, to optimise orchard management, it is
important to take account of a series of parameters including localised irrigation, the
choice of plant material, tillage, treatments, etc. The sector, however, suffers from a
lack of technical and agronomic competencies in these domains. The main issue is
not access to technology but its implementation. The dissemination and optimisa-
tion of modern production techniques and innovation remain restricted to

19
1 Dh is worth approximately 0.09€
20
In 2005, management of public land was transferred to national and foreign private operators.
SODEA rents land with leases of between 17 and 40 years. The Green Morocco Plan (GMP)
provides for a new allocation of Sodea land, emphasising win-win partnerships between Moroccan
and foreign producers. It explicitly encourages foreign investment in agriculture.
21
Professionals call on data from nurseries. The sale of seedlings would appear to have increased
threefold.
22
Production should reach 2.1 million tonnes by 2015.
242 E. Montaigne et al.

producer‐exporters boasting the highest capital and, more particularly, human

resource endowments. Furthermore, certain producers question the quality level
(dependent on orchard management, as well as on the effects of climate change and
the state of the health of the plantations) of future production potential, as it would
appear that the majority of producers—for the most part older and with a lower
level of education—are not aware of this issue.

9.3.1.2 “Reactivating” the Production Areas with a High Citrus

Cultivation Potential

The public authorities pay particular attention to the region of le Gharb (located in
north‐west Morocco), perceived as “the cradle” of Moroccan citrus cultivation. This
production area, where Sodea enjoyed a strong presence (45 % of the citrus
growing area in the region) until the mid‐1990s, is characterised by a considerable
technological lag. The state’s priority is to renew the plantations, as one‐third of
these plantations is more than 35 years old, and to upgrade the farms. Of the
50,000 ha concerned by the GMP, the region of le Gharb accounts for some
17,730 ha including almost 10,000 ha (representing half) falling under the exten-
sion of areas.
Citrus farmers, who are often older, boast large land assets with orchards cov-
ering 1000–2000 ha. Judging by the Regional Agricultural Plan (RAP), the value
chain should enjoy significant development. It is scheduled to reach a production
level of almost 1.4 million tonnes and an export volume estimated at 90,000 tonnes
(compared to 33,000 tonnes at present) with a value added of about Dh
6.5 billion.23
The privatisation of Sodea land and the advantages of this region—a relatively
high water potential, the soil quality and the proximity of logistical infrastructures
(Tanger‐Med)—have encouraged major citrus fruit producer‐exporters from the
Souss‐Massa‐Draa region (south) to set up business. In this region, the country’s
leading production area for citrus fruit and early fruit and vegetables, the possi-
bilities for extending citrus farming areas are very limited due to land constraints,
water deficit and a structural labour problem (social management and availability).
These new arrivals are a driving force in modernising the value chain as they bring
with them a transfer of technology and know‐how. However, while the region of le
Gharb enjoys certain advantages, there are also a number of major constraints
which must be taken into account as they condition the upgrading of the sector.

The constraints most often voiced are the technological lag, the lack of skilled
labour and technical competencies and the cost of investment in hydraulic infra-
structures. The development of citrus cultivation in this region, blighted by high

23
Gharb-agrumes le plan regional compromis, L’Economiste no. 3305 of 24/06/2010, http://www.
leconomiste.com/article/gharbagrumes-le-plan-regional-compromis.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 243

poverty,24 could have positive socio‐economic impacts, in particular with regard to

job creation and increasing incomes among the rural population. It would appear
that small‐scale producers (1 ha) who formerly produced sugar beet are now
reconverting to the production of citrus fruit to complement their breeding activity.

9.3.1.3 The Arrival of New “Entrants”

We have identified three typical profiles:

• Investors from other sectors (real estate, industry, services). For this profile of
investors, tax exemption in the agricultural sector, the prospect of higher
profitability rates and limited risks compared to other economic sectors would
appear to be the main reasons behind their arrival in the citrus fruit value chain.
• Producer‐exporters of early fruit and vegetables (primarily tomatoes) from the
region of Souss‐Massa‐Draa who are looking to diversify into the citrus fruit
sector. These companies follow a rationale of diversification for two reasons:
first, they believe that the development of tomato production has reached a
ceiling. The existence of quotas on the EU market (main outlet) and the con-
straints on access to factors of production (water, land and labour resources)
have curbed the potential for expansion. Furthermore, labour management
(social demands and availability) has become highly problematic in the market
gardening sector (highly labour‐intensive). Boasting numerous advantages
including distribution networks in the large‐scale distribution market in partic-
ular in France, the existence of supply chain platforms and marketing offices in
the export markets (e.g. the Saint‐Charles market in Perpignan), expertise in
modern production techniques and a high capacity to incorporate innovations,
these new arrivals could make a considerable contribution to upgrading the
value chain as they target the development of high‐value‐added production.
These considerations must be qualified, as the same production rationales do not
apply to orchards as to market gardens.
• Foreign investors who have access to significant capital, for example French
importers specialising in citrus fruits. The main rationale driving these operators
is to secure their supplies (volume and quality) to large‐scale European dis-
tributors. These investments in production take the form of joint‐ventures or
partnerships with local producers within the framework of aggregation contracts
supported financially by the GMP (example of a leading French importer in the
organic fruit and vegetable sector).

24
According to the statistics of the High Commission for Planning (HCP), the poverty rate is
20.5 %, which is higher than the national average of (14.1 %). In rural areas, agriculture represents
85 % of employment.
244 E. Montaigne et al.

9.3.1.4 Research and Development, Innovation, Training: Major

Objectives

Research and development—varietal and genetic improvement and orchard man-

agement—has become essential to improve the economic performance of farms
(output, productivity, resistance to disease) and to adapt to consumer demands
relating to gustatory quality (juice content) and the appearance of the fruit (calibre,
ease of peeling, lack of pips).
In the 1970s, in the field of varietal innovation and rootstocks, Morocco was one
of those countries which had stolen a lead over its rivals and it was recognised
around the globe for its scientific production. Over the years, this heritage has
disappeared. The provisions and public investment in research and development are
highly insufficient. Since the dissolution of the Société Agricole des Services du
Maroc (SASMA)25 following the liberalisation of the sector in 1986 (bringing to an
end the monopoly of the Commercialisation and Exportation Bureau), only a few
individual producers with both capital and skilled human resources have been in a
position to undertake research and development activities, for the most part calling
on international expertise (from France, USA and Spain).
In light of this situation, innovations (varieties, rootstocks, etc.) remain limited
and when they do exist, they are poorly disseminated. The progress made in
adapting orchard varieties and preventing disease is as yet insufficient. With regard
to the health protection of the orchards, the dissemination and use of new rootstocks
instead of bitter orange trees are still very limited. The risk is the same as in Tunisia
for the tristeza virus. Morocco is not immune to this problem and experts believe
that there is a major risk of transmission in Morocco due to the proximity of
contaminated production areas (Spain and Portugal), the importation of non‐certi-
fied seedlings and the presence of vectors capable of transmitting the disease. This
is why the dissemination of new rootstock has become a matter of urgency. Despite
this situation, insufficient attention is paid to pressure concerning health issues and
the associated risks, while little is done to increase producer awareness.
Furthermore, for want of sufficient technical supervision of the producers, we
can note that no thought has been given to arbitrating the choice of varieties and
rootstock. This choice is highly complex because it requires a high level of agro-
nomic knowledge while decisively impacting the period when productivity begins,
the yield, the level of profitability and the quality (intrinsic and calibre) of the fruit.
Training is also a priority. Despite considerable efforts on the part of producers who
foresee a fall in the profitability of the sector and thus the need to improve pro-
ductivity, the citrus farming sector is generally characterised by a low level of
technicality and training among producers.

25
Created in 1968 to accompany the development and modernisation of the citrus farming sector,
SASMA—a public entity—was assigned three main missions: to collect information on the state
of production, to undertake research and development, and to disseminate information to the
producers.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 245

9.3.2 Translating Production Potential into Commercial Gain

9.3.2.1 A Limited Range of Products and a Production Schedule Highly

Concentrated Over Time

Recent plantation decisions have primarily concerned small citrus fruits.26 This
rationale corresponds to a desire to focus on exports and in particular on varieties
with high value added (for example Nadorcott). Perceived as products with low
value added and which are not highly competitive as exports, oranges have not
enjoyed such an extensive development.27 As an export product, oranges are
becoming marginalised; in 2011–2012, exports totalled 140,000 tonnes, accounting
for 15 % of production. With producer prices doubling, the local market has
become more lucrative than exports. Consequently, certain producers have left the
export sector altogether. Most producers agree that orange farming intended for the
local market is very profitable as production costs are low and “sales of standing
crops” to intermediaries (dominant marketing system) does not require investment
in order to market the products. Some operators, however, who wish to have a wide
range of export products and sufficient volume to amortise their investments in
packaging centres, reject the dominant rationale by developing the production of
oranges, in particular by means of aggregation contracts. These companies also
distinguish themselves by adopting a strategy of complementarities (of products,
markets and schedules) and exporting oranges intended for the processing industry
in Europe (quality of juice deemed superior to that of Spanish oranges).
We witness a reconfiguration of the value chain with three types of strategy
consolidating the duality of the value chain between the local market and exports:
(1) producers reconverting to the production of oranges exclusively to supply the
local market; (2) producer‐exporters who have abandoned the production of
oranges and who specialise in the production of small citrus fruits, the most
dynamic segment on the international market; (3) producer‐exporters who wish to
establish complementarity between oranges and small citrus fruits.
At present, insufficient renewal of orange plantations makes the value chain
“more vulnerable” on the export market and on the local market. On the export
market there is a concentration of the marketing season over a period of only
4 months (November to February) with a peak in activity during the clementine
season (from 15 October to 15 December) and overlaps (competition between
varieties) in the schedule. On the local market, the poor quality of products in the
absence of standardisation, the risk of insufficient short‐term production to satisfy
growing domestic consumption and the appearance of a high level of speculation
during Ramadan are the main factors of vulnerability highlighted during our
interviews.

26
In 2011–2012, the production of small citrus fruits totalled 764,000 tonnes (of which 45 % were
exported), increasing by 300,000 tonnes over three years.
27
In 2011–2012, the production of oranges totalled 950,000 tonnes.
246 E. Montaigne et al.

The sustainability of production systems has also been stressed. The intensifi-
cation and high level of specialisation of production and the creation of orchards in
new production areas not traditionally known for the production of citrus fruits
could weaken the ecosystems and contribute to the pressure exerted on water and
land resources.

9.3.2.2 Investment in Production Has not Been Followed

by Investments in Downstream Activities

While production is enjoying sustained growth, the increase in and modernisation

of packaging and refrigerated storage capacities have not followed suit. Private
investment has not been as significant as hoped. In particular, these result from the
fact that state subsidies are perceived as offering little incentive (10 % of the total
cost of equipment) and can also be traced to the fact that producer‐exporters do not
have sufficient “visibility” concerning marketing prospects for exports.
Furthermore, operators are unwilling to invest heavily in modernising equipment
and creating new centres. The sector will be faced with a lack of infrastructures: by
2016–2018 packaging capacities will need to be doubled.

9.3.2.3 The Lack of Proactive Strategies and Economic Organisation

Within the Value Chain

By 2018, Morocco has set itself the target of exporting 1.3 million tonnes.
Professionals are uncertain as to the absorption capacity of Morocco’s traditional
markets and the increasing success of new competitors. We can note that exports
are not keeping pace with the growth in production, declining from 50–60 % of
production at the beginning of the 1990s, to only 32 % today.
Concerning the appropriate marketing strategy to be implemented, while there is
a consensus on the need to diversify into markets outside the EU, the same cannot
be said with regard to winning back the EU markets—one of the objectives of the
GMP. For some, the EU market is too competitive (domination of Spain; non‐
competitive approach costs) and not sufficiently lucrative. For others, it is an
absolute necessity offering opportunities to market products with high value added.
These differing points of view bear witness to both the lack of economic organi-
sation within the value chain, despite the creation of an inter‐professional entity
(Maroc Citrus), and questions concerning the need or otherwise to implement
collective strategies (logistical and commercial). In other words, there are at present
no clearly defined strategic orientations.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 247

9.3.2.4 The Market in Russia: The End of an “Exclusive Preserve”?

On the Russian market, where Morocco enjoys a strong competitive position due to
the historical renown of “produce of Morocco”, exporters obtain higher prices than
on the EU market. However, we observe an increasingly intense competition, a
downward price trend and the erosion of Moroccan market shares. Indeed, there is
the increasing success of rival states (Egypt and Turkey) and the presence of new
arrivals (Pakistan, Spain). Second, Russian importers are beginning to enjoy more
bargaining power in relation to Moroccan exporters, implementing volume‐based
strategies to ensure a heterogeneous supply within individual rationales.
For about five years, Moroccan operators have been faced with a fall in prices,
attributed by some to the quality of the products, and to too great a volume being
marketed over a short period of time. The dominant strategy of Moroccan exporters
involves “evacuating” supply through importers, in most cases an essential link in
the chain in light of the functions they perform (which cannot be undertaken at a
lower cost by the exporter). The Moroccan value chain then operates in “flows
driven by supply” where price and volume are decisive. Furthermore, it would
appear that shipping decisions are more often than not taken unilaterally by the
exporters without taking account of the markets’ absorption capacities. The
development of the container ship has increased this competition even further.
Unlike with conventional boats, grouping supplies is no longer a necessity.
With a heterogeneous quality and intense competition between Moroccan
exporters, Russian importers bring this competition to bear on prices. This attitude
within the value chain, combined with a supply chain which is less than efficient,
contributes to creating a situation of product trivialisation with falling prices, which
nevertheless globally remain lucrative for the producers. Furthermore, it would
appear that supply has become fragmented: the structure previously based on
“importer panels” is giving way to “fragmented” commercialisation with numerous
intermediaries (importers, brokers, wholesalers, etc.). This change is altering the
balance of power: importers are consolidating their bargaining power while
Moroccan exporters demonstrate diverging interests for want of a collective supply
management strategy (price policy and marketing coordination). To break this
cycle, exporters with a supply of quality products attempt to position themselves on
the large‐scale distribution market which is beginning to expand. For Moroccan
operators, Russia remains a market offering strong growth potential. The challenge
facing exporters today is to preserve the reputation of “produce of Morocco”.

9.3.2.5 Strategies for Winning Back the EU Market

For some producer‐exporters, winning back the EU markets is an absolute neces-

sity. It means adopting a value creation rationale rather than focusing on volumes.
That is why repositioning Moroccan citrus fruit on the EU markets depends on the
operators’ capacity to develop a highly‐selective quality policy to satisfy the
stringent demands of large‐scale distribution firms, including among other things
248 E. Montaigne et al.

regularity and reactivity (efficient supply chain), compliance with health, phyto-
sanitary, environmental and social standards, plot‐by‐plot orchard certifications and
the adoption of a quality label. It also involves enhancing the “produce of Morocco”
image, providing a differentiated supply (market segmentation) for a range of top‐
quality products (gustatory quality, development of pre‐packed goods, quality signs
such as the Berkane clementine GPI and strong commercial brands such as Afourer
for the Nadorcott variety).
Very few companies are committed to this process as market entry costs are
high. Initially, these companies are willing to accept less lucrative prices compared
to other markets (Canada, Russia) in order to strengthen their subsequent position
and increase their market shares. They have undertaken considerable investment in
equipment (for example pre‐calibration units—only 3 or 4 centres are equipped) in
order to position themselves on the large‐scale distribution market.
The cases we have identified concern companies already present on the English
market (albeit with low volumes) working with very demanding distributors (Tesco,
Marks and Spencer) and the French market. Producer‐exporters also count on a
future fall in Spanish competition (disadvantage in terms of labour costs and land
pressure) due to a stabilisation of production.

9.3.3 Logistics: A Lack of Collective Organisation

Until 1999, Moroccan exporters had implemented a common logistics strategy

through the Atlas Fruit Board (AFB) created in 1987. This organisation had two
primary missions: commercialisation on contract markets (prices negotiated per
season)28 and logistical organisation—grouping shipments, programming the
departures of ships and negotiating freight with shipping companies—on all export
markets (contract and EU markets). The numerous disagreements among the
exporter groups concerning the strategic choice of the favoured export markets
resulted in free exportation on contract markets and the break‐up of the AFB into
two rival organisations: Fresh Fruit (FF) and the Maroc Fruit Board (MFB).
The current logistical organisation no longer serves to concentrate supply and
does not allow logistical costs to be optimised. Logistical costs represent more than
60 % of the total commercialisation cost. Inefficient logistics and the lack of a
global vision based on a supply chain rationale represent a considerable
handicap. Consequently, there is a huge lack of organisation which prevents the
supply chain from being optimised (reliability, cost, reactivity, traceability).
The development of container shipping has exacerbated the fragmentation of
export supply. Some producers have attempted to break away from the two main
groups (FF and MFB) and to adopt a “free riding” approach to exporting by means

28
Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Poland. In these markets, com-
mercialisation was not free and AFB enjoyed a monopoly.
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 249

of container ships, although without success as transit by container ship takes too
long in relation to more conventional ships.
Numerous producers highlight the fact that the introduction of an export coor-
dination mechanism and a common logistics policy to support a genuine com-
mercial strategy is essential. With this in mind, operators are strongly in favour of a
collective thought process and believe that there are still numerous obstacles to be
removed as this requires far‐reaching changes in behaviour involving information
sharing, transparency and trust.

9.3.4 Weak Integration of the Value Chain, Coordination

Strategies and a Governance Structure Dominated
by Market Mechanisms

The citrus fruit sector is characterised by the existence of two value chains which
continue to operate independently of one another: an “industrial” export value chain
and a “traditional” value chain devoted to the domestic market. The processing
industry has become marginalised for want of sufficient supply, as orange pro-
duction is no longer sufficient to generate a surplus and the prices of raw material
become prohibitive. Morocco imports more and more juice from Spain and Turkey.
Producers who were involved in this industry are exploring the possibility of
planting orchards devoted to industrial use.
Consequently, the domestic market and exports are perceived as two separate
sub-value chains. This situation does not allow producer‐exporters to benefit from
synergies between exports and the potential observed on the domestic market. The
latter is expanding rapidly, but the products generate little value due to extensive
informal trade, dysfunctions on the wholesale markets and the lack of standards
governing products which are marketed in their raw state.
Products intended for exportation are commercialised by ten exporter groups
characterised by a semi‐integrated organisation structure. These operators are both
producers and service providers (commercialisation and packaging) on behalf of
other producers grouped into shipping cooperatives (producer‐shippers) and/or
producers who call on shipping companies (independent packaging centres).
The in‐house production of exporter groups, however, represents a small part of
total Moroccan exports (30 %). In other words, the value chain demonstrates weak
vertical integration. Only the major producers with the necessary capital and
commercial networks have incorporated shipping and commercialisation opera-
tions. Partnership relations between the different operators in the value chain are
rare. One of the consequences of this value chain configuration is the existence of a
conflicting imbalance of power between the operators within the value chain:
producers, shippers (packaging centres) and exporters.
Furthermore, the means of coordinating between the operators in the value chain
represent a major brake on improving the competitiveness of the citrus fruit value
250 E. Montaigne et al.

chain. For the most part, the rationales are based almost entirely on market
mechanisms. Coordination mechanisms such as specifications or long‐term contract
mechanisms concerning prices, quality or volumes are rarely implemented. This
type of relationship is not founded on a long‐term rationale. In these conditions, it is
very difficult to organise commercialisation programmes targeting large‐scale dis-
tribution firms.
It would appear that we are faced with a governance structure whereby each
partner endeavours to minimise his risks independently, a situation which leads to
major conflict between the operators within the chain. These conflicts concern the
conditions of training and the distribution of profit margins.

9.3.5 The Levers for Action Aimed at Improving

the Performances of the Value Chain

We have identified the recommendations put forward by the operators:

1. Strengthen research and development, training and the dissemination of
new innovations and production techniques: This should be done with a view
to improving the health protection of orchards, increasing the productivity and
economic profitability of the plantations, increasing the value added of the
products (absence of pips, external colouring, gustatory quality and calibre) and
ensuring a market presence which lasts as long as possible.
2. Improve the quality and signage within the companies: This improvement is
carried out on two levels—the product (technical production conditions, choice
of varieties, work on the product, etc.) and the supply chain by means of service
quality (flexibility, meticulous shipping schedules, traceability, etc.).
Furthermore, the use of certification systems (ISO9000, 14002, HACCP, etc.)
should be generalised as it is a condition of market access.
3. Implement a supply segmentation strategy and a strong marketing policy:
These strategic focuses are based on a quality policy capable of satisfying
consumer expectations (gustatory quality, respect for the environment, social
sustainability, health security). In actual fact, the operators must completely
rethink the value chain by reversing the dominant order running from produc-
tion to commercialisation. On markets which are becoming saturated, gap or
niche strategies for high‐quality products should be explored. From this
standpoint, Morocco boasts significant advantages including a potential for
recognised gustatory quality and the existence of “terroirs”. This market
approach requires new supply management tools, for example quality or private
labels. This type of strategy should be based on the systematic use of strict
specifications combined with control mechanisms from the production stage
onwards. Quality improvement must also be supported by disseminating
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 251

traceability processes on a wider scale. Finally, a marketing policy giving rise to

a “produce of Morocco” brand image could help to increase the visibility of
Moroccan products on the markets.
4. Ensure logistical organisation and management of export supplies: Our
survey highlighted the need for strategic considerations at the inter‐professional
level with a view to introducing a collective logistical organisation.
Implementing a collective strategy is a very complex affair as it presupposes the
introduction of a new governance structure within the value chain and an
economic organisation based on partnership relations between the different
operators within the chain.
5. Develop those markets where Moroccan citrus fruit already enjoys renown:
In Canada, Scandinavia and the US, Moroccan clementines are perceived as a
luxury product. Today, it is important to preserve the “produce of Morocco”
image by marketing products of irreproachable quality within a growth strategy
relating to value rather than volume. The countries of the Middle East which
were an important destination for Moroccan products in the 1990s are also
mentioned.
6. Increase the awareness of the public authorities to implement a strategy of
market diversification: The main recommendation of the professionals
involves calling on competent entities in this domain, mainly Maroc Export
which is primarily concerned with promoting exports.

9.4 General Conclusion

In conclusion, we would like to emphasize both the commonalities and the major
differences in the challenges and opportunities of the citrus industry in these two
Mediterranean countries.
Many similarities appear in the matter of production and technical constraints.
The two countries are alarmed by the major risk of loss of their orchard after a
tristeza virus attack. The current solution is to change rootstock, which involves
extensive investment in resources for the renewal of the orchard, the extension and
the technical implementation of protection and quarantine certification. The effects
on the quality of new grafting and the association of root stock varieties also have to
be taken into account. In the same vein, the competition, by diversifying the quality
and taste, using the adoption of new varieties and small fruits, becomes a major
challenge on the market which must be associated with the increasing schedule of
the production. Resources are scarce: land and water are subject to strong com-
petition for their use. Pesticide reduction and development of IPM, such as bio-
logical control, become binding constraints for European markets, more and more
sensitive to the environmental concerns.
252 E. Montaigne et al.

In both cases, these countries are seeking comparative advantages enabling them
to maintain their market shares: higher yields, development of labels, logistics
improvement and better organization of the sector. Both countries also face a
reduction in their exports towards developing a more lucrative and less stringent
one than the export domestic market. They also face new competition on the
European and world market, facing Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Spain. The
magnitude of the expected reorganization of the export sector bears no relation.
That said, the big difference in the size of orchards, production volumes and
exports affect the scale of the challenges facing each country. Tunisia produces only
360,000 tons of citrus and it exports only 25,000 or 7 %, while Morocco produces
two million tons and exports 30 %. The place on the markets, the distribution of
exports by country and the nature of the competition are not the same. Tunisian
exports are concentrated in France with a dominant half-blood Maltese variety.
Morocco puts up a fight on global markets. The reorganization of the Moroccan
sector including export then appears vital.

References

Alary, P., Bazile, D., De Bélizal, E., Berland, S., Besson, I., Boulakia, S., et al. (2009). Nourrir les
hommes : un dictionnaire (p. 765). Neuilly: Atlande, Géographie thématique.
Asian Development Bank, (2008). Making value chains work better for the poor: A tool book for
practitioners of value chain analysis, (Making Markets Work Better for the Poor M4P) (p. 84).
Vietnam: Vietnam Resident Mission.
AVFA Agence de vulgarisation et de formation agricole, Ben Abdelali Nasr et al. (2010). Guide de
plantation des agrumes (2ème éd. améliorée de 2003) (p. 55). Tunisie, (en arabe).
CTA Centre technique des agrumes, (2010–2011). Lutte contre la Cératite capitata (p. 12). http://
www.cta.tn/documents/publication/ceratite.pdf.
CTA, Centre technique des agrumes, (2010–2012). Les porte-greffes des agrumes conseillés pour
l’utilisation en Tunisie (p. 11). http://www.cta.tn/documents/publication/porte_greffes.pdf.
Driouchi, A. (1990). Evaluation économique des pertes causées par la mouche méditerranéenne
des fruits: Cas de l’économie agricole Tunisienne Rapport de mission d’un expert consultant
AlEA/FAO (p. 22). Division de l’assistance technique et de la coopération.
GIFruit. http://www.gifruit.nat.tn.
Lachiheb, A. (2008). Optimisation de la dose d’irradiation dans le cadre d’un projet de lutte contre
la Ceratitis capitata, Ecole supérieure d’agriculture de Mograne, Mémoire d’ingénieur 2008.
Marroquin, C., Olmos, A., Gorris, M. T., Bertoloni, E., Martìnez, M. C., Carbonell, E. A., et al.
(2004). Estimation of the number of aphids carrying Citrus tristeza virus that visit adult citrus
trees. Virus Research, 100, 101–108.
Mazih, A. (1992). Recherches sur l’écologie de la mouche méditerranéenne du fruit Ceratitis
capitata Wiedemann (Diptera, Tephritidae), dans l’arganeraie de la plaine du Souss (Maroc).
Agadir: Thesis Etat.
Montaigne, E. (1992). Les techniques à membranes en oenologie: Une approche évolutionniste? In
Innovation, changement technique et agro-alimentaire. Economie et sociologie rurales: Actes
et Communications (Vol. 8, pp. 127–140). Paris: INRA.
ONSSA sd. (2013). La tristeza est une maladie qui menace le patrimoine du Maroc, Royaume du
Maroc (p. 4). http://www.onssa.gov.ma/onssa/fr/doc_pdf/Fiche_TK_Tristeza.pdf (2013–05-
17).
9 Challenges in Citrus Market Chains in Tunisia and Morocco 253

Roistacher, C. N., & Moreno, P. (1989). TRISTEZA : The Worldwide Threat from Destructive
Isolates of Citrus tristeza virus—A Review. In: Eleventh IOCV Conference 1989-11-06/1989-
11-11 (pp. 7–19). Orlando.
Roistacher, C. N., da Graça, V., & Müller, G. W. (2010). Cross protection against citrus tristeza
virus—a review. In: Proceedings, 17th Conference, 2010—Citrus tristeza virus (pp. 1–27).
Chapter 10
Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry
in Southern Mediterranean Countries:
Policy Impacts and Challenges

Kyösti Arovuori, Paula Horne, Matleena Kniivilä, Samir Mili,

Perttu Pyykkönen and Javier Martinez-Vega

10.1 Introduction and Purpose

This chapter aims to assess the impacts of policies on sustainable agriculture and
forestry and rural development in the EU Mediterranean Partner Countries and
Turkey. This is done by conducting a qualitative policy analysis for Egypt,
Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. The analysis is also benchmarked to Finland and
Spain. The impacts of different policy programs are evaluated under the available
frameworks for sustainability.
In order to conduct a policy impact analysis, several important specifications
need to be made. First, factors describing the essential elements of each dimensions
of sustainability need to be defined. Second, indicators approximating the devel-
opment of each factor need to be defined. Third, policies impacting on the different
indicators need to be reviewed. Finally, and most importantly, suitable and suffi-
cient data need to be collected.
For this study, three main objectives have been set.
First, given the defined factors and indicators for sustainability, the aim is to
identify the dimensions of sustainability which are emphasised in agricultural and
rural policies in the selected countries.
Second, based on the data availability, we aim to draw conclusions on how
effectively implemented policy programs have contributed on sustainable devel-
opment, when sustainable development is measured using the selected indicators. In
addition, we benchmark the policy impacts and the level of policy emphasis on the

K. Arovuori (&)
P. Horne
M. Kniivilä
P. Pyykkönen

Pellervo Economic Research (PTT), Helsinki, Finland
e-mail: kyosti.arovuori@ptt.fi
S. Mili
J. Martinez-Vega
Human and Social Sciences Centre, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid,
Spain

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 255

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_10
256 K. Arovuori et al.

different dimensions of sustainability to the EU policies, based on the policy impact

analysis carried out in Finland and Spain.
Third, based on the analysis and the relevance and availability of the data, we
discuss on the reliability and applicability of the selected approach in policy
analysis for sustainable agriculture and forestry.

10.2 Frameworks for Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry

The impacts of different policy programs are evaluated under the general frame-
works for sustainability (see Kniivilä et al. 2012). In general, three dimensions are
recognised when considering sustainability: economic, social and environmental.
Different factors impact on different dimensions, but the sustainability concept
brings these dimensions together. Moreover, in analysing the development of
sustainability, each aspect has to be taken into account.

10.2.1 Sustainable Agriculture

The main objective of sustainable agriculture and rural development is to increase

food production in a sustainable way and to enhance food security. However,
sustainability of agriculture does not include only securing of food availability and
decreasing poverty. Christen (1996) claims that the sustainable agriculture should:
(1) ensure inter-generational equity, (2) preserve the resource base of agriculture
and obviate adverse environmental externalities, (3) protect biological diversity, (4)
guarantee the economic viability of agriculture, enhance job opportunities in
farming and preserve local rural communities, (5) produce sufficient quality food
for society, and (6) contribute to globally sustainable development. It can be
debated whether it is possible and desirable to fulfil all these objectives simulta-
neously (see e.g. Tisdell 2007).
In addition to the production volume the methods and production processes in
agriculture area key issue for sustainable agriculture. They include a range of issues
starting from practical methods used in agriculture and their impact on the sur-
rounding nature, but also more political and wider social and economic issues like
social equity, employment, property rights etc. In addition to food security in
political declarations e.g., the importance of the enhanced participation of women in
sustainable agriculture and food security, guaranteeing well-defined and enforce-
able land and water use rights, promotion of legal security of tenure, and the
support for traditional and indigenous agricultural systems have been emphasized.
FAO has defined sustainable agriculture and rural development as a process,
which meets the following criteria (FAO 1995):
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 257

• Ensures that the basic nutritional requirements of present and future generations,
qualitatively and quantitatively, are met while providing a number of other
agricultural products.
• Provides durable employment, sufficient income, and decent living and working
conditions for all those engaged in agricultural production.
• Maintains and, where possible, enhances the productive capacity of the natural
resource base as a whole, and the regenerative capacity of renewable resources,
without disrupting the functioning of basic ecological cycles and natural bal-
ances, destroying the socio-cultural attributes of rural communities, or causing
contamination of the environment.
• Reduces the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to adverse natural and socio-
economic factors and other risks, and strengthens self-reliance.

10.2.2 Sustainable Forestry

Forestry is often considered as a sub-sector of agriculture, but the roles of these two
sectors, however, differ. The main role of agriculture is to provide food, fiber and
energy for increasing global population. Forests provide fiber, fodder and fuel for
industrial and subsistence use. In addition, forests have also a major role in securing
ecosystem services both at local (e.g. erosion prevention, wind breaks, temperature
locally) and global (biodiversity and carbon sequestration) levels. During the recent
years emphasis has been given especially to the role of forests and deforestation in
climate change.
There exist several regional processes for formulating and adopting criteria and
indicators for sustainable forest management (SFM). According to the United
Nations Forum on Forests SFM is a dynamic concept that aims to maintain and
enhance the economic, social, and environmental values of forests, for the benefit of
present and future generations. In the pan-European policy process (The Ministerial
Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, currently FOREST EUROPE)
for the sustainable management of the continent’s forests sustainable forest man-
agement has been defined as follows (Helsinki Resolution H1 1993):
The stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way and at a rate that maintains
their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfil,
now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national
and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems.

There are ten different collaborating regional SFM processes including FOREST
EUROPE (includes also e.g. Russia), Montreal process for non-European countries
with boreal and temperate forests (includes also Russia), Near East process and
African Dry-Zone Process.
258 K. Arovuori et al.

10.2.3 Sustainability in the Policy Context

of the European Union

The renewed European Union Sustainable Development Strategy (EC 2006a)

reaffirmed that sustainable development has to be integrated into all policy-making
and it aims to link economic development, protection of the environment and social
justice. In the strategy sustainable development is defined to be based on the
principles of democracy, gender equality, solidarity, the rule of law and respect for
fundamental rights, including freedom and equal opportunities for all. The key
objectives, approved by the European Council in 2005 and defined in the strategy,
are related to environmental protection, social equity and cohesion, economic
prosperity, and meeting the international responsibilities of the EU.
As key challenges the renewed EU sustainable development strategy specifically
identifies seven issues: climate change and clean energy, sustainable transport,
sustainable consumption and production, conservation and management of natural
resources, public health, social inclusion, demography and migration, and global
poverty and sustainable development challenges.
The strategy is monitored by using sustainable development indicators (SDIs). In
total, there are more than 100 identified indicators for sustainable development.
Under the roof-themes, eleven of these indicators have been identified as headline
indicators (Table 10.1). Issues related to agriculture and forestry among others,
include “sustainable consumption and production”, “climate change and energy”,
and “natural resources”. However, agricultural and forest sectors have naturally
impact on general socioeconomic development and also on social inclusion, which
can be measured e.g. by at-risk-of-poverty rate.
In addition to EU’s sustainable development strategy, there exist also sub-
regional sustainability strategies or initiatives, which aim at adapting international
commitments to regional conditions and to guide national sustainable development
strategies.

10.2.3.1 Agricultural and Rural Policies

In the EU the frame for agricultural and rural sectors is formulated by the common
agricultural policy (CAP). The initial objectives of CAP were set out in the Treaty
of Rome (Treaty of Rome 1957). The objectives of the treaty are to increase
agricultural productivity, to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural
community, to stabilize markets, secure the availability of supplies, and to ensure
that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices. Thus, the main emphasis was
given to economic sustainability and food security, and to some aspects of social
sustainability. Later the need for environmental sustainability of agriculture was
more widely recognized and e.g., agro-environment schemes were introduced in
Mac Sharry-reform of the CAP in 1992.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 259

Table 10.1 Sustainable development themes and main subthemes for the EU according to report
on the sustainable development in the EU
Theme Subthemes
Socioeconomic development (HI*: Growth of GDP Economic development
per capita) Innovation, competitiveness and
eco-efficiency
Employment
Climate change and energy (HI: Greenhouse gas Climate change
emissions, Consumption of renewables) Energy
Sustainable transport (HI: Energy consumption of Transport and mobility
transport relative to GDP) Transport impacts
Sustainable consumption and production Resource use and waste
(HI: Resource productivity) Consumption patterns
Production patterns
Natural resources (HI: Abundance of common Biodiversity
birds, conservation of fish stocks) Freshwater resources
Marine ecosystems
Land use
Public health (HI: Healthy life years) Health and health inequalities
Determinants of health
Social inclusion (HI: Risk of poverty) Monetary poverty and living conditions
Access to labour market
Education
Demographic changes (HI: Employment rate of Demography
older workers) Old-age income adequacy
Public finance sustainability
Global partnership (HI: Official development Globalisation of trade
assistance) Financing for sustainable development
Global resources management
Good governance (no headline indicator) Policy coherence and effectiveness
Openness and participation
Economic instruments
*HI denotes headline indicator
Source Eurostat 2009

The CAP is implemented under two pillars. The first pillar covers market-related
support schemes and direct aid for farmers, supporting thus principally food pro-
duction. The main aim of the second pillar of the CAP is to support rural devel-
opment. Rural areas count for more than 90 % of the land area of the EU.
Agriculture and in some regions also forestry are significant sectors in rural areas,
and thus have a major role in sustainable rural development.
Specific attention has been given to the integration of environmental concerns
into the CAP. The Helsinki European Council in 1999 adopted the strategy for
integrating the environmental dimension into the CAP (Commission of the
260 K. Arovuori et al.

European Communities 2006). The strategy sets environmental integration objec-

tives for water, land use and soil, climate change and air quality, and also landscape
and biodiversity. In its conclusions, the Council requested a regular reporting on
progress in integration, based on agri-environmental indicators (AEI). By the end of
2005 the development of a set of agri-environmental indicators was finalized. Agri-
environmental indicators are used to monitor the environmental impacts of the
implementation of CAP.
The agricultural environment within the EU differs amongst member countries.
Around the Baltic Sea the water protection has an import role since the vulnerability
of Baltic Sea for excess nutrients from amongst others the agriculture. The
Mediterranean coastal areas are less prone to nutrient losses due to the dryer cli-
mate. There are also common policies e.g. The Nitrate Directive that aims to protect
the ground waters from N-leaching. The Nitrate Directive gives a clear per hectare
limit on applications of organic fertilizers. However, the implementation of the
directive varies amongst the EU countries, depending on the situation of the
environment and agriculture.
The sustainable agriculture principles are given in the EU within the community
strategic guidelines for rural development (EC 2006b). Based on the strategic
guidelines the member states present their own rural development programs (RDP).
There is a large set of indicators to use for evaluating the rural development pro-
gram (for examples of baseline indicators and some of these can be used to evaluate
sustainability in general. Furthermore, under the RDP all EU countries have the
possibility to add environmental programs for agriculture with some national dis-
crepancy. The overall EU policy tends to promote not only EU’s own production,
but also to consider possible external effects outside EU.
EU’s rural development indicators have been developed mainly to monitor the
financing of rural development. Besides the baseline indicators, there are sets of
specialized indicators of which most are closely associated with rural development
and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In the rural development the forestry
and agricultural activities are mostly considered together.
In the Mediterranean strategy for sustainable development, similar objectives
and indicators have been developed (Table 10.3). The environment and the existing
institutions in the specific countries influence the development of the set of indi-
cators. The OECD has a set of more agricultural specific indicators for overall
sustainability. The framework coincides relatively well with the sustainability
factors presented in the EU’s rural development program, but the approach is more
restricted and focused on agriculture alone. The factors that are important from
sustainability point of view differ between countries mostly because of the varied
environmental, political and economic contexts.
The indicators to focus in the different countries depend on the importance of
different sustainability factors, context and the institutional settings of the countries.
Different sets of indicators have many similar features. Mostly the scale and
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 261

purpose create a bit different indicator needs. For the EU context the baseline
indicators are rather well suited for analysing and developing of rural development
policies within EU. Likewise the Mediterranean set functions best for the
Mediterranean context.

10.2.3.2 Forestry Policies

Within the EU there are considerable differences between countries in natural

conditions as well as in economic and social role of forests. Climate zones and
ecological site conditions vary in a remarkable way and European forests include
boreal, temperate and Mediterranean forests as well as mountain forests, which
have clear differences e.g. in tree species and other vegetation. Within the EU there
exist semi-natural forests, plantations as well as pristine forests.
The role of forests in the national economy also differs between the countries.
For some member countries—especially Finland, Sweden and the Baltic countries
—forestry and forest industry have significant economic importance in addition to
the environmental and social values related to the forests. Finland, for example,
receives 18 % of its export incomes from the export of products of forest industry,
and the share of forest sector in the GDP is more than five per cent, whereas in the
whole EU the share is only one per cent (Finnish Forest Research Institute 2010).
Compared to agricultural policy, forest policy in the EU is clearly more national
and there is no detailed common policy. The Forest Strategy for the EU (1998)
states that forest policy lies on the competence of the member states, but that the EU
can contribute to the implementation of sustainable forest management (SFM)
through common policies, based on the principles of subsidiarity and the concept of
shared responsibility. On the basis of the Forest Strategy also the EU Forest Action
Plan has been prepared and adopted in 2006.
EU Forestry Strategy (Council of European Union 1999) emphasizes the sus-
tainable forest management and the multifunctional role of forests. Countries par-
ticipating in the FOREST Europe process have committed to implement sustainable
forest management. In addition, in the pan-European process common strategies for
member countries and the European Union concerning sustainable management and
protection of European forests have been developed. Pan-European policy process
is not limited to EU countries. There are 46 countries involved, including Russian
federation and Turkey are among the countries participating to the process.
At national level criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management are
used in preparation and monitoring of forest policies, for monitoring the sustain-
ability of forest management, reporting on the conditions of forests, setting the
direction of forest management and publishing information about forests and for-
estry to political decision makers. As there are differences between forests in
Europe, common quantitative target levels for sustainable forest management have
not been defined. There are also differences between countries in the importance of
each criterion due to differences in the role of forests in the society, and there are
differences in national applications.
262 K. Arovuori et al.

10.3 Factors and Indicators for Sustainable Agriculture

and Forestry1

10.3.1 General Factors

Elements impacting on sustainability are difficult to divide into purely economic,

social and environmental sense. To identify these elements we apply a framework
presented by Kniivilä et al. (2012) to analyse interlinks between all three dimen-
sions of sustainability. In the framework five different categories (factors), which
allow inter-relations between all three different dimensions of sustainability
(Fig. 10.1), are defined.
The framework presented in Fig. 10.1 can be considered as a starting point for
sustainability assessments. In order to be able to make balanced assessment of
sustainability there should be indicators and data available on all five factors.
Factor 1 “Resources and their productive functions” is a basic and fundamental
requirement for use and availability of any natural resources. It can be considered as
the core of sustainable resource use simply because if there is no resource there are no
benefits related to that. It is also closely linked to traditional idea of sustainable use of
renewable resources, i.e. that the utilization of the resource during a given time period
should not exceed the growth of the resource during the same period. Maintenance of
resource does not include only the volume, but as well the quality of the resource, e.g.
avoidance of land, soil and water degradation and maintenance the health of forests.
Factor 1 and Factor 3 (“Protective functions”) are connected as degraded
resources provide less protective functions and beneficial services. Degradation and
loss of protective functions is also an easily accelerating process starting e.g. from
forest degradation and finally leading to soil degradation and desertification.
Land, soil and water degradation has also direct socio-economic impacts (Factor
2). Degradation undermines possibilities to increase agricultural productivity, self-
sufficiency and food production, and thus weakens possibilities to respond to the
basic needs of the growing population. It weakens possibilities to earn a decent
living from agriculture, increases poverty and may increase rural-urban income
inequality, migration and immigration. Degradation may lead to increase in food
prices and further to increased social problems.
Similarly as resource existence, biodiversity (Factor 4) is in a long run and at a
larger scale a prerequisite for other benefits provided by agriculture and forests. As
locally and in a short run the weakening of biodiversity may have positive impacts
on agricultural production, maintenance of biodiversity is often overridden by other
objectives. Also cultural values (Factor 5) are often considered less valuable, but
their dismissal significantly weakens social sustainability and social justification of
the actions. This may lead to serious problems in a long run.

1
For more detailed discussion on the factors, indicators and challenges for sustainable agriculture
see Kniivilä et al. (2013).
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 263

Fig. 10.1 Sustainable agriculture and forestry, factors to be maintained and enhanced. Source
Kniivilä et al. (2013)

10.3.2 Main Factors in the MPCs and Turkey

The framework for sustainable agriculture and forestry presented in Fig. 10.1 is
universally applicable and applies to the MPCs and Turkey as well. Country
examples2 highlight many issues that are generally considered essential in sus-
tainability considerations and have similarities with the general framework. Issues
emphasized include resource maintenance (resource quantity and resource quality,
Factor 1), socio-economic functions like income and employment generation and
poverty reduction (Factor 2), and also the enhancement of the protective functions
provided by the resource (Factor 3). As Mediterranean Partner Countries and
Turkey are developing economies, in decision-making those issues that have pri-
marily economic and social aspects achieve greater importance.
Land and soil degradation, including salinization, erosion, desertification and
deforestation, is a serious problem in the Mediterranean countries analysed in this
study. E.g. in Morocco 95 % of the territory is threatened by desertification. The
situation can in the future further worsen in the study countries due to climate
change. Resource degradation is not limited only to land, soil and forests, but in
many regions also water resources are at high risk. Scarcity of water resources

2
The complete country level evaluation of main factors of sustainable agriculture and forestry and
the current state of the sectors in the MPCs and Turkey are presented in Annexes III–VI in
Arovuori et al. (2013).
264 K. Arovuori et al.

makes the problem even more serious. For example in Tunisia major challenges for
sustainability come from the heavy emphasis put on excessive intensification via
subsidized farm inputs, which has resulted in near full mobilization of water
resources.
In the examined Mediterranean countries direct economic importance of forests
is minor compared to agriculture due to minor forest cover. However, forests have
especially environmental significance. Reforestation and forestation efforts have
been carried out in the countries, but forest fires, unsustainable use of forest, land
clearance and illegal logging pose still a threat to them.
The maintenance of cultural values (Factors 5) and to some extent also biodi-
versity (Factor 4), which are generally considered as important factors of sustain-
ability, were seen less important in actual policy making. This is understandable as
their link to basic needs is less direct. As they are, however, essential parts of
sustainability, neglecting them would lead especially in a long run to sustainability
problems and the need to include them into the sustainability framework is obvious.
In decision-making reasonable balance between different factors has to be found.
In practice due to differences e.g. in the development phase of the countries as well
as in natural conditions, countries differ in that which factors will be emphasized
most. There are also differences in needs and objectives at the different levels of
economy. Objectives and related actions which may be rational at the grassroots
level may lead to undesired outcomes at national level.

10.3.3 Indicators and Data

The indicator matrix3 applied in the analysis includes 62 indicators. For about 60 %
of these indicators, data at least for one year was provided for three countries or
more. Time series data for at least three countries out of four was received for one
third of the indicators. Availability of data on environmental and economic indi-
cators was approximately the same. However, it should be noted that the envi-
ronmental dimension was here considered rather widely and for example many
indicators measuring different aspects of land or water use were classified under this
category. Time-series data on protected areas was received poorly. Also there was
no indicator on threatened species, which should be added. Important environ-
mental indicators are also indicators on greenhouse gas emissions. In most of the
countries there was data on that for one year, but basically no time series was yet
available, or that data was not provided. Data on landscape diversity, measured by
several indicators, was poorly provided, which was, however, an expected outcome.
Most of the indicators can be classified under Factors 1 or 2, as these factors are
the widest and most inclusive. On Factor 4 there are only some indicators in the
matrix and there are no indicators directly related to the Factor 5. However, division

3
Complete indicator matrix is presented in Annex I in Arovuori et al. (2013).
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 265

of indicators under the five main factors is not straightforward as many of the
indicators can be classified under several categories.
In Table 10.2 selected indicators, measuring most directly each factors, are
listed, and it is indicated from which countries data were received. Table 10.2
includes also suggestions on additional indicators that should be used in sustain-
ability assessments in order to get more comprehensive understanding of the
development. Indicators have been added after the query and country specialists
were not asked to provide data on those indicators. Indication on the availability of
data is in that case based on other sources. Inclusion of additional indicators is
based on their relevance for sustainability of agriculture and forestry in the target
countries, as pointed out in the country reports and in general literature of
sustainability.
Indicators related to Factor 1 are here divided into indicators measuring either
quantity or quality of the resource. There is well data available on Factor 1 when the
basic indicators on the quantity of the resources are considered. However, data on
resource quality is here rather poorly available. Additional indicators and data
would be needed on salinization, erosion and desertification.
Basic data on socio-economic functions and employment (farm income, agri-
cultural employment, food consumption) was also well available and provided
(Factor 2). Not much data on agricultural productivity was received. Productivity is
of major importance when economic sustainability is considered. Some additional
indicators would be needed on rural poverty and unemployment. Some of these can
be found in World Bank’s World Development Indicators database (2012).
Furthermore, it would be important to have data on gender equality. World
Development Indicators database provide several candidate indicators, but there are
no indicators measuring specifically gender equality in rural areas. Indicator “Share
of women employed in the non-agricultural sector” has been included as an addi-
tional indicator. Data on this is well available.
In Factor 3 forests have special importance as their role in many of the case
study countries is environmental and have importance as a provider of protective
services. There is basic data on forest area. More data on foresting would be useful.
Limited amount of data was provided on protective forests. Also FAO’s Global
Forest Resources Assessment (FAO 2010, FAO 2005) provides data on the share of
forests designated for protective purposes with possibilities to have also some time
series data. Data on desertification rate would be needed.
There is a limited amount of indicators on Factor 4 in the original matrix. Data
were available on some issues impacting on biodiversity, e.g. on forest area or
organic farming. Share of protected areas has a more direct impact on biodiversity.
Some data on that was received, but basically no time series data. Number of
threatened species is a basic indicator of biodiversity and is included here now as an
additional indicator. Various data on threatened species is provided e.g. by the
IUCN (IUCN’s Red list of threatened species).
Measurement of cultural values (Factor 5) is more complicated than the mea-
surement of other factors. Based on the European forest indicators (FOREST
EUROPE, UNECE and FAO 2011) an indicator measuring the number of sites in
266 K. Arovuori et al.

Table 10.2 The main factors of sustainability, data provided (or availability indicated) for the
most important indicators measuring the specific factors
Data for Time
one year series data
Factor 1: Resources and their productive functions
Indicators measuring quantity
Indicator 1: Percentage of utilized agricultural land 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 2: Percentage of arable land 1, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 9: Total agricultural water consumption 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 15: Loss of arable land 2, 3, 4 3, 4
Indicator 38: Rate of forest area 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 41: Afforestation rate (wooded lands) 2, 3, 4 4
Indicator 43: Tree biomass 3, 4 3
Indicator 45: Rate of burned area 2, 3, 4 3, 4
Additional indicator: Renewable internal freshwater resources 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4
(World Development Indicators (WDI) database)
Additional indicator: Agricultural irrigated land (WDI) 2, 3, 4 2, 3, 4
Additional indicator: Water footprint of agriculture ? ?
Indicators measuring quality
Indicator 5: Nitrate in groundwater 3 –
Indicator 10: Organic farming 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 34: Organic animal farms 4 –
Indicator 40: Defoliation 4 4
Additional indicator: Salinization (UN Statistical Division) – –
Additional indicator: Soil erosion (UN Statistical Division) – –
Additional information: Desertification (UN Statistical Division) – –
Factor 2: Socio-economic functions and employment
Indicator 18: Farm income 1, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 19: Agricultural productivity 3 3
Indicator 20: Public Budget RDP 1, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 29: Agricultural employment 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 30: Non-farming enterprises 4 4
Indicator 31: Small farms 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3
Indicator 33: Food consumption 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 48: Expenditures for forest services (productive 2, 3, 4 4
function)
Indicator 49: Expenditure for forest services (other services) 3, 4 4
Additional indicator: Poverty headcount ratio at rural poverty 1, 2, 4 4
line (WDI)
Additional indicator: Share of women employed in the non- 1, 2, 4 1, 2, 4
agricultural sector (WDI)
Additional indicator: Rural unemployment – –
Additional indicator: Share of rural population of total 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4
population (WDI)
(continued)
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 267

Table 10.2 (continued)

Data for Time
one year series data
Factor 3: Protective functions
Indicator 15: Loss of arable land 2, 3, 4 3, 4
Indicator 36: Stocking density 1, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 38: Rate of forest area 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 41: Afforestation rate 2, 3, 4 4
Indicator 47: Protective forests 3, 4 4
Additional indicator: Salinization (UN Statistical Division) – –
Additional indicator: Soil erosion (UN Statistical Division) – –
Additional information: Desertification (UN Statistical Division) – –
Factor 4: Biodiversity
Indicator 10: Organic farming 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 12: Pesticide intensity 1, 3, 4 1, 4
Indicator 38: Rate of forest area 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 3, 4
Indicator 46: Protected forests 3, 4 4
Indicator 52: Simpson diversity index 3
Indicator 55: Percentage of terrestrial protected areas 2, 3, 4 4
Additional indicator: Number of threatened species (UNEP, ? ?
IUCN)
Factor 5: Cultural values
Additional indicator: Number of sites in rural areas designated as ? ?
having cultural values
Additional indicator: Areas managed for scenic and recreation ? ?
purposes
Numbers in the table refer to the countries which provided the data (1 Egypt, 2 Morocco, 3
Tunisia, 4 Turkey)

rural areas designated as having cultural values has been added. Another additional
indicator is an indicator on areas managed for scenic and recreation purposes which
has been presented in the indicator list of the Near East Process for the sustainable
forest management. Availability of data on these indicators is not known.

10.4 Policy Analysis Design

The qualitative policy analysis framework was developed to capture the impacts of
different policy programs on the different dimensions of sustainability. Based on the
review of policies and the data available, the qualitative policy analysis was carried
out for two main aims.
268 K. Arovuori et al.

Fig. 10.2 Framework for qualitative policy analysis

First, the aim is to assess whether policies are working towards the desired
direction of different elements of sustainability and which of the elements of sus-
tainability are emphasized in policy implementation.
Second, the aim is to reveal, whether the implemented policies have worked
towards desired direction based on the indicator data available. Given that there is a
lack of time series data at most part, the qualitative policy analysis was carried out
for indicators with at least two different data points available.
The analysis is conducted at highly aggregated level. In general, agricultural
policy programs are implemented via the use of several policy instruments. These
policy instruments may work towards opposite direction in terms of given factors
analysed. However, we were not able to collect comprehensive and comparable list
of individual policy instruments.
The framework for the qualitative policy analysis is described in Fig. 10.2. There
exists a number of different domestic and EU policy programs that are implemented
in the MPCs and Turkey. These policy programs consist on different policy
instruments. Instruments have different, positive and negative impacts on different
indicators. The impact may also be neutral due the design of a particular instrument
or by impact mechanism. The overall impact of the policy programs on a given
indicator is based on the aggregated impact of different policy instruments. One
should, however, bear in mind that policy impact is directly linked to general
structural and economic developments in a particular country. These exogenous
impacts effect on indicator development, but are not revealed in our analysis.
Despite of these caveats, the developments of the selected indicators approxi-
mate the development of the different dimensions of sustainability. Based on the
development of these indicators, it is possible to assess the impacts of different
policy programs on different dimensions of sustainability and further, to make
conclusions to what extend policies are aimed to enhance the overall sustainability.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 269

Table 10.3 Scale for the +++ Strong positive policy impact
qualitative policy analysis
++ Intermediate positive policy impact
+ Positive policy impact
o No policy impact
- Negative policy impact
– Intermediate negative policy impact
— Strong negative policy impact
× No policy exists for the indicator/policy impact
cannot be determined

A scale for the qualitative policy analysis is described in Table 10.3. When
applicable, the aggregated impacts have been formed based on the instrument level
impacts of policies. However, as previously noted, for most policies there is a lack
of instrument level analysis due to the non-comparability of policy instruments
between countries.
In order to benchmark policy programs implemented in the MPCs and Turkey,
the similar analysis is conducted for Finland and Spain. The utilization of a similar
framework to all countries allows one to compare the role of different dimensions of
sustainability in policy setting. Although there are differences on the indicators and
the data availability between countries, different indicators can be utilized in
measuring the development of sustainability.
The indicators for the analysis were first drawn from the indicator matrix in
Arovuori et al. (2013). Country experts in each MPC and Turkey selected the most
suitable indicators for their own countries. In addition, they were asked to provide
data for each indicator to be used in the analysis. If necessary, in order to include
reasonable number of indicators, additional data were drawn from the international
data sources mainly from the World Bank database.
In general, the success of a policy impact analysis is directly linked to data
availability. In our study, the availability of data ranged from 14 indicators in
Morocco to 26 in Tunisia. The main requirement in the selection of indicators was
that at least two data points exist. Available indicators cover all dimensions of
sustainability. However, the data availability is more comprehensive for the indi-
cators related to the environmental dimension of sustainability. Especially indica-
tors related to land use, the amount of utilized agricultural area and data on fertilizer
consumption were available in all countries.
On the social and environmental aspects of sustainability, data was generally
available on food consumption expenditures, GDP, rural population and agricul-
tural value added. In total, we received data observations for 83 indicators. Out of
these 83 indicators 48 were indicators measuring the development of some envi-
ronmental, 18 economic and 17 social impacts. However, it should be noted that
some of these indicators overlap in terms of elements of sustainability which they
measure.
270 K. Arovuori et al.

10.5 Policy Impact Analysis and Benchmarking4

In this study, we compare the policy impacts on the development of selected

indicators. The country level comparison aims to assess which indicators are
emphasized at the aggregated level in the MPCs and Turkey as well as Finland and
Spain. The indicators are selected in order to assure the comparability. Thus,
whether the desired indicator development is in same direction in all countries, and
whether policy programs are working towards the desired direction.
This sub-chapter aggregates the more detailed policy impact analysis on a
general presentation, where the emphasis is on the policy coherence of the country
level policy programs, the most controversial policy impacts and at the country
level possibilities to improve policy efficiency in the near future. In addition, the
benchmark comparison to EU’s Common Agricultural Policies is analyzed via
country-pair comparison including Finland and Spain.

10.5.1 Policy Impacts at the Country Level

The number of policy programs with identified direct impacts on the three
dimensions of sustainability differs between countries. For Egypt and Tunisia, five
policy programs were identified. In Morocco there was ten policy programs
included in the analysis, and for Turkey the number of policy programs was four.
In a case of multiple policy programs, the main arising issue is policy coherence
between different programs. This is especially due to the multidimensional nature of
sustainability. Policies are coherent, when different policy programs are working
towards the same direction. Controversially, if different policy programs are
working towards opposing direction with respect to same policy targets or policy
indicators, there is a clear trade-off between different policies.
In Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia the policy coherence between different policy
programs is relatively good. Policies have worked towards desired direction for
most of the indicators. Policies are coherent also in terms of the undesired impacts.
In example for Egypt, the desired direction for policies is to decrease the use of
fertilizers. However, all policy programs analyzed have led to increasing use of
fertilizers. Similar impact can be identified for agricultural nitrous oxide and CO2
emissions. However, it should be noted that this development indicates increased
productivity in agriculture via the more intensive production.

4
Policy programs and country level policy analysis are summarized in the Annexes. For a more
detailed policy impact analysis see Arovuori et al. (2013).
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 271

10.5.1.1 Egypt

In general, policy programs in Egypt have been able to contribute on the desired
direction. The coherence between different policy programs has been good. At the
aggregate level, the policy programs have worked towards the same direction rel-
atively well. All programs have enhanced the structural development in agriculture
and contributed to increasing agricultural productivity. However, although small in
number, the undesired impacts of the policy programs are significant. The
Structural Adjustment Program has led to increasing use of fertilizers. Depending
on the intensity level of the fertilizer use, this development may indicate harmful
environmental impacts of policies. However, while the other policy programs have
worked towards the desired direction, the undesired effects are at least partly
neutralized.
Given the selected indicators and data availability, assessment on the policy
impacts on climate change cannot be drawn. For Egypt, no data exist on greenhouse
gas emissions or more particularly on CO2 or agriculture nitrous oxide emissions. In
addition, the policy impact analysis on forestry lacks appropriate data. Although the
desired direction for policies is to increase forest area, no actual forestry targeted
policies exist. However, according to the policy analysis, four out of five analyzed
policy programs have contributed positively on forestry and led to increasing rate of
forest area in Egypt. This development may have significant positive impact on
reducing soil erosion and desertification both locally and regionally. In addition,
forest areas are important in mitigating the overall impacts of the climate change.
It can be concluded that agricultural and rural policies in Egypt impact on all
dimensions of sustainability. Although the policy coherence is relatively strong,
there exist trade-offs between environmental, social and economic aspects. In order
to tackle these trade-offs, agricultural and rural policies need to be extended to
cover more effectively also the social aspects of sustainability.

10.5.1.2 Morocco

In aggregate, policy programs in Morocco tend to emphasize structural and thus,

mainly economic dimension of sustainability. In addition, more data is available for
the economic indicators. For the direct or indirect environmental indicators, policies
are not able to respond on the desired direction. This indicates that there exists a
clear trade-off among different dimensions of sustainability, given the structure and
role of agriculture in Morocco. Social and economic aspects of agriculture are
clearly emphasized over the environmental aspects.
For the climate change, the four out of nine implemented policy programs have
led to increasing and five to decreasing CO2 emissions. However, all programs have
contributed by increasing the level of agricultural nitrous oxide emissions. The
results indicate that agriculture in Morocco has become more intensive, and thus the
emissions have increased. However, the environmentally targeted policy programs
have reduced the pace at which the CO2 emissions are increasing.
272 K. Arovuori et al.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 273
274 K. Arovuori et al.

Unlike the other MPCs and Turkey, Morocco has implemented specified policy
targeted on forestry. The program has had a strong positive impact on the overall
forest area. Thus, it has also positive indirect impact on land use, soil erosion and
climate change mitigation. Due to the lack of data on forestry related indicators, the
overall assessment on the policy effectiveness is difficult to draw.

10.5.1.3 Tunisia

For Tunisia, the main caveat of the analysis is that the impacts of the implemented
policy programs are described at the highly aggregated level. Given that the ana-
lyzed programs are based on traditional market instruments, such as commodity
price policies, input subsidies and other government intervention, the likelihood for
significant trade-offs in terms of desired policy impact is likely to increase. Thus,
the instrument level analysis would, especially in this case, be more appropriate
compared to the aggregated analysis.
Agricultural and rural policies in Tunisia seem to emphasize structural devel-
opment over other aspects. Policies have also contributed by increasing farmers’
incomes and towards more intensive production in terms of animal units and the
increases in the irrigated area. However, also the number of farms has been
increasing. This may have controversial impacts on the increase in agricultural
productivity. The indicator development indicates also increases in agricultural
productivity. Number of tractors, stocking densities and fertilizer use has been
increasing. By definition, these are indicators of the increased productivity.

10.5.1.4 Turkey

For Turkey, the coherence of the implemented policy programs is somewhat weaker
compared to other countries. In addition, the identified policy impacts are in most
cases restricted to a particular indicator. This implies that programs are compiled
from targeted policy instruments. Targeting increases policy effectiveness, but may
also be a source for a trade-off between indicator developments.
In aggregate, the desired indicator development in Turkey emphasizes structural
development in agriculture, increasing productivity and more environmental
friendly production practices. In addition, the role of agriculture in the overall
economy is expected to decline. Employment in agriculture should decrease via a
shift to non-agricultural activities in the rural areas, but not to urban areas. Policies
should aim to increase the non-agricultural job activities in the rural areas in order
to stop the migration.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 275

10.5.2 Main Revealed Trade-Offs

In general, it can be concluded that although the policy coherence is relatively

strong over MPCs and Turkey, there exist trade-offs between environmental, social
and economic aspects. In order to tackle these trade-offs, agricultural and rural
policies need to be extended to cover more effectively also the social aspects of
sustainability. In addition, the analysis shows that policy programs include trade-
offs with respect to indicator development. Different policy instrument may have
opposing impact on the development of a particular indicator. Yet, the aggregate
impact may still turn out to be positive.
The most controversial impacts in terms on undesired policy impact occur in
social dimension of sustainability and especially in terms of employment. In
example, in Turkey the overall objective is to reduce the role of agriculture in the
rural employment and rural economy. However, the implemented policy programs
have contributed by remaining the existing structures. Lacking structural devel-
opment contributes negatively on the productivity growth in agricultural
production.
276 K. Arovuori et al.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 277
278 K. Arovuori et al.

Other example relates to water use in agriculture. Increasing irrigation and the
utilization of water resources is seen important to increase agricultural productivity
and thus the area of utilized agricultural land. However, this may lead to unsus-
tainable use of water resources and thus, have negative impacts on the environ-
mental dimension on sustainability.
Similar logic appears also in the utilization of different production practices.
Increasing the use of fertilizers and pesticides leads to increases in production and
usually to increasing productivity in agriculture. However, the increased use of
fertilizers may lead to environmentally harmful impact in terms of nutrient leaching,
salinization and decreasing soil quality. Thus, appropriate monitoring e.g. in terms
of nutrient balances is needed to neutralize the possible trade-off from the two
possibly opposing objectives.
For climate change, agricultural and rural policies have not contributed towards
the desired direction. This result indicates a clear trade-off between the objectives of
increasing productivity and reduction of harmful environmental effects. The similar
conclusion can be drawn from the impact of policies on total energy consumption.
Although the desired direction for policies is to reduce energy consumption in
agriculture, policies in aggregate have contributed towards opposite direction.
Turkey is a member candidate country of the EU. In order to comply with the
EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and Rural development programs, Turkey has
implemented a pre-assistance rural development program, which is funded by the
EU. According to our analysis, the contribution of this program in terms of the
desired policy development has been weak. The policy impact can be determined
only for indicators measuring the economic dimension of sustainability. However,
it is shown that the policy impact has not worked towards the desired direction.
For the MPCs and Turkey, policy impacts on climate change can be approxi-
mated in terms of their impact on greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions. Despite the
lack of data from Egypt, it can be stated that the policy objective is to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. However, based on the policy impact
analysis the CO2 and other emissions have mainly increased due to the imple-
mented policy programs.
In addition to agriculture, forestry plays significant role in the sustainable
development in the rural areas. Policy impact assessment on forestry is very
challenging in all countries. This is both due to lack of forestry related indicators but
also the fact, that policy programs are implemented as agricultural and rural policies
with possible indirect impacts on forestry. Thus, the direct forestry enhancing
policies are rare. However, at the individual country level, some conclusions can be
drawn also on the role of policies in the sustainable development on forestry.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 279

10.5.3 Benchmark Analysis

10.5.3.1 Policy Framework

To benchmark both the qualitative policy analysis framework and the ability of
policy programs to enhance sustainability, we conduct the analysis also for Finland
and Spain. For Finland and Spain, the actual policy framework is largely formed via
the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU. The CAP is based on the market
mechanisms, mainly single farm payments, under the First Pillar and structural and
rural development mechanisms under the Second Pillar. In addition, both countries
implement national agricultural policy programs. In order to make the analysis
comparable, same indicators were selected for both countries.
Due to the nature of the CAP, the policy instruments under the First Pillar of the
CAP are comparable and implemented under the same common principles both in
Finland and Spain.5 Moreover, the implementation of the policies under the Second
Pillar of the CAP is based on the national Rural Development Programs (RDPs).
While the framework and characteristics of the RDPs are common to all EU
countries, the design and implementation of the programs is done at the national
level. Thus, the initial objectives of the RDPs are common, but countries have their
own sub-objectives via which they aim to fulfill the requirements set at the EU
level.
Another major feature for Finland and Spain are forests. Compared to MPCs and
Turkey, forestry has more significant role in both in policies and sustainable
development in both countries. Especially for Finland, forestry is a key factor in
sustainable development in the rural areas, mainly due large forest cover in Finland.
Thus, Finland implements several comprehensive forest policy programs with
different emphasis. Moreover, policies for agriculture and forestry are completely
separated and the instruments do not overlap in any of the current policy programs.

10.5.4 Policy Impact Comparison

Although very different in agricultural and rural structures, the common policy
framework guides policies towards common direction in both countries. The
desired development for structural indicators is, in general, very similar in both
countries. This favors the overall effectiveness of the policies.
Policy coherence is very good. In general, different policy programs impact
towards desired direction for most indicators. Some controversies between policy
programs exist, but the overall impact is neutral in terms of wanted outcome. In
both countries, emphasis is put on the economic dimension of sustainability. The
role of policies in securing farmers’ incomes is very important. In addition, the

5
For a discussion, see Kniivilä et al. (2012).
280 K. Arovuori et al.

stronger impact is determined towards production indicators, such as self-suffi-

ciency levels and utilized agricultural area. However, it can be stated that policy
priorities are in constant change. Yet, profitable farming operations are seen as a
key to achieve the other objectives set for agriculture and these social and envi-
ronmental aspects are aimed to achieve via wider rural development policies.
The most controversial impacts of policies both in Finland and Spain are related
to rural economy and structural development of agriculture. In general, the desired
direction is towards larger average farm size, smaller number of farms and less
utilized agricultural land in production. However, in both countries policy programs
are, at least, slowing down or even restricting the structural development.
Agricultural support keeps farms in the sector and land under active production.
Without support a number of farms would leave the sector and a proportion of
agricultural land would withdraw from active production.
Environmental impacts are largely guided with environmental support scheme
under Rural Development Programs. In Finland the role of the agri-environmental
support scheme has been even more important. Under the scheme, the use of
fertilizers is restricted to a particular range. In addition, the scheme includes tar-
geted instruments to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
The development of use of fertilizers gives a clear example on the impact of
environmental support scheme. In Spain, the desired policy direction is to reduce
the total amount of fertilizers used in agriculture. However, all the policy programs
analyzed are contributing towards increasing fertilizer use. In Finland, the reduction
in fertilizer is due to the targeted instruments, such as precision farming, contracts
on organic farming, among others.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 281
282 K. Arovuori et al.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 283
284 K. Arovuori et al.
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 285

The different role of forest is clearly seen from the analysis. In Finland, forests
are very significant part of rural economy, but also national economy with large-
scale industrial use in all over the country. Yet, in Finland the role of forest as a
source of ecosystem goods and services is widely recognized. Implemented policy
programs are set to protect and maintain certain types of forests and forest
amenities.

10.6 Conclusions and Policy Implications

In this study the main factors of sustainable agriculture and forestry were defined
for MPCs and Turkey. These general factors do not apply only to these countries,
but their nature is more universal. However, despite their importance, not all factors
are given the same emphasis in practical decision-making.
In order to strengthen the policy analysis on sustainable development and its
different dimensions, more data is needed. For sustainability assessments avail-
ability of times series data is essential. According to the data query of this study
there are time series data available. However, still more would be needed on some
specific issues. In some cases the value of an indicator in a single point of time may
be enough for assessing how sustainable the current state is. This is possible if
critical threshold value for the indicator is known. In many cases, and especially if
the impacts of policies are evaluated, there is an obvious need to have data from
different points of time. Data collected in the SustainMED project offers, however,
an opportunity to widen the evaluation of sustainability of agriculture and forestry
in the study countries.
Furthermore, regional data, which would be needed for more profound and
elaborated analyses were available only in Turkey. Regions differ in their charac-
teristics especially in large countries. There are also specific policies for regions.
Lack of regional data complicates specification of suitable policies and decision-
making.
In order to ensure the proper evaluation of policies, institutions need to be set to
ensure the collection of time-series data for selected relevant indicators. In addition,
this data needs to be directly comparable between countries and regions. The
indicator selection and the procedures for data collection should be an essential part
of the policy programs already at the planning stage of the policies.
Our study shows, that there exist significant trade-offs and controversies between
the different dimensions of sustainability. In order to maximise the policy effec-
tiveness, these trade-offs need to be accounted for in policy implementation. To
tackle the trade-offs a sufficient number of different policy programs and instru-
ments need to be implemented.
One of the main controversies relates to the importance of agriculture in rural
employment. It alters policies on other significant trade-off in terms of different
dimensions of sustainability. Increasing agricultural productivity and structural
development reduces employment opportunities in agriculture. Agricultural and
286 K. Arovuori et al.

rural policies may not, however, respond to social and economic dimension of
sustainability in terms of creating employment opportunities outside agriculture.
Thus, policies enhancing structural development in agriculture may increase the
unemployment especially in the rural areas. Rural unemployment has direct impacts
on migration, urbanization and rural population.
The role of the EU MPC policies should be more emphasised. According to our
analysis, EU MPC policies play only a minor role in the sustainability development
of the agricultural and rural areas. Moreover, the implemented pre-accession pro-
gram in Turkey has not been able to contribute towards the desired direction. The
actual effectiveness of these programs should be further analysed.
The qualitative policy impact analysis carried out in the project indicates that the
desired direction for the development of comparable indicators is relatively similar
in all countries. In general, the target is to reduce negative environmental impacts
and enhance more sustainable use of resources, increase agricultural productivity
and enhance structural development in agriculture, and reduce the relative eco-
nomic importance of agriculture in the overall economy. However, agricultural and
rural policies seem to lack the efficiency in contributing the alternative employment
opportunities outside agriculture. This is a major challenge for social and economic
sustainability as a whole, but especially in the rural areas.
Given the nature of sustainability and its different dimensions (economic, social,
environmental), there exist some significant trade-offs between desired policy
impacts of particular policies. These trade-offs occur and are also acknowledged in
all MPCs and Turkey. One of the most important issues in this respect relates to
water use in agriculture. Increasing irrigation and the utilization of water resources
is seen important to increase agricultural productivity. However, this may lead to
unsustainable use of water resources and thus, has negative impacts on the envi-
ronmental dimension of sustainability.
The impacts of analysed policies on climate change are of great interest. For the
MPCs and Turkey, policy impacts on climate change can be approximated in terms
of their impact on greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions. Despite the lack of data from
Egypt, it can be stated that the policy objective is to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from agriculture. However, based on the policy impact analysis the CO2
and other emissions have mainly increased due to the implemented policy
programs.
In addition to agricultural, forestry plays significant role in the sustainable
development in the rural areas. Policy impact assessment on forestry is very
challenging in all countries. This is both due to lack of forestry related indicators,
but also the fact that policy programs are implemented as agricultural and rural
policies with possible indirect impacts on forestry. Direct forestry enhancing pol-
icies are rare.
In policy processes high priority should be given to the challenges related to
different dimensions of sustainability. As the issues related to water use or agri-
cultural productivity and food security may rise especially because of their urgency,
other recognized challenges should not be neglected. It is also very important to
acknowledge that the full impacts of climate change are yet to be experienced. In
10 Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry … 287

addition, neglecting gender aspects will cause in a long run hindered economic
growth and social problems.
In order to ensure the proper evaluation of policies, institutions need to be set to
ensure the collection of time-series data for selected relevant indicators. In addition,
this data needs to be directly comparable between countries and regions. The
indicator selection and the procedures for data collection should be an essential part
of the policy programs already at the planning stage of policies.
Our study shows that there exist significant trade-offs and controversies between
the different dimensions of sustainability. In order to maximise the policy effec-
tiveness, these trade-offs need to be accounted for in policy implementation. To
tackle the trade-offs a sufficient number of different policy programs and instru-
ments need to be implemented.
In this context, the role of the EU MPC policies should be more emphasised.
According to our analysis, EU MPC policies play only a minor role in the sus-
tainability development of the agricultural and rural areas. Moreover, the imple-
mented pre-accession program in Turkey has not been able to contribute towards
the desired direction. The actual effectiveness of these programs should be further
analysed and enhanced.
Development of any society can be sustainable only if all dimensions of sus-
tainability are taken into account in a balanced way both in policy processes and
practical actions. The results obtained in this study shows that the emphasis in the
MPCs is primarily on economic aspects, which is understandable when the
development stage of the countries is considered. However, in the long-run
neglecting other dimensions is a source of future instability.
Consequences of poor social sustainability have been strikingly demonstrated in
several MPCs during the last few years. Poverty reduction, women’s empowerment
and the increase of local people’s involvement are at the core of social sustain-
ability. Without local acceptance the likelihood to gain long-lasting success is
minor. More research is needed on the local peoples’ perceptions on the major
problems related to current policies and institutions aiming especially at poverty
reduction, decrease of environmental degradation and increasing agricultural pro-
ductivity, and on their consideration of the best possible policy actions. This applies
both to institutional and social structures, and includes issues related to land
ownership and legal frameworks.

References

Arovuori, K., Horne, P., Kniivilä, M., Mili, S., Pyykkönen, P., Soliman, I. (2013). Factors and
indicators in the policy impact analysis for sustainable agriculture and forestry. Deliverable 23.
Sustainable agri-food systems and rural development in the Mediterranean Partner Countries
(SustainMED), p. 127.
Christen, O. (1996). Sustainable agriculture-history, concept and consequences for research,
education and extension. Berichte Uber Landwirtschaft, 74(1), 66–86.
288 K. Arovuori et al.

Commission of the European Communities. (2006). Development of agri-environmental indicators

for monitoring the integration of environmental concerns into the common agricultural policy.
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, COM
(2006) 508 final. Brussels, September 15, 2006.
Council of the European Union. (1999). Council resolution of December 15, 1998 on a forestry
strategy for the European Union (1999/C 56).
Council of the European Union. (2006a). Review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy
(EU SDS)—Renewed Strategy. Note from the Secretariat to delegations, 10917/06.
Council of the European Union. (2006b). Council decision of February 20, 2006 on Community
strategic guidelines for rural development (programming period 2007 to 2013). 2006/144/EC,
L 55/20 Official Journal of the European Union February 25, 2006. Eurostat. 2012.
FAO. (1995). FAO Trainer’s Manual, Sustainability issues in agricultural and rural development
policies (Vol. 1).
FOREST EUROPE, UNECE and FAO. (2011). State of Europe’s Forests 2011. Status and trends
in sustainable forest management in Europe. p. 337. (including annexes).
Kniivilä, M., Bäckman, S., Horne, P., Martinez-Vega, J., Mili, S., & Pyykkönen, P. (2012).
Frameworks for sustainable agriculture and forestry: Applications to Finland and Spain. PTT
Working Papers, 137, 73.
Kniivilä, M., Mili, S., Ait El Mekki, A., Arovuori, K., Ben-Said, M., Çağatay, S., et al. (2013).
Sustainable agriculture and forestry in the Mediterranean partner countries and Turkey: factors,
indicators and challenges. PTT Working Papers, 151, 105.
Tisdell, C. A. (2007). Sustainable agriculture. In G. Atkinson, S. Dietz, & E. Neumayer (Eds.),
Handbook of sustainable development (pp. 362–375). UK: Edward Elgar.
World Bank. (2012). World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator
Chapter 11
Food Security in MPC’s

Fabian Capitanio

11.1 Introduction

This chapter is concerned with the issue of food security, placing special emphasis
on the current situation of South Mediterranean countries.
The events of 2007/2008 and those of 2010/2011, has been unfortunately more
than an alarm-bell. The most recent spike in food prices alone has shifted almost
45 million people below the poverty line, synonymous with leading an existence on
less than 1.25 USD a day, which is already experienced by more than 1.2 billion
people around the world. The tensions between supply and demand suggest this is a
structural imbalance that will grow in the years to come. The failure to meet the first
of the millennium development goals, a reduction in hunger in the world, ought to
restore a sense of urgency and determination in order to conceive and design
renewed policies at the international level, to build a new overview of global food
security. Given the scale of the problem, this need cannot be relegated solely to its
traditional place on the agenda on just how to support agricultural development and
food self-sufficiency in late-developing areas, but should be tackled with decisions
that necessarily involve agriculture world-wide. It is a problem that affects us all
and not just a question of how to help “others”.
After decades in the wilderness it is no coincidence that the issue of food security
is once again part of the lexicon of American and European policy makers, just at
the moment when the USA and EU are preparing to reform their own agricultural
policies, the longest established and also the most criticized.
By a brief introduction of the main conceptual aspects of food security, this work
point out the shift from a former focus on food energy availability to a more
comprehensive appraisal of this phenomenon in recent times. The most likely
causes of recent rises in food prices are also described. Food security issues are

F. Capitanio (&)
University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 289

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_11
290 F. Capitanio

analyzed in connection with rural poverty issues and with the failure to achieve
successful agricultural development in some developing countries, which some-
times have to overcome strong restrictions concerning the availability of land and
water resources for food production.

11.2 World Food Trend

The issue of access to, and availability of, food on a global basis, known as food
security, has been making headway on the political and media agenda since the start of
the twenty-first century. What now gives cause for concern is the increase in food
prices levels and volatility. Since the mid 1990s we are observing sharp peaks in farm
commodity prices (e.g. 2007/2008 and 2010/2011). The most recent forecasts indi-
cate a sizeable rise in prices for the coming years. Despite the debate on the role played
by the various factors involved, most academics agree that the long era of abundant
food, available at low prices, is over, and has given way to an era of new scarcity. The
phenomenon is usually linked to projections on demographic growth, according to
which, in 2050, there will be more than nine billion inhabitants on the planet.
In tackling the issue of security in the food supply the analysis of population
dynamics has given way to examination of distribution dynamics. The problem, as
posed in recent years, is not scarcity, but the inequitable distribution of food
resources, which has ended up penalizing vast populous areas in the world (De
Castro et al. 2012). Such a problem has recently been aggravated, leading the
number of poor, undernourished, people worldwide to exceed one billion. Though
inter-related with the broader issue of natural resource depletion, food scarcity
assumes connotations of greater or equal urgency compared with numerous delicate
problems, such as market instability and price volatility, conveyed more loudly by
public opinion.
Economic theory tells us that the rise in prices is due to a change in market
equilibrium, caused by the increasing gap between the demand and supply of a
certain product. In the case of agricultural markets, there are concerns regarding the
increase in food demand, which in recent years has advanced at sustained rates,
especially in emerging areas, such as the Mediterranean Partner Countries.
In such a complex, evolving, and risky context, the analysis of food security and
poverty need to be conducted deepening the understanding of structure of current
risk management strategies.
To emphasize the question of inequitable food distribution, recall that we have
experienced a period of great agricultural capacity almost on a global scale, called
“the Green Revolution”. This is a term used to refer to the remarkable increase in
world agricultural production between the early 1960s and the end of the 1980s.
The technological progress experienced in the more developed economies and its
transfer to other regions, especially Asia and Latin America, led at that moment to
11 Food Security in MPC’s 291

the doubling of yields for some cereal crops which are basic for the human diet, like
rice, wheat and maize, besides the productivity of other plant species and livestock.
This real production boom has been able to meet rising food demand in the past
30 years and has also ensured a certain stability to food prices. A historical phase in
which giant steps taken in developing pesticides and fertilizers, combined with an
improvement in production techniques and plant breeding, allowed a rapid growth
in farmland yields. Certainly, not everywhere: in Asia, yield increases were
obtained practically without increases in cultivated areas, while in Africa yields
were stationary despite the bringing into cultivation of new lands.
However, we are talking of a quarter-century of sustained yield increases,
coinciding with a marked rise in public investment in agricultural research, both in
more developed and in developing countries. The result was a mean annual global
increase in cereal production of 2 %, with the highest rises in Asia (+2.5 %). The
Green Revolution seemed universally to be the death knell of the Malthusian theory
of growth.
What has changed? How can we account for an alarming situation that today
goes well beyond the ever-neglected issue of hunger in the world’s poor areas?
What has compromised the reaching of internationally-agreed goals regarding the
war against malnutrition?
The international markets for agricultural commodities are the stage on which
the new scarcity is shown in all its clarity. The roller-coaster ride of commodity
prices fully expresses the tensions between demand and supply which are
responsible for price rises.
It would be clear now that, referring at market instability, one of the main drivers
is the headlong growth in food consumption, associated with population growth,
but especially with the higher purchasing power among increasingly broad ranges
of the population in emerging countries. As early as the mid 1990s, major increases
were being witnessed in the demand for some strategic agricultural commodities,
such as wheat, whose prices had long been in constant decline. Demand began to
rise at an average rate of 2 % per annum, especially thanks to China, India and
Brazil, able on their own to account for at least one-third of increases in world
requirements at that time.

11.2.1 The Return of Scarcity

From the early fifties there was a long period of stagnating and declining prices on
agricultural markets, interrupted only by some spurt in concomitance with
extraordinary events (like the “oil shock” in the 1970s). The scenario changes in the
mid 1990s where an inverse trend begins, with sharp peaks in farm commodity
prices in 2007/2008 and 2010/2011. The most recent forecasts indicate a sizeable
rise in prices for the coming years.
292 F. Capitanio

Several causes are driving the increase in agricultural commodity prices. One of
the main is the headlong growth in food consumption, associated with population
growth, but especially with the higher purchasing power among increasingly broad
ranges of the population in emerging countries. According to FAO, world popu-
lation will exceed nine billion in 2050. This represents an increase of about one
third against the current population of 6.9 billion, which will be lower than in the
past. In fact, the population increase of over 30 % predicted by the FAO for the next
40 years is well below the relative growth in the past four decades, during which the
population more than doubled.
The largest increases will take place in developing countries, while the popu-
lation in high-income economies will remain almost stable and in some areas,
especially in some regions of Europe, there may even be population declines. By
contrast, in Africa the population is expected to double, growing from one to two
million by 2050. In emerging areas growth will continue to be sustained especially
in India, while China’s growth should slow down; absolute increases will remain
appreciable. In these two countries, which now make up over one-third of the
world’s population, the number of inhabitants is expected to rise from the current
2.5 billion to 3.2 by the year 2050.
The global effects of population increases will be strictly linked to migration
intensity between countryside and town. Around 50 % of the world’s population is
now distributed in urban areas, the other half in rural areas. In 1950 only 28 % of
the population lived in large urban agglomerations; in 2050 this percentage is
destined to reach 70 %. Compared with today, there will be 19 more cities with over
ten million inhabitants and five of these will be in Asia where the trend toward
metropolitan concentration will be particularly marked. FAO estimates the popu-
lation reduction active in agriculture in the next 40 years at around 30 %.
The most important contribution to the global convergence of diets will be made
by the expansion of the middle classes in emerging areas. Individual income in
countries like India, Brazil and China rose at sustained rates in recent years, only to
slow down, but not stop, during this long phase of world economic recession. The
cases that stand out most are those of China and India which have recorded annual
growth rates close to the double figures in the years immediately prior to the
recession and which are forecast, according to the International Monetary Fund, to
continue their trend at least for the next 20 years. This means on one hand that
expenditure on food consumption grow fast, on the other that food habits change
radically (the so-called “substitution effect” explained by Engel’s Law).
As populations gradually become richer, in their diets the unprocessed starch
products (like rice and flour), are replaced by products with a higher protein content
(such as meat, milk and other dairy products) and by processed products with
greater value added, promoting a process of dietary convergence worldwide along
the models of richer populations. This trend is involving several billion people in
emerging countries and the demand of livestock product is forecast to increase very
11 Food Security in MPC’s 293

fast in the coming years with the consequence of a multiplying effect on the demand
for some agricultural raw materials, like soya and wheat, which are at the basis of
animal feed.1
Critical situations concerning water consumption may arise from overexploita-
tion, climatic stress and pollution, in the case in which water courses receive more
waste than they can assimilate. In the course of time, some such situations have
been alleviated in many parts of the world thanks to technological progress, which
has allowed an increase of about 700 % in the storage capacity of fluvial systems in
the past 50 years, promoting economic development, especially agriculture.
By contrast, problems have become more serious in other areas, for example
where economic and urban expansion have required large quantities of water,
exchanged for ever greater doses of pollution. There are also cases where erosion has
led to a reduction in water availability in many large areas of Africa, including some
SEMC. This is a clear constraint to possible expansion in the agriculture sector,
which becomes even more serious if we view the growing negative implications
accompanying the relationship between water and agriculture starting with the Green
Revolution: agriculture is indirectly responsible for about 40 % of pollution of sur-
face water, stemming from the increase in use of chemicals, as fertilizers and pes-
ticides, whose use seems to intensify when areas are devoted to biofuel production.
In past years the adjustment of supply to demand was guaranteed by technical
progress. The technological progress experienced in the more developed economies
and its transfer to other regions, especially led to the doubling of yields for some
cereal crops which are basic for the human diet, like rice, wheat and maize, besides
the productivity of other plant species and livestock. The sustained yield increases
was lead by a marked rise in public investment in agricultural research, both in
more developed and in developing countries.
Now we are faced with two types of limits: on the one hand the need for more
sustainable agriculture, hence based on less use of chemical inputs, one of the main
protagonists of the Green Revolution; on the other, the concern at having reached a
technological barrier such as to be able to achieve only marginal short-term increases.
The OECD and FAO recently estimated that for the coming years the annual
growth in production will continue to be slower than in the past, falling from an
annual average of 2.4 % for the previous decade to 1.7 % for the coming years.
According to many analysts, these data indicate unequivocally the end of the season
of the Green Revolution and the reaching of a level of efficiency that will be hard to
beat in the short-medium term.
Also those of a contingent nature have far more impact than in the past, since the
greater integration of the economy favors a more rapid transfer of signals (and
shocks) from one market to another (De Castro et al. 2012). Such integration is also
partly responsible for another aspect of the current scenario: market volatility.

1
To globally satisfy a diet which will be increasingly enriched in calories and change in its
composition, annual cereals production will have to reach around three billion tons, about one third
higher than today, that of soya will have to increase by 140 % and that of meat will have to reach
470 million tons, 200 million more than current production (FAO 2010a, b).
294 F. Capitanio

This term is used when the frequency and range of price variations recorded in a
given time span are greater than the historical average. Between 2007 and 2008 the
farm price index used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by 50 %, to
then drop sharply (without return to its pre-boom levels) and rise to even higher
levels at the beginning of 2011, representing a rise of 130 % against 2002 levels.
This phenomenon, depending on several causes, exacerbates the natural insta-
bility of agricultural markets linked to the seasonal cycles. One cause arise from the
small-scale market, characterized by low volumes and a restricted number of
exporters. Only 12 % of maize and 18 % of wheat are traded on international
markets; the remaining part stays within producer countries.
This means that also in the case of modest shocks, repercussions on prices may
be significant and the return to equilibrium may take a long time. This is what has
happened with increasing frequency of extreme meteorological events linked to the
broader phenomenon of climate change.
Often reactions to these events have led to restrictions of trade. In 2010 we
experienced a new cycle of measures that were completely uncoordinated at the
international level. In summer 2010, following huge wildfires that hit Russia and
caused damage to crops, Moscow banned grain exports, triggering price increases.
The Russian example was followed by Ukraine, while in parallel many govern-
ments began to subsidize imports or reduce their taxation. The announcement of the
ban, was enough for many concerned importers to begin to negotiate higher vol-
umes than in the past, fearing subsequent price rises. According to the FAO, world
wheat prices increased by between 60 and 80 % between July and September 2010
after the export ban decided by Russia.
Government reactions to price booms have aimed to stabilize domestic supply as
rapidly as possible by adopting protective measures (such as bans on exports or
incentives for imports), to alleviate the impact of increases upon its citizens. Yet these
initiatives have had the sole result of exporting instability (and inflation), taking it
from national to international markets (Tangermann 2011), amplifying price oscil-
lations and triggering a vicious circle which made the markets even more precarious.
The scenario is further complicated by the state of reserves of strategic agri-
cultural products (Fig. 11.1). Today, the level of food reserves is much lower than
in the past. In 2007 cereal reserves reached their historical minimum. This actually
made the agricultural supply even more inelastic than it is naturally, further
restricting the capacity to respond to price increases.
Also the role played by the financial markets during the price rises is more hotly
debated. Some governments, but also several analysts and representatives of
international institutions have pointed the finger at financial speculation, it being
identified as one of the main drivers behind recent booms in farm prices.
In its broader, more authoritative strands the economics literature is rather
skeptical regarding the nexus of direct causality which is thought by many to
connect speculation and price rises. The trend in futures quotations is theoretically
tied to expectations on demand-supply relations and thus tends to converge on the
real market value of the traded commodity as the contract expiry date approaches.
11 Food Security in MPC’s 295

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

Variazioni nell'uso degli stock Variazioni dei prezzi mondiali

Source: Our elaboration from USDA data

Fig. 11.1 Wheat stocks are negatively correlated with wheat prices

By contrast, financial operations conducted outside commodity exchange cir-

cuits are different, such as in the so-called “over the counter” (OTC) market, where
it is large institutional intermediaries which trade commodities through non-stan-
dardized contracts and without solvency guarantees made available by stock
exchanges. This generates large risks, like those that became reality during the
financial bubble in 2007, in which the contractual reneging of many players who
had taken on excessive risks led to real market failure.
The development in analyzing the field of food security, reflect the shift from a
former focus on food energy availability to a more comprehensive appraisal of this
phenomenon developed in recent years.

11.2.2 Food Security in South Mediterranean Countries:

Towards a More Comprehensive Approach

In September 2000 189 nations approved the “United Nations Millennium

Declaration “(UNMD), calls for halving by the year 2015, the number of people
who live on less than one dollar a day. The Millennium Development Goals pointed
out by the UNMD include eight priorities: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,
Achieve universal primary education, Promote gender equality and empower
women, Reduce child mortality, Improve maternal health, Combat HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other diseases, Ensure environmental sustainability and Develop a
global partnership for development. The level of this goals, are measured each year
using more than 60 indicators.2

2
The official list is available on http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/
OfficialList.htm.
296 F. Capitanio

What emerge applying the upgraded $1.25-a-day poverty line, which is used to
measure progress toward the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG), is that
official poverty rates in most south Mediterranean countries are lower than in many
other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Extreme poverty affects less than
3 % of the population. But going depth in the analysis of non-income MDG
indicators the situation change and the difference between south Mediterranean
countries (and in general all Arab countries) and other LMICs appears less pro-
nounced (IFPRI 2012a, b).
On this field, is interesting the results come out from a study conducted by
International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) in 2012,3 pointing out how poverty and
income inequality in the SEMC context are likely higher than official numbers have
long suggested. In this study a new indicator of food insecurity risk is developed,
merging a macro-level and a micro-level measure of food insecurity. The first one is
defined as the share of food imports divided by total exports plus net remittance
inflows,4 while the prevalence of child under nutrition is used for representing the
micro micro-level measure of food insecurity. The result is a classification of SEMC
countries into five risk groups, based on this composed indicator. In IFPRI 2011, it
can be seen that the situation is more deficit recorded for Mauritania, Sudan and
Yemen. The situation is relatively better than these indices in Libya, Egypt,
Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Syria.

11.2.3 Mediterranean Countries and Food Security

Indicators

This approach goes beyond the traditional micro aspects put at the basis of the
Global Hunger Index (GHI),5 calculated each year by the International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI). The GHI provide a multidimensional overview of the
hunger, combining three equally weighted indicators:
The proportion of undernourished as a percentage of the population, which
reflects the share of the population with insufficient dietary energy intake.
The prevalence of underweight children under the age of five, which indicates
the proportion of children suffering from low weight with regards to the adequate
weight for their age.
The mortality rate of children under the age of five, reflect the interaction
between an inadequate energy intake and an unhealthy environment.

3
Beyond the SEMC Awakening: Policies and Investments for Poverty Reduction and Food Security
(IFPRI 2012a, b).
4
Food imports/[total exports + net remittance inflows].
5
The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale. Values less than 5.0 reflect low levels of hunger,
values between 5.0 and 9.9 reflect moderate hunger, values between 10.0 and 19.9 indicates the
presence of a serious problem of hunger, values between 20.0 and 29.9 are alarming, and values of
30.0 or higher are considered as extremely alarming.
11 Food Security in MPC’s 297

The scores for some selected North Africa and Middle East countries, in com-
parison with the six countries at the bottom of the world list in 2010, show that the
situation of South Mediterranean countries is relatively good and widely differs
from the situation of those African countries that suffer the most from food inse-
curity. All the selected countries are classed, in 2010, in the category of countries
with low hunger levels, with the exception of Morocco and Syria, which appear
with moderate hunger levels. The best scores among the SEMC correspond to
Tunisia, and the worst to Morocco, where the prevalence of underweight children
under five years of age has increased between the average of 1988–1992 and the
average of 2003–2008, to 9.9 %.
A factor becomes more and more crucial in measuring the multiple dimension of
the concept of food security is the exposure to food import. The South
Mediterranean Region has as one of the most food import-dependent area in the
world, with net food imports accounting for 25–50 % of national consumption. This
result is a consequence of a very rapidly demographic growth in the last few
decades combined with the change in consumption patterns linked to the increasing
average income. A direct consequence of this development has been the rising
external food trade deficits, that if in general it should not mean self-sufficiency
deficit,6 in the cases of some South Mediterranean countries the figure gives rise
some concerns, related to the high ratio of food imports over total exports. In
particular in those countries characterized for an high dependence of export earn-
ings from oil, the exposure to food security risks is directly related with the oil price
fluctuations. The quota of total exports used to pay for imports is in the SMC higher
than the world average. The food dependence is more pronounced for Palestinian
Territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt than in the other countries included in the
region (Fig. 11.2).
Combining the number of times that total exports cover food imports with the
food production per capita, the GHI, and Gross National Income per capita, on the
basic distinction grounded on the mineral resources endowment of each country,
Breisinger and other authors have proposed a food security countries classification
in which all the South Mediterranean countries considered are included in the
category countries facing a food security challenge (Breisinger et al. 2010).
A most recent multidimensional food security indicator is the Global Food
Security Index (GFSI) developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit, that consider
the core issues of affordability, availability, quality and safety across a set of 105
countries (Table 11.1). The index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative
benchmarking model, constructed from 25 unique indicators, that measures these
drivers of food security across both developing and developed countries, providing
a rank of countries in function of their food vulnerability. The 2012 GFSI for the
South Mediterranean countries covered by the survey provide the following result.

6
Food trade deficits may be an acceptable way of guaranteeing the availability of food supplies, but
only under the condition that deficit-prone countries are able to generate enough foreign currency
to pay for their imports.
298 F. Capitanio

12

10

er
n

n
t
ria

a
ria
co
yp

da

by

.T
an

Sy
ge

oc
Eg

st
r

Li
Jo
b

or
Al

le
Le

Pa
M

Source: Breisinger et al. (2010)

Fig. 11.2 Total exports/Food imports in SEMC (2010)

Table 11.1 Global food security index in some SEMC (2012)

Overall Affordability Availability Quality and GFS rank
score safety
Algeria 40.1 38.2 39.1 47.6 72
Egypt 50.4 38.1 59.8 55.3 52
Morocco 49.1 49.5 47.5 52.6 57
Tunisia 52.2 52 48.6 66 49
Turkey 62.2 55.6 66.6 66.2 33
Jordan 49.8 51.8 49 47.1 49
Syria 40.9 33.6 44.9 47.9 70
Source “The Economist” intelligence unit

11.2.4 Structural Factors Affecting Food Security in South

Eastern Mediterranean Countries

The population growth rate of SEMC countries has averaged 2.1 % in the last seven
years compared to a world rate of 1.2 %. In the southern and eastern Mediterranean
countries, high population growth rates have been recorded over the past three
decades with natural growth peaks of 3 % and more. Profiles vary widely, however.
Population growth in the Maghreb countries is controlled as the result of a steep
decline in fertility rate: this is the case in Tunisia, whose population has grown from
5 million in 1970 to 10 million at the present time but should not exceed 15 million
by 2050. Population growth is still buoyant in most of the countries in the Near
East. In Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Territories the annual growth rate
is still around 2 %. Egypt, for example, which had a population of 35 million in
11 Food Security in MPC’s 299

1970, now has some 75 million inhabitants, and the figure could rise to almost
120 million by 2050. In the Near East, population trends are very correlated to
socio-economic disparities: the demographic and socio-economic profile of
Lebanon, for instance, is far removed from that of Syria (Fig. 11.3).
This trend has been accompanied by a rapid urban growth in the SEMC, where
the number of city dwellers will have doubled by 2020 compared to the figure for
1990. Yet rural areas, on the whole, are not becoming depopulated. There has been
a steep decline in the rural population in most SEMC in general terms, but the
relative share of the rural population is decreasing in absolute terms as a necessary
corollary of galloping urbanization, rural areas have never been so populated,
particularly in the countries of the Near East and in Egypt, where the rural popu-
lation is still larger than the urban population and farming still remain the primary
activity in large part of this region.
At the same time the average income growth rate has been roughly 3.0 % in the last
decade, compared to the world average of 1.1 %, redrawing, hand in hand with the
increasing urbanization, the consumption patterns of the entire region and leading, as
previously recalled, toward a progressive exposure in terms of food trade deficits.
The competition in covering soil has seen an increasing role of the urban area,
often at the expense of fertile areas. Since this region is characterized by a limited
resources of arable land and water, this means limiting option available for con-
tributing to cover the increasing food demand. In Algeria, Jordan, Libya and Egypt,
for example, the acreage of arable land accounts for less than 5 % of the total area
of the country. In many of the SEMC the arable land per capita is below the global
average and its decline has been rapid.
In order to get around water scarcity, the people of the SEMC developed efficient
systems of water engineering, which they used mainly for watering their crops.
In Egypt, where crops cannot grow without irrigation, numerous techniques have

10

0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050
developing countries populations
less developed countries populations
developed countries populations
world populations

Source: FAO

Fig. 11.3 Total population growth and projections

300 F. Capitanio

been used for thousands of years to exploit Nile spates. But it was in the 20th
century that irrigation was developed most, at least in terms of areas covered.
Irrigation is no doubt reaching its limit after years of rapid development, par-
ticularly in SEMCs, which are amongst the least endowed in the world in terms of
available water resources: half of the world’s “water-poor” (less than 1000 cubic
meters per capita) live in the region. The natural resources exploitation index (the
ratio between the volumes abstracted and the renewable water resources available)
gives a worrying indication of the pressure that now weighs on water resources.
Most of the SEMCs have an exploitation index of over 50 %, for instance, but it is
the situation in the east of the basin that is reason for the greatest concern. With the
exception of Lebanon and Turkey, both of which have water resources, the indexes
are already very high (over 75 %) and, to judge by trend scenarios, are liable to rise
further. These quantitative limits are compounded by signs of deterioration in water
quality. The increase in the volume of water abstracted from groundwater aquifers,
for example, makes these aquifers more sensitive to marine intrusion.

11.2.5 Food Dependency and Price Pass-Through

As seen previously, SMC are particularly concerned about food security because
they are highly dependent on international commodity markets. The level of
exposure is directly related both to the ratio of food imports to total exports and the
fiscal balances.
SEMC countries are the largest net importers of cereal calories in the world,
importing roughly 56 % of the cereal calories they consume. This dependence on
foreign market concerns all countries of the south Mediterranean region, which are
the world largest net importers of cereal calories buying on the international market
more than 50 % of the cereal consumed calories. Wheat represents a significant part
of the SMC diet, reaching in the case of Tunisia roughly 50 % of the total consumed
calories.
The exposure of SEMC countries to world food price volatility is firstly linked to
their high dependence on the external market. The World Bank (2012) has calcu-
lated the ratios of net imports to domestic consumption, as indicative of the
dependency on foreign imports to satisfy domestic food demand.7 The results show
that dependence on food imports in general is high across SEMC countries
(Table 11.2).
This situation shall produce, in case of price shock, dramatic consequences in
terms of food inflation. The SEMC region is the largest wheat importer in the world,
and wheat prices increased by 70 % in the second half of the 2000s. The incidence

7
Dependency ratio is calculated as: Di ¼ M
Ci where Mi is net imports of food product I, Ci is the
i

domestic consumption with I corresponding to grains, edible oils, meat, and sugar.
Table 11.2 Food dependency ratios, import, and consumption share for 2010
11

Country/Food Net imports as Commodity Commodity Country/Food Net imports Commodity Commodity
item a share of import shares consumptions item as a share of import shares consumptions
consumptions shares consumptions shares
Algeria Lebanon
Grains (%) 68 52 52 Grains (%) 87 39 32
Oils (%) 88 22 18 Oils (%) 38 7 8
Meat (%) 33 7 15 Meat (%) 56 38 49
Sugar (%) 89 19 15 Sugar (%) 100 10 11
Food Security in MPC’s

Food (%) 69 100 100 Food (%) 70 100 100

Bahrain Morocco
Grains (%) 100 28 25 Grains (%) 51 57 61
Oils n/a n/a n/a Oils (%) 50 24 21
Meat (%) 88 62 65 Meat n/a n/a n/a
Sugar (%) 100 10 9 Sugar (%) 57 19 18
Food (%) 92 100 100 Food (%) 89 100 100
Egypt Syria
Grains (%) 39 54 62 Grains (%) 51 53 62
Oils (%) 78 27 14 Oils (%) 6 7 19
Meat (%) 37 10 13 Meat n/a n/a n/a
Sugar (%) 37 9 11 Sugar (%) 104 27 16
Food (%) 33 100 100 Food (%) 43 100 100
Jordan Tunisia
Grains (%) 97 42 35 Grains (%) 68 58 63
Oils (%) 68 17 20 Oils (%) −73 15 22
Meat (%) 25 27 34 Meat n/a n/a n/a
Sugar (%) 98 14 11 Sugar (%) 104 27 10
Food (%) 67 100 100 Food (%) 43 100 100
Source Calculations using USDA data collected by Cristina Savescu
301
302 F. Capitanio

of food consumption in the basket household expenditures in SEMC countries is, in

fact, still account between 30 and 50 % and consequently food inflation often
represent the most important component of the overall inflation.
It is well known, that the effects on the field of food security are strictly cor-
related with the income distribution among the population. The question of the high
concentration of household living near the poverty line that characterized the
SEMC area, would represent in case of prolonged price shock a threat in increasing
the severity of poverty levels (IFPRI 2012a, b). About half of the populations of the
SEMC countries live in rural areas, and within this category agricultural sector
plays a key role in, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan. Therefore, we need
to emphasize that rural poverty is at the core of food security problems in the
region, and recent rises in food prices have contributed to an increase in the inci-
dence, depth and severity of poverty. Some preliminary analysis carried out during
last years have stressed the link between increase in food price and increase in
poverty in these countries; these results suggested that about a 30 % increase in
food prices in Egypt would result in a 12 % point increase in poverty, and a 14 %
increase in food prices in Morocco would result in a 4 % point increase in poverty.
Furthermore, the tight of supply available on the food commodity market for
certain strategic products, like cereals, increase the risk of disruptions in procure-
ment and shortfalls in food availability in countries with high food dependency
ratios. A further point which should be emphasized is the similarity often mis-
leading of the concept of food security compared at self-sufficiency; indeed, food
trade deficits may be an acceptable way of guaranteeing the availability of food
supplies, but only under the condition that deficit-prone countries are able to
generate enough foreign currency to pay for their imports. In practice it means
being able to keep a relatively low ratio of food imports over total exports. In this
context, SEMC countries are currently using 11.5 % of their total exports to pay for
their food imports. As underlined by the joint World Bank/IFAD/FAO report on
improving food security in SEMC countries (World Bank 2009), food security in
the region is determined by resource endowments which affect the level of food
import requirements and also by fiscal balance which influences a country’s ability
to afford food imports.
This means that vulnerability to food price shock is basically influenced by the
import dependence, but also by the fiscal position of the considered country. High
import dependence associated with a sound fiscal position is not of concern,
excepted in case of quantity shock such as export bans (African Development Bank
2012).
Global price movements in some strategic agricultural products markets is one
important source in conditioning domestic price levels, accompanied by others
linked to country-specific factors, including public policy measures. Governments
of SEMC countries use many policy instruments in order to mitigate the effects on
consumers rising from fluctuations in global agriculture commodity price. Those
measures has helped SEMC countries in isolating households from price volatility
and food inflation. As observed by Ortiz et al. (2011) different policy interventions
11 Food Security in MPC’s 303

(especially an extensive use of price subsides, but also measures aimed at managing
and regulating food consumption, production and trade) are used by SEMC
countries in this field.

11.3 Policy Recommendations

The exposure of MPC’s to world food price volatility is firstly linked to their high
dependence on the external market (see Fig. 11.2). The World Bank (2012) has
calculated the ratios of net imports to domestic consumption, as indicative of the
dependency on foreign imports to satisfy domestic food demand. The results show
that dependence on food imports in general is high across MPC’s.
This situation shall produce, in case of price shock, dramatic consequences in
terms of food inflation. The MPC region is the largest wheat importer in the world,
and wheat prices increased by 70 % in the second half of the 2000s. The incidence
of food consumption in the basket household expenditures in MPC’s is, in fact, still
account between 30 and 50 % and consequently food inflation often represent the
most important component of the overall inflation.
It is well known, that the effects on the field of food security are strictly cor-
related with the income distribution among the population. The question of the high
concentration of household living near the poverty line that characterized the MPC
area, would represent in case of prolonged price shock a threat in increasing the
severity of poverty levels (IFPRI 2012a, b). About half of the populations of the
MPC’s live in rural areas, and within this category agricultural sector plays a key
role in, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Therefore, we need to emphasize that
rural poverty is at the core of food security problems in the region, and recent rises
in food prices have contributed to an increase in the incidence, depth and severity of
poverty. Some preliminary analysis carried out during last years have stressed the
link between increase in food price and increase in poverty in these countries; these
results suggested that about a 30 % increase in food prices in Egypt would result in
a 12 % point increase in poverty, and a 14 % increase in food prices in Morocco
would result in a 4 % point increase in poverty.
Furthermore, the tight of supply available on the food commodity market for
certain strategic products, like cereals, increase the risk of disruptions in procure-
ment and shortfalls in food availability in countries with high food dependency
ratios. A further point which should be emphasized is the similarity often mis-
leading of the concept of food security compared at self-sufficiency; indeed, food
trade deficits may be an acceptable way of guaranteeing the availability of food
supplies, but only under the condition that deficit-prone countries are able to
generate enough foreign currency to pay for their imports. In practice it means
being able to keep a relatively low ratio of food imports over total exports. In this
context, MPC’s are currently using 11.5 % of their total exports to pay for their
food imports. As underlined by the joint World Bank/IFAD/FAO report on
improving food security in MPC’s (World Bank 2009), food security in the region
304 F. Capitanio

is determined by resource endowments which affect the level of food import

requirements and also by fiscal balance which influences a country’s ability to
afford food imports.
This means that vulnerability to food price shock is basically influenced by the
import dependence, but also by the fiscal position of the considered country. High
import dependence associated with a sound fiscal position is not of concern,
excepted in case of quantity shock such as export bans (African Development Bank
2012).
Global price movements in some strategic agricultural products markets is one
important source in conditioning domestic price levels, accompanied by others
linked to country-specific factors, including public policy measures.

11.3.1 Tools Utilized by MPC’s Governments

Governments of MPC’s use many policy instruments in order to mitigate the effects
on consumers rising from fluctuations in global agriculture commodity price. Those
measures helped MPC’s in isolating households from price volatility and food
inflation. As observed by Ortiz et al. (2011) different policy interventions (espe-
cially an extensive use of price subsides, but also measures aimed at managing and
regulating food consumption, production and trade) are used by MPC’s in this field.
The latest peaks in international price has consequently complicated the mac-
roeconomic scenario, leading toward an extensive use of resource devoted to price
subsides measures and others instruments, including production subsidies, import
protection cuts, and build-up of food reserves, taking away fiscal resources that
can be used to finance growth-enhancing investments (World Bank 2012). The
effects of food price transmission are linked to both the level and the typology of
policy instrument used to mitigate the transmission into the domestic market. In
case of prolonged period of increasing food price fiscal, the amount of resources for
covering the cost of those measures increase, generating a heavy fiscal drain on
government budget and compromising the sustainability of these kind of response.
Inevitably fiscal and inflationary pressure has grown in many MPC’s that are
experimenting a fast growing domestic food demand and spending a relevant share
of their GDP on food subsides. Some MPC’s with high food import dependence
and large fiscal deficit, such as Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, and
Tunisia, appears most vulnerable to a sustained food price shock (IFPRI 2012a, b;
World Bank 2009).
In countries with limited fiscal budget and high import food dependency the
space for price subsides in order to keep domestic prices stable decrease hand in
hand with the increase in food price. In the last years public policy expenditures in
some countries, like Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, has seen an increase arising from
extending food and fuel subsidies. In parallel the fiscal deficit has grown.
11 Food Security in MPC’s 305

11.3.2 Subsidies

Albers and Peeters (2011) analyzing the fiscal implications of increased expenditure
on subsidies argue that the impact on public finances of the commodity price
increases has been large by comparison with other. For Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia
food subsidies as a percentage of GDP increased during 2007 and 2008 food price
peak. The weight of the combination of food and fuel subsidies on total government
expenditure increased dramatically in Egypt where they reached 30.9 % of current
government expenditure in 2008, but also in Morocco and Tunisia where they
reached 19.9 % and 17.7 % in 2008.
Food subsidies are popular, but have substantial drawbacks. Many countries in
the region rely heavily on food subsidies as the primary safety net, including Egypt,
Syria, and Morocco, among others. In-kind food subsidies are particularly popular
and many countries have expanded these subsidies in response to the recent price
shock, food subsidies absorb up to 2 % of GDP in some cases.
Subsidies have several disadvantages. First, they divert significant resources
from alternative, more productive uses. Second, when they are not targeted, they are
unnecessarily expensive, because most benefits are captured by the non poor. And
third, in-kind food distribution systems entail heavy administrative overhead and
substantial wastes due to storage losses, and they encourage corruption, waste, and
leakage of food to non-human uses.

11.3.3 Logistic

Given that much of the food imported into North Africa consists of bulky cereals, a
large part of the final cost is due to international and domestic transport, ware-
housing and storage costs. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
argues that countries in the area, (which includes Egypt as the only North African
country) tend to perform worse than other Middle Income Countries in terms of
trade development indicators such as the World Bank’s Logistics Performance
Index. This is partly due to lack of integration of border services and inspections,
lack of simplified procedures for transit freight, the poor state of railways and roads,
inefficient and lengthy border clearance procedures, and lack of ability to trace and
track consignments.
The Logistics Performance Index (LPI) for the North African countries included
in the World Bank’s sample. As evident in the report,8 there is considerable scope
for all four countries to improve their trade logistics. This is particularly true for
Algeria and Libya who rank 130th and 132nd out of 155 countries and have a LPI
below the average for the MPC region as a whole as well as below the average for
Lower Middle Income countries (when they are Upper Middle Income) and below

8
Trade Logistic in the Global Economy, World Bank (2012).
306 F. Capitanio

the East Asia Pacific region. There is a positive relationship between the LPI and
food security with the latter measured by the Global Hunger Index. Hence, reforms
to improve trade logistics in North Africa may well have a beneficial impact in
terms of food security. Furthermore countries need to tailor their stockpiling
strategies to their specific needs. Food stocks serve multiple purposes: as rapid
emergency food aid in times of crisis, as working stocks for regular distribution,
and as buffer stocks to stabilize domestic prices.

11.3.4 Storage

Key factors in making this assessment are national consumption, variability of

domestic production (increasing with climate change), storage costs, size of the
country relative to the international market, risks of production shortfalls and high
prices to the poor, and thinness of international markets.
Although wheat reserve offers no protection against structural long-term price
increases, they effectively serve as an insurance policy with costs and benefits that
must be carefully considered. In fact, many MPC’s are considering expanding their
strategic reserves to be able to hold six months’ to one year’s worth of wheat stocks.
Despite being the largest wheat-importing region, in 2010 MPC’s held only
10 % of the world’s wheat stocks. Egypt is the only MPC among the top-ten wheat
stock holding countries. The majority of global wheat stocks are held in wheat
producing countries such as China, the United States, and India, which may indicate
that it is more cost effective to hold stocks close to production. As food security
concerns have grown, many MPC’s governments have revisited the idea of strategic
reserves and are planning to increase their level of wheat stocks. Overall storage
capacity in the region is on average six months of consumption, and estimated
ending stocks are four and one-half months.
The relative size of the subsidy in MPC’s can be estimated by comparing their
storage costs with the cost of storage in the Netherlands, South Korea, and the
United States. In all three benchmark countries, the private sector manages the
WISC in markets characterized by high competition.
Assuming the long-term marginal cost of storage is approximately US$2 per
metric ton per month, in 2009, four MPC’s fell below this international rate, sug-
gesting either lower land, labor or capital costs or the presence of direct or indirect
subsidies.

11.3.5 Fiscal Measures

On the other hand MPC’s governments are responding to the recent price shock
with a combination of trade policies, wage increases, and safety-net programs that
will be difficult to scale back. Trade—and tax—policy changes have been a
11 Food Security in MPC’s 307

common initial response, aimed at increasing food security and controlling con-
sumer prices. Public-sector wages have been increased in several countries,
including Jordan, Egypt, Syria, although these increases are largely intended as
compensation for both higher energy and food prices. Some countries have used
cash transfers to increase the purchasing power of the poor.

11.3.6 Food Security and Policy Implications in 21st Century

Programs need to be targeted to the poor because they are most affected by price
shocks, spending proportionately more on staple foods. Most cash-transfer pro-
grams in the region are small, amounting to less than 1 % of GDP in most cases.
Most programs use categorical targeting approaches. Households and individuals
are entitled to benefits if they fall into eligible categories, such as single mother,
widow, unemployed, elderly, or disabled. These categories are not limited to the
poor, and do not necessarily cover the poorest sectors of the population.
Strategic wheat reserves require sound management in order to mitigate import
supply and price risks effectively.
Mismanagement of strategic reserves may outweigh the benefits of maintaining
wheat stocks, ultimately weakening a country’s food security (Murphy 2009). To
ensure a well managed reserve, each country must establish a set of guiding prin-
ciples regarding when to draw down stocks and when to replenish, assuming the
first-in-first-out (FIFO) principle. These guidelines must be clear and must be
designed with the objective of mitigating supply and price risks, and the purchasing
and selling of the wheat reserves must be done in a competitive and transparent
market. In addition, to ensure that wheat is accessible when needed it is important to
make sure that all stakeholders are well informed about the guidelines and that staff
located both at the site of the reserves and in back offices are properly trained. Lastly,
the management of wheat reserves must be adequately financed (Murphy 2009).
Three factors must be considered in establishing the guidelines for the reserves:
the threshold domestic price that will trigger the drawdown of wheat reserves, the
target reserve level, and the rate of reserves replenishment. A recent analysis argues
(Larson et al. 2011) that selecting a higher threshold domestic price turns the
reserve into more of a safety net to be used in emergency situations rather than as a
tool for price stabilization; with a high threshold price, strategic reserves may not
have much of an impact on domestic price volatility as long as prices remain below
the threshold. The larger the targeted size of the reserve, the more costly it will be to
maintain, but the more food-security coverage the reserve will provide. Lastly, a
more aggressive rate of building up and replenishing the reserves is more likely to
smooth domestic price volatility, as there is less chance of there being insufficient
reserves. However, replenishing reserves increases demand from international
markets, which may aggravate international price volatility.
The appropriate management structure of the reserve is specific to each country
and should be designed to minimize costs, ensure food safety, and reduce distortive
308 F. Capitanio

impacts of stock policies on grain markets (Rashid and Lemma 2011). Once the
strategic reserve policy is established, there may be opportunities to create public-
private-partnerships (PPPs) for management.
The government could pay private operators to manage logistics and storage
operations for strategic stocks or could play a more limited role, getting involved
only during severe price and supply shocks.
Improve the design of safety nets to dampen the effects of food-price shocks and
prevent them from doing permanent harm.
Strengthen program coordination and enhance payment mechanisms to improve
resource efficiency. At the policy level, program coordination needs to be improved
to reduce overlapping beneficiaries and mandates that waste resources. Implement
safety nets that are flexible enough to be scaled up when shocks strike and scaled
down when they recede.
This is important because scalability enables relief for the vulnerable when prices
are high and a reduction in the fiscal burden when prices are low. If possible,
existing targeted cash-transfer programs should be the prime candidates to be scaled
up. These include poverty-focused social assistance, as well as social pensions,
unemployment assistance, and disability pensions. Where public workfare is
already part of the safety net, it may be useful to expand program reach. The next
most desirable candidate would be food stamps or other near-cash assistance that
could be targeted and scaled up or down. Direct subsidies and food distribution
would be the least desirable option, only advisable when food markets are func-
tioning poorly or when subsidies are the only available safety net.
Agricultural markets in MPC’s appear nowadays still organizationally and
structurally weak: the role of the policy maker is therefore one of a great
responsibility.
International coordination of measures is required to prevent unilateral actions
(such as export bans) aimed at promoting food security within particular areas that
end up destabilizing the global food supply and increasing the size of those pop-
ulations at risk from hunger and malnutrition. As recently pointed by leading
scholars in agricultural economics, trade policy initiatives aimed at reducing the
impacts of price increases have been a major stimulus to the increases that
immediately followed. In particular, the adoption of restrictive measures exacer-
bated the price increase trend.
A further important topic to be taken into account is the management of risks.
The large exposure of agricultural sector to risks related to natural events and the
instability of the market still require a significant public intervention. As pointed by
our field research, so that Poverty, Food Security and Risk Management, in MPC’s
lack of a solid structure to help farmers in managing risks. This in turn exposes
MPC’s to risks of disasters, reduction in productive potential, vulnerability and
food insecurity.
An appropriate intervention strategy would be to ensure a fair functioning of
markets. The incentives must drive the adoption of practices and technologies to
increase yields and have less impact, as well as compensating farmers for the
environmental benefits they produce. In other words, support policies should be
11 Food Security in MPC’s 309

directed towards the stabilization of incomes rather than the market, using intelli-
gent, flexible measures. Among them a special role needs to be played by the tools
of risk management. Access to the opportunities offered by traditional devices for
risk transfer to third parties, such as insurance, should also play their part.
The presentation in the previous pages has stressed the questions of how to
assess the impact of economic shocks, of which price volatility may be a symptom,
on food security.
Two main conclusions can be drawn at this point. The first is that data avail-
ability, in terms of both quality and coverage, is still an important limitation for our
collective ability to conduct meaningful and timely analysis of relevant socio-
economic phenomena such as food security. If not properly recognized, mistaken
inference can be drawn. The question is that, the role of theory as a guiding
principle is of fundamental importance. By making extended reference to the debate
on the practice of food insecurity assessment, we hope to have demonstrated how
the risk of slipping away from proper inference is always around the corner.

References

African Development Bank. (2012). Easing border bottlenecks will boost intra-African trade.
AfDB Report, March 30, 2012.
Albers, R., & Peeters, M. (2011). Food and energy prices, government subsidies and fiscal
balances in mediterranean countries. Brussels: European Commission, European Economy.
Breisinger, C., van Rheenen, T., Ringler, C., Nin, A., Minot, N., Aragon, C., et al. (2010). Food
security and economic development in the Middle East and North Africa. Current state and
future perspectives. IFPRI Discussion Paper 00985, May 2010. International Food Policy
Research Institute.
De Castro, P., Adinolfi, F., Capitanio, F., Di Falco, S., & Di Mambro, A. (2012). The politics of
land and food scarcity. Oxford, UK: Routledge, Earthscan, Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.
FAO. (2010a). Impacts of the financial crisis on agricultural commodity markets. Committee on
commodity problems. Sixty-eight Session, Rome, June 14–16, 2010.
FAO. (2010b). Management of wide international commodity price movements. National and
international experiences and policy responses. Committee on commodity problems. Sixty-
eight Session, Rome, June 14–16, 2010.
International Food Policy Research Institute. (2012a). The food security system. A new conceptual
Framework. In O. Ecker & C. Breisinger (Eds.), Development strategy and governance
division. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01186.
International Food Policy Research Institute. (2012b). Beyond the SEMC awakening: Policies and
investments for poverty reduction and food security. Washington, DC: IFPRI.
Larson, D. F., Lampietti, J., Cafiero, C., Wright, B. D., & Roberts, J. (2011). Food Security,
climate change and storage in Middle East and North Africa, Draft. Washington, DC: World
Bank.
Meyer, J., & Cramon-Taubadel, S. (2004). Asymmetric price transmission: A survey. Journal of
Agricultural Economics, 55(3), 581–611.
Murphy, S. (2009). Strategic grain reserves in an era of volatility. Minneapolis, Minnesota:
Institute fo Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). http://www.iatp.org/files/451_2_106857.pdf.
Ortiz, I., Chai, J., & Cummins M. (2011). Escalating food prices: The threat to poor households
and policies to safeguard a recovery for all. Social and Economic Policy Working Paper. New
York: United Nations Children’s Fund.
310 F. Capitanio

Rashid, S., & Lemma, S. (2011). Strategic grain reserves in Ethiopia. IFPRI Discussion Paper
01054, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division.
Tangermann, S. (2011). Policy solutions to agricultural market volatility. ICTSD Issue Paper No
33, 2011.
World Bank. (2009) Improving food security in SEMC countries. Washington, DC: The World
Bank.
World Bank. (2012). Connecting to compete 2012. Washington, DC: Trade Logistic in the Global
Economy.
Chapter 12
Market Forces and Public Regulation
Influencing the Management of Safety
Risk in the Fresh Produce Sector:
Contrasting Morocco and Turkey

Jean-Marie Codron, Hakan Adanacioğlu, Magali Aubert,

Zouhair Bouhsina, Abdelkader Ait El Mekki, Sylvain Rousset,
Selma Tozanli and Murat Yercan

12.1 Introduction

Compliance with pesticide maximal residue limits is the main food safety objective
of fresh produce industries, at least when marketing products in Europe. Acute
poisoning through the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables may be consid-
ered a minor risk for consumer health, compared to the major risk generated by
microbiological contamination in animal or fresh cut vegetable marketing chains.
However, for the private sector, non-compliance with residue limits exposes
businesses to legal liabilities and commercial risk, including loss of sales oppor-
tunities and potential harm to the company’s reputation. These issues are particu-
larly important for fruit and vegetable traders and modern food retailers.
Given the low public health concern, there is no rationale for a prescriptive
approach in managing the risk associated with the contamination of fresh fruit and
vegetables by pesticides. Switching responsibilities to private actors under
governmental supervision is more acceptable than in seafood and meat industries, for
instance, and is popular among rich countries. Moreover, in countries where

J.-M. Codron (&)
M. Aubert
Z. Bouhsina

INRA, UMR MOISA, Montpellier, France
e-mail: [email protected]
H. Adanacioğlu
M. Yercan
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture,
Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
A.A. El Mekki
National School of Agriculture, Meknes, Morocco
S. Rousset
IRSTEA, UR ADBX, Bordeaux, France
S. Tozanli
CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR MOISA, Montpellier, France

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 311

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_12
312 J.-M. Codron et al.

consumer suspicion regarding pesticide residues is critical, which is the case in most
of northern Europe, retailers tend to be proactive in managing pesticide risks and
impose stringent requirements on their suppliers, such as requiring maximal residue
limits which are stricter than those of governmental regulations, or imposing pre-
ventive farming practices in order to reduce the probability of contamination.
All the players in the value chain are thus involved in managing pesticide risk,
beginning with the farmers who spread chemicals on crops. While cooperation is
desirable in managing the risk along the entire chain, competition remains very
active given the conflicting interests of the players involved at the different levels.
The bottom line in these market forces is a high level of interaction (or “private
regulation”) among private players under the more or less active supervision of
public authorities. However, this interaction may vary greatly between countries
according to the level of farmers’ dependence on buyers, the degree of vertical
integration in the chain, the level of governmental support and the existence of
public-private co-regulation.
The aim of this chapter is to draw and expand on our hypothesis of the higher
role of the private sector when the commercial risk far exceeds sanitary risks. To
that purpose, we analyze and compare public and private involvement in the
management of pesticide risk in Morocco and Turkey. In these two Mediterranean
countries, food safety control has turned into a key issue for the development of
fresh produce export markets and to a lesser extent local markets (Martinez and
Poole 2004). Morocco and Turkey were chosen since they offer two contrasting
configurations of markets and national safety risk management systems. The tomato
supply chain will serve as the case study.
We will begin by presenting the risk of contamination by pesticides in fresh
produce and the different farm practices that help to mitigate risk, from the
observance of the pre-harvest interval to the introduction of integrated crop man-
agement. We will then present a conceptual framework to analyze pesticide risk
management at the country level. To characterize tomato production practices, we
have collected first-hand data from vegetable producers and packing stations,
through face-to-face surveys in Turkey (region of Antalya) and Morocco (region of
Souss-Massa). In the last section, we compare the two countries, the dissemination
of good agricultural practices in tomato greenhouses and their micro- and macro-
determinants, highlighting the respective role of market forces, private regulation
and governmental intervention.

12.2 Managing Pesticide Risk in the Fresh Produce Sector

12.2.1 Contrasting Public Health and Marketing Risks

There are different sources of health risks linked with the misuse of pesticides in
agriculture. The exposure of humans to pesticides could be oral, respiratory or
dermal. Occupational exposure, with the risk of acute poisoning, concerns in
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 313

particular the workers involved in the manufacturing and trading of pesticides, and
the operators of application equipment. For farmers and farm workers, the risk
includes the exposure to pesticide residues on crops, when picking and handling
the produce. Apart from acute poisoning, another concern is the long-term
exposure with non-specific chronic effects (e.g. cancer, adverse reproductive
outcome), especially for farm workers that are considered as particularly vulnerable
(WHO 1990).
The general population may also suffer from exposure to residues in food. The
causes of food contamination include the use of pesticides not approved for target
crops, incorrect mixing and higher than recommended rates of application, a harvest
interval that is not respected, equipment that is faulty or not calibrated, pesticide
residues in soil from previous use, and the dumping or accidental spillage of
pesticides into soil or water sources (Allara et al. 2013). As the concentration of
pesticides in crops tends to decrease with time, the hazard is all the greater if the
crop is harvested just after spraying. For consumers, high exposure may therefore
occur if contaminated food is consumed soon after harvest (WHO 1990).
Conversely, a detectable level of pesticide residues in fresh produce does not
necessarily translate into a hazard to consumers. As with any food safety issue, a
distinction must be made between food contamination and hazard. Moreover,
governmental standards and the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s guidelines on
maximal residue limits (MRLs) include substantial margins of safety to protect
consumers.
However, for food companies, the marketing risk may be critical. In certain
countries such as the Netherlands, where consumers’ associations undertake residue
analyses and publish the results according to trade name, militant action directly
threatens retailers’ individual reputations (Bignebat and Codron 2006). This is more
generally a concern in European countries, where consumer suspicion regarding
pesticide residues has increased in recent years, following awareness campaigns
from consumer interest groups and an ongoing public debate on the uncertainties
surrounding the long-term effects of exposure to pesticides.

12.2.2 Farm Practices to Mitigate the Risk of Contamination

To reduce the level of hazardous residues in food, the most basic good agricultural
practices are to ban the use of highly toxic pesticides, to not exceed recommended
rates of application, and to observe a pre-harvest interval between application and
picking. The rational use of pesticides also includes scouting for pests and diseases
in order to treat only when necessary, and the recording of treatments to keep track
of pesticides and improve their management over the years. Another step is the use
of non-chemical products and the implementation of selected alternative preventive
practices, which may be integrated into systemic approaches: integrated pest
management, integrated crop management, and organic agriculture.
314 J.-M. Codron et al.

The integration of crop protection tactics to control all classes of pests, insects,
pathogens, weeds and vertebrates on a farm is called Integrated Pest Management
or IPM (Ehler 2006). According to the FAO, Integrated Pest Management is “the
careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent inte-
gration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest popula-
tions and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically
justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment” (FAO
2009). IPM has been actively advocated by the FAO, the European Union, the
USDA and the CGIAR centers. Integrated Crop Management (ICM) takes the
principles of IPM further and extends it to the whole production process, looking at
synergies between different cultural practices, especially when dealing with soil
fertility and water management (Little and Nicholas 2009).
Because of a warm and wet microclimate, with no wind, protected vegetable
production provides a favorable environment for pests and pathogens (Hanafi
2013). It is therefore traditionally strongly dependent on chemical methods.
However, various alternative methods are increasingly used in greenhouses:
resistant varieties, bio-disinfection, solarization, organic amendments, mulching,
mechanical weeding, grafting, drainage, insect nets, microclimate management,
fertirrigation and the use of natural enemies (Brismontier et al. 2009). Regarding
biocontrol, an important feature in tomato production is the release of the parasit-
oids Eretmocerus mundus and Encarsiaformosa and the polyphagous predators
Macrolophuscaliginosus and Nesidiocoristenui (Arnó et al. 2009). Today, IPM can
be considered the general crop protection policy in Northern Europe. In Middle
East and North African countries (MENA), it has significantly increased since the
late 1990s, including Morocco (Hanafi 2013) and Turkey (Yucel et al. 2013).
The implementation of good practices by fresh vegetable producers is increas-
ingly recognized in food chains through certifications. Private standards of good
agricultural practices (GAP) include different sets of requirements related to food
safety, environmental management, and social accountability. They follow the
principles of quality assurance and third-party certification by external certifying
bodies.
One of the most prominent of those standards is GLOBAL G.A.P. Previously
referred to as Eurep GAP, the scheme covers the certification of the whole agri-
cultural production process of the product, from farm inputs (e.g. feed or seedlings)
and all farming activities until the product leaves the farm. It includes procedures
for risk assessment, record keeping, product traceability, workers’ health, safety and
welfare, waste management, and environmental protection. The standard has been
developed by the Europ-Retailers Produce Working Group, a consortium of major
Northern Europe retailers (Bignebat and Codron 2006). In 2012, there were more
than 100,000 certified producers worldwide, of which 74 % were in Europe. In
MENA countries, Turkey comes first with 2442 farms, mostly in fresh fruits and
vegetables, followed by Israel, Egypt and Morocco (Food PLUS 2012). For inte-
grated pest management, the pre-farm gate GLOBAL G.A.P standard provides an
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 315

IPM toolbox and requires growers to implement activities related to prevention and
scouting for pests and diseases.
Other relevant certifications include Assured Produce Scheme, Nurture (Tesco),
Field to Fork (Marks and Spencer), and Engagement Qualité (Carrefour). In the
processing and packing of fresh produce, they are completed by certifications for
traders and manufacturers, such as BRC Global Standard, International Food
Standard, Dutch HACCP, and SQF 2000.

12.3 Public and Private Regulation of Pesticide Risk

12.3.1 Public Regulation of Safety Risk

To elaborate further on the role of governments in pesticide risk management, it is

first necessary to characterize the whole set of sanitary and phytosanitary risks in
the fresh produce industry. A starting point is the profound differences in the issues
raised by the risk of excess residues on the product, from the risk of quarantine
pests detected at the border of the importing country. As developed above, the
former may be considered as a minor threat to consumer health that may be fairly
easily managed through performance-based regulation and good industry practices.
The latter represents a major collective risk for the countries which are free of
quarantine pests, with often severe sanctions imposed on all exporters in the case of
detection, regardless of fault.
When the risk is low, the need for direct governmental inspection is limited and
the resulting leeway for control by private actors is quite significant. With high risks
and market externalities, as in the case with quarantine pests, given the prohibitive
costs of excluding free-riders, there is a clear rationale for public control, both in
exporting and importing countries.
In the case of pesticides, the target of European public authorities is to lower
control costs, although continuing to make on their own a minimum of control
without giving up their task of the definition of the standards (Bignebat and Codron
2006). In MENA countries, although public intervention may be weak in con-
trolling the level of pesticide residues directly, the role of the State remains fun-
damental when defining safety rules such as the development of national MRLs. It
may also be strong in other fields related to the management of food safety risks.
For instance, in Turkey, the intervention of the State has been crucial in developing
the infrastructures for safety control, in fostering farmers’ knowledge and capacity
to implement good agricultural practices and in creating the conditions for imple-
menting traceability in supply chains. However, not all governments are as pro-
active as Turkey. The extent of intervention depends on the resources of
government, and the economic and institutional peculiarities of the country, such as
the pressure in favor of harmonization with EU food law in the case of Turkey.
316 J.-M. Codron et al.

12.3.2 Private Regulation of Pesticide Use

Private sector involvement in the management of pesticide risk not only depends on
the leeway left by the State, but also on the motivations and constraints of the actors
in the food chains. All the players are likely to play a role in managing this type of
risk and influencing the dissemination of practices within vegetable farms.
Retailers who may suffer from consumer suspicion regarding pesticides often
define more stringent rules than the legislation in place, while also ensuring that
their suppliers respect these rules (Levidow and Bijman 2002; Fulponi 2005;
Bignebat and Codron 2006). Following the Food Safety Act (1990), British retailers
have implemented “Assured Food Standards” to better control farmers’ practices
with regard to safety concerns (Bignebat and Codron 2006). As mentioned above,
GLOBAL G.A.P. has expanded in the 2000s as a response to Northern European
retailers concerning safety issues. Shippers who have direct contact with farmers
may be led to increase controls and sometimes to decide on behalf of producers (Hu
and Hendrikse 2009; Codron et al. 2013) as soon as they deal with safety-
demanding buyers (Aubert et al. 2013a). They also have to manage the diversity of
food safety rules imposed by retailers.
The vertical and horizontal organization of food chains is an important macro-
driver in managing pesticide risk, which is nevertheless seldom investigated in the
literature. A closer coordination of farmers’ and shippers’ practices is obtained
through backward and forward integration or, most often, by contracting. Vertical
integration develops as a complement to GAP standards, which are not considered
sufficient by a large number of final customers. Integration is all the higher as
consumers are safety-demanding (Aubert et al. 2013a).
Horizontal coordination is a common practice at the farm level, as soon as
collective marketing or sourcing is necessary to offset the small or medium size of a
farm and to reduce marketing or sourcing dependence on buyers or pesticide sellers
(Bijman 2007). Demand for safety does not lead to collective action, but it does
contribute to significantly strengthening its mechanisms.
For intermediaries, coordination may result in collective rules and mechanisms
for showing compliance. Collective conventions governing residue control have
also been developed among French importers. Such conventions, which are
supervised by the government and are sometimes referred to as co-regulation, allow
for more flexible and less costly control (Codron et al. 2007).
There are several drivers for the management of pesticide risk, which will
eventually lead to the dissemination of integrated pest management and other good
agricultural practices in the fresh produce sector (Table 12.1). The choices of
farmers are framed by public regulations, market opportunities and extra require-
ments imposed by customers to access high-value markets. Public and private
regulation therefore contributes to the structure of incentives and constraints.
Furthermore, farmers are choosing production practices based on their costs and
benefits, which are associated to farm-specific characteristics. The literature on the
adoption of sustainable farming practices emphasizes the role of structures and
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 317

Table 12.1 Main drivers of the dissemination of good agricultural practices at the farm scale
Drivers Potentially positive impact
Macro-drivers Public Implementation of compulsory rules (MRLs,
(country-specific) regulation and traceability), support to infrastructure (e.g.
policies laboratories), research and extension services
Market forces Export markets: Shippers trading with safety-
demanding countries (e.g. Western Europe)
Domestic markets: Modern outlets (retail chains),
growing consumer income and concerns with food
safety, market rewards for quality produce
Private Private standards, vertical integration of supply
regulation chains, contract farming, collective action (e.g.
marketing cooperatives, trader associations)
Micro-drivers Farm structures Farm size, farmer education, land ownership, access
(farm-specific) to credit, technical assistance and consultants, farm
environment (e.g. soil productivity, pest and disease
pressure)

farmer characteristics. For example, most North American studies on integrated pest
management show a positive correlation between farm size and the adoption of IPM
practices (Caswell et al. 2001; Fernandez-Cornejo et al. 1998; Fuglie and Kascak
2001; Lambert et al. 2007). Other potentially positive micro-drivers include farmer
education, land ownership, access to credit, technical assistance and consultants,
and the bio-physical environment. These variables are proxies for the utility
associated with choices for individual producers; for example a negative effect of
farmer age may be interpreted as reflecting the fact that older growers have fewer
incentives to invest and may eventually also be more risk-adverse.
In broad terms, all farmers in the fresh produce sector are exposed to the same
macro-drivers, whereas the micro-drivers explain the heterogeneity within a country.
Therefore, the mean values of farm characteristics (for example average crop spe-
cialization) are also important to understand differences between countries. We
acknowledge that the divide between macro- and micro-drivers is a simplification for
analytical purposes and there may be a correlation between variables, for example
between (larger) farm size and vertical integration, both associated with “corporate”
type farming (Aubert et al. 2013a). We nevertheless believe that this conceptual
framework is fruitful to analyze pesticide risk management at the country level.

12.4 Pesticide Risk Management in Morocco and Turkey:

The Case of Tomato

Turkey and Morocco are among the leading tomato production and exportation
countries in the world. With regard to production, Turkey has been among the top
ten growing countries worldwide since the beginning of the 1960s. During the last
318 J.-M. Codron et al.

decade, it climbed three places in the world ranking from 6th to 3rd place, while
Morocco moved from 24th to 16th place. Within Middle East and North African
countries, Turkey’s production comes first in 2011, with a total of about 11 million
tons (including tomatoes for processing), while Morocco’s production is 3rd, after
Egypt and equivalent to Tunisia with 1.2 million tons (Fig. 12.1).
Turkey is also the first tomato exporter within MENA countries, with 0.6 million
tons, while Morocco comes second, equivalent to Jordan with 0.4 million tons
(Source: FAOSTAT). Morocco boasts the longest experience with exports, while
Turkey became a major exporter in the 1980s, reaching the same level as Morocco.
Tomato is the major exported vegetable in both countries, with 64 % of tonnage
exported in Morocco and 56 % in Turkey.
The two countries differ in the structure of tomato production. In Turkey, farms
are typically small and family-owned, with a high degree of land fragmentation
(OECD 2011). About half (48 %) the producers specialized in vegetables and
flowers farm less than 2 ha, and 68 % less than 4 ha (2006 Agricultural Holding
Structure Survey). Growers are producing 0.7 ha of tomato on average. Morocco
has also weak farm structures and the production of open-field seasonal vegetables
concerns mainly smallholders. However, there is an important early season vege-
table sector, accounting for about 38 % of tomato area. In this modernized, export-
oriented sector surrounding the town of Agadir, farm structures are much larger.
According to a previous study conducted in the mid-2000s, the mean area of tomato

Source: FAO (2013).

Fig. 12.1 Tomato production and exports in Middle East-North Africa (2011). Source FAO
(2013)
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 319

under protected cultivation was estimated to be around 10 ha (Chemnitz and Grethe

2005). Our own survey shows even higher figures, with 54 ha of tomato on average.
To understand the differences between Turkey and Morocco regarding the
management of pesticide risk, we have conducted a series of surveys in 2011, on
samples of 186 farmers in the region of Antalya, 86 farmers and 30 packing stations
in the region of Souss-Massa, around the town of Agadir. The information on
market characteristics and regulations comes from official databases, literature
reviews, and meetings with experts and fresh produce chain stakeholders (Codron
et al. 2012).
According to our conceptual framework, the main drivers of the dissemination of
good agricultural practices are both country-specific (macro-drivers) and farm-
specific (micro-drivers). The latter are developed in other papers (Aubert et al.
2013a, b). Hereafter, we focus on the economic and institutional factors explaining
pesticide risk management in Turkey and Morocco, contrasting the two countries.
We first compare the differences in the average use of IPM and GAP certifi-
cation, identified in the grower surveys. We then consider the drivers influencing
the dissemination of greenhouse practices, first the market forces and private reg-
ulation—with a differentiation between foreign and domestics markets—and then
the governmental regulations and policies.

12.4.1 Dissemination of Good Agricultural Practices: Results

from Farm Surveys

Different types of farm practices to manage pesticide risk are considered in the
surveys: (i) the monitoring of crop depredators and the recording of pesticide
treatments as a rational chemical protection, (ii) IPM and related alternatives to
chemical control, and (iii) integrated crop management practices, with side-effects
on safety management. The list of practices has been constructed through a con-
sultation of agronomists from Moroccan and Turkish Universities. In addition, the
compliance with third-party certifications is a relevant proxy (even though some-
what biased) for the implementation of good practices related to pesticide
management.
As expected, given the earlier and greater exposure of Morocco to high safety-
demanding consumers, Moroccan growers in the Souss-Massa are much more
advanced in pesticide risk management than growers based in the Antalya province
(Fig. 12.2). The most basic IPM practices, frequent scouting for pests and diseases,
compliance with pre-harvest interval, treatment recording, the use of resistant
varieties, yellow traps and insect curtains for doors and openings, the elimination of
contaminated plants, equipment cleaning and wall washing, have been adopted by a
vast majority of growers in both countries. However, only a minority of Turkish
growers are familiar with practices that are already well-established in the Souss-
Massa, such as the use of pheromones, biological auxiliaries and footbaths at each
320 J.-M. Codron et al.

Source: Surveys in Souss-Massa and Antalya, 2011 (N=272 farmers).

Fig. 12.2 Dissemination of good agricultural practices in tomato greenhouses. Source Surveys in
Souss-Massa and Antalya, 2011 (N = 272 farmers)

entrance of the greenhouse. Likewise, GLOBAL G.A.P. and other certifications,

which are widespread in Souss-Massa, still concern only a few large-scale growers
in Antalya.
In short, the management of pesticide risk is broadly disseminated in both
countries, although differences remain at the level of practice adoption and the
sophistication of techniques, Moroccan growers being more advanced than Turkish
growers. However, although Souss-Massa producers have generally succeeded in
reaching the level of their European competitors, notably in France and Spain, a
potential still exists for upgrading practices, in particular with regard to the use of
biological auxiliaries (29 % of farmers still do not use these), the voluntary
implementation of pesticide residue control plans and the use of computers for
recording treatments (Aubert et al. 2013b).

12.4.2 Market Forces and the Role of Private Regulation

The comparison of the two surveys shows that farm characteristics (size, crop
specialization, family labor, manager education), the organization of supply chain
(forward integration into packing) and the customers’ requirements for food safety
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 321

Table 12.2 Characteristics of tomato greenhouses in the two countries

Farm characteristics Morocco Turkey
Sample size N 86 186
Greenhouse size in ha Mean 54 ha 0.7 ha
Tomato specialization (% tomato in crops) Mean 57 % 88 %
Farms with family labor Frequency 47 % 98 %
Farm head with university education Frequency 37 % 15 %
Manager with university education Frequency 76 % 2%
Own packing plant Frequency 34 % 2%
Audit or certificate required by customer Frequency 83 % 17 %
Residue control plan required by customer Frequency 98 % 9%
Yield of classic tomatoes (kg/m2) Mean 19 kg/m2 11 kg/m2
Source Survey in Souss-Massa and Antalya, 2011 (N = 272 farmers)

(GAP certificate, residue control plan) differ considerably between Morocco and
Turkey (see Table 12.2). The average farm in Souss-Massa is of the “corporate”
type, while the average farm in Antalya is of the “family” type. The greenhouse size
of the former is almost one hundred times larger than that of the latter (0.7 ha).
In Souss-Massa, less than half the farms employ a member of shareholders’
families in the labor force. Farm owners have a higher education and hire managers
with university diplomas, which is very rare in Antalya. As a result of the large
greenhouse size, many Souss-Massa farmers have diversified their greenhouse
production and have integrated forward into vegetable packing. This is not the case
for Antalya tomato growers, who sell on spot markets and are highly specialized in
greenhouse tomato production. Finally, the performance in terms of tomato yield is
significantly higher in Morocco.
The larger size and the wider resources of Moroccan producers are certainly a
strength in mastering advanced IPM practices such as the release of biological
auxiliaries Eretmocerus mundus and Nesidiocoristenui, or the use of pheromones to
trap insects.
Moreover, Moroccan tomato growers, whose main customers are France and
other EU countries, must achieve higher quality and safety standards than Turkish
growers, which initially traded with countries in the Middle East and Eastern
European, with less stringent standards. It is however worth noticing that, due to a
change in its customer portfolio and a rise in safety requirements implemented by
its main customers (Russia and new EU member states), Turkey has recently sig-
nificantly upgraded the safety level of its exports.
In addition, Turkey is one of the more developed and richer countries among the
MENA (Compés López et al. 2013). With a much higher GDP per capita, repre-
senting almost three times the value of Morocco, Turkey has a stronger potential for
high-value domestic chains. However, although supermarkets—supported by public
liberalization policies—have grown very quickly over the last decade, their share in
the produce market is still low (about 20 % in Turkey, less than 10 % in Morocco).
322 J.-M. Codron et al.

The price difference between domestic markets adds to the price difference
between foreign customers to make the Moroccan price gap (between the domestic
price and the export price) wider than that observed in Turkey. Consequently, the
majority of Moroccan exporters most often ignore the domestic market, while
Turkish shippers increasingly tend to target both the export market and the domestic
market. While Moroccan supermarkets complain about the lack of motivation of
large-scale export-oriented growers to supply them, Turkish supermarkets complain
about the small scale of the tomato growers and the lack of efficient marketing
cooperatives. One of the major constraints for small-scale farmers is the volume
marketed, as supermarkets are reluctant to negotiate small vegetable lots with a
multitude of farmers. While dedicated wholesalers have developed at the initiative
of some supermarket chains, the Turkish government is encouraging the develop-
ment of marketing cooperatives (Lemeilleur and Codron 2011), but their market
share is still very low.
Traditional retailing, which still enjoys a market share of 80 % in Turkey and
more than 90 % in Morocco, is primarily supplied by intermediaries through
wholesale markets and major public initiatives have been launched with a view to
modernizing these wholesale markets. In Turkey, the wholesale market system aims
to ensure improved price transparency and greater bargaining power for small-scale
farmers while continuing to be highly regulated. However, it is often considered too
rigid and inappropriate to foster technological innovation at the production level
(Lemeilleur and Codron 2011). More generally, the insufficient integration and
cooperation between agriculture and its customers is considered as a major threat
for the Turkish food sector (Çağatay 2012).

12.4.3 Contrasting Governmental Intervention in Morocco

and Turkey

Although local consumers are not yet very demanding as regards pesticide-related
safety and the domestic market structure is not yet favorable to the development of
good agricultural practices, the Turkish government made an early attempt to teach
and disseminate basic IPM practices in the mid-90s before a decisive development
was observed in public safety regulation for the domestic market during the last
decade (Table 12.3). More recently, since March 2011, growers that implement
Turkish GAP are eligible to a governmental subsidy of 200 TL/ha for greenhouses
and 20 TL/ha for open field (Mencet et al. 2012).
Public safety regulations were initially intended to strengthen exports by
upgrading safety control infrastructures and export-oriented farmers’ safety capa-
bilities. They now also decisively target the domestic market. Ambitious policy
measures to improve the safety and traceability of fresh produce are implemented at
all levels of the chain. Farmers are concerned, irrespective of the scale of their
activity and whether or not they are export-oriented. The government plays a
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 323

Table 12.3 Drivers of good agricultural practices in the fresh produce sector
Drivers Morocco Turkey
Public ↘ Low state intervention ↗ Ongoing harmonization with
regulation and until recent years EU standards
policies 2007: Food Safety Act Consistent state intervention
2011: Traceability and
1990s: Support to IPM/GAP
record-keeping rules
research and dissemination
2004: Turkish GAP regulation
2010: New Food Law
2011: Producer subsidy for
GAP implementation
Export markets ↗ Significant share of export ↘ Low share of exports (5 % for
(33 % for tomatoes, 11 % tomatoes, 4 % for all
for all vegetables) vegetables)
Western European Less sensitive foreign
consumers highly sensitive consumers (e.g. Middle-East,
to pesticide residues Balkans), but some
increasingly sensitive
Domestic ↘ Low income domestic ↘ Medium income domestic
markets market markets
Low sensitive consumers Low sensitive consumers
Predominant traditional Predominant traditional outlets,
retailing but increasing share of
supermarkets
Private ↗ Vertically integrated ↘ “Hands-off” supply chain
regulation export supply chain Ineffective wholesale market
system
GAP certification and farm Lack of small farmer
pesticide control plan organization
required by foreign
customers
Characteristics ↗ Large holdings, modern ↘ Small-scale production, mix of
of vegetable greenhouses, educated traditional and modern
farm farm managers greenhouse systems
Legend ↗ Strength for the dissemination of good agricultural practices, ↘ Weakness
Source Authors

decisive role in upgrading the safety capabilities of the entire production and dis-
tribution system. Motivations are diverse. The Turkish government has a tradition
of public intervention in agriculture, with a level of domestic support, measured as a
share of gross farm receipts, now exceeding the OECD average. Along with
improving self-sufficiency levels and raising farmers’ incomes, ensuring food safety
is one of the objectives of agricultural policy in Turkey (OECD 2011). The Turkish
government faces consumers with a higher standard of living than Morocco. In
addition, issues of rural migration towards big cities are more acute than in
Morocco.
324 J.-M. Codron et al.

In Morocco, whereas market mechanisms have been the key drivers behind the
compliance of exports with the safety requirements of foreign customers, national
regulations (in particular the 2007 Food Safety Law and the creation of ONSSA in
2009) are emerging in the wake of such external constraints, and gradually trying to
adapt non-export-oriented production to international safety standards.

12.5 Conclusion

The results of country surveys show that Morocco and Turkey have contrasting
economic and institutional features, framing the choices of vegetable growers in
their management of pesticide-related risk. The findings confirm our initial
assumption of a major role played by the private sector in managing risk, as soon as
there are high economic stakes, as in export chains oriented to rich countries.
The most noteworthy finding is that when consumer markets provide powerful
incentives for safety, private regulation becomes the main driver of growers’
practices, whatever the initial level of public regulation. From this viewpoint,
Morocco only has a very recent history of governmental intervention in pesticide
regulation and can therefore be considered as a reference of laissez-faire. However,
for all the good agricultural practices surveyed, the rate of adoption is higher in the
Souss-Massa (Morocco) than in the region of Antalya (Turkey), and Moroccan
greenhouse producers have more advanced practices than their Turkish
counterparts.
The case of Turkey raises complementary questions. Although the scope of
public and private involvement in food safety management seems highly country-
specific, it may also be commodity-specific and dependent on the stage of devel-
opment of the sub-sector. In that respect, the lower dissemination of good practices
in Turkey may be explained by the early stage of development of the high-value
produce chain in this country, fruit and vegetable farmers having not yet benefited
from the momentum of the private sector, like that provided by export players in
Morocco.
To go further into the analysis of public and private regulations, it will be fruitful
to study other commodity chains, and as far as possible, to select Middle East and
North African countries with similar features in terms of market orientation and
farm structures. Another specific objective will be to better capture the effects of
vertical and horizontal chain organization. It may also be interesting to consider
countries characterized by an early involvement of governments in the management
of pesticide risk, such as EU countries.
From a policy viewpoint, two relevant issues could be considered in further
research. In Turkey, there is a need to assess the potential impact of the challenging
and promising 2010 new Food Law, and to see to what extent it may influence the
adoption of good agricultural practices by smallholders. In Morocco, although
advanced greenhouse practices have already been adopted by most export-oriented
producers, the potential for better compliance with public and private safety
12 Market Forces and Public Regulation Influencing … 325

standards still exists. Progress may be obtained on the side of supply chain orga-
nization, in particular by reinforcing the grower-shipper vertical coordination and
developing grower marketing groups.

Acknowledgments We are grateful to Dr Lahcen Kenny (Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire

Hassan II—Agadir) who facilitated contacts with key actors in Agadir-Morocco and Imane
Bennani who helped us in conducting the two surveys in Morocco. Our study was funded by the
FP7 SustainMED Project. For further details concerning the project, see http://sustainmed.iamm.fr/
index.php/publications/project-reports.

References

Allara, M., Fredrix, M., et al. (2013). Product safety. In W. Baudoin, R. Nono-Womdim, N.
Lutaladio, et al. (Eds.), Good agricultural practices for greenhouse vegetable crops. Principles
for Mediterranean climate areas. Roma: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
Arnó, J., Gabarra, R., et al. (2009). Implementation of IPM programs on European greenhouse
tomato production areas. Tools and constraints. Lleida: Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida.
Aubert, M., Bouhsina, Z., Codron, J.-M., & Rousset, S. (2013a). Pesticides safety risk, food chain
organization, and the adoption of sustainable farming practices. The case of Moroccan early
tomatoes, 134th EAAE Seminar, Labels on sustainability: An issue for consumers, producers,
policy makers, and NGOs, INRA, Paris, France, March 21–22, 2013.
Aubert, M., Codron, J.-M., Rousset, S., & Yercan, M. (2013b). The adoption of IPM practices by
small-scale producers: The case of greenhouse tomato growers in Turkey.In 140th EAAE
Seminar, Theories and Empirical Applications on Policy and Governance of Agri-food Value
Chains, Perugia, Italy, December 12–13, 2013.
Bignebat, C., & Codron, J. M. (2006). Organizational innovations and food safety monitoring in
the fresh produce industry. INRA Sciences Sociales, Recherches en Économie et Sociologie
Rurales, 5–6, 1–4.
Bijman, J. (2007). The role of producer organisations in quality-oriented agrifood chains: An
economic organisation perspective. In R. Ruben, M. van Boekel, A. van Tilburg, &
J. Trienekes (Eds.), Tropical food chains: Governance regimes for quality management
(pp. 257–277). Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
Brismontier, E., Nicot, P., et al. (2009). Ecophyto R&D, vers des systèmes de culture économes en
produits phytosanitaires. Analyse comparative de différents systèmes en cultures légumières.
Paris, INRA.
Çağatay, S. (2012). Review of national agro-food policies and institutions in Turkey. In K. Mattas,
G. Baourakis & K. Galanopoulos (Eds.), Deliverable D09. Report on global and sectorial
policies in the MPC’s and in the EU. A review of the national and international agro-food
policies and institutions in the Mediterranean Region (pp. 485–523). Chania: CIHEAM—
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania.
Caswell, M., Fuglie, K., Ingram, C., Jans, S., & Kascak C. (2001). Adoption of agricultural
practices: Lessons learned from the USDA area studies project. USDA-ERS Agricultural
Economic Report 792. Washington, USDA.
Chemnitz, C., & Grethe, H. (2005). EU trade preferences for moroccan tomato exports—Who
benefits? In 99th seminar of the EAAE, The Future of Rural Europe in the Global Agri-Food
System, Copenhagen, August 23–27th.
Codron, J. M., Farès, M., & Rouvière, E. (2007). From public to private safety regulation? The
case of negotiated agreements in the French fresh produce import industry. International
Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 6(5), 415–427.
326 J.-M. Codron et al.

Codron, J.M., Yercan, M., Adanacioglu, H., Aubert, M., Bouhsina, Z., El Mekki, A., et al. (2012).
Pesticide safety risk management in high value chain: The case of Turkey and Morocco.
Deliverable n 16, final report. FP7 SustainMED Project, Work Package 5, May 4, 2012.
Codron, J.-M., Bouhsina, Z., & Bonnaud, L. (2013). Collective action and allocation of decision
rights in pesticide safety risk management: The case of tomato producer organizations in
France. In 8th Research Workshop on Institutions and Organizations, Center for Organization
Studies, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, October 7–8, 2013.
Compés López, R., García-Álvarez-Coque, J.-M., et al. (2013). EU-Mediterranean relations in the
field of agriculture. The example of Morocco and Turkey. Policy paper n 91. Paris, Notre
Europe.
Ehler, L. E. (2006). Integrated pest management (IPM): Definition, historical development and
implementation, and the other IPM. Pest Management Science, 62(9), 787–789.
Fernandez-Cornejo, J., Jans, S., & Smith, M. (1998). Issues in the economics of pesticide use in
agriculture: A review of the empirical evidence. Review of Agricultural Economics, 20(2),
462–488.
FAO. (2009). Glossary on organic agriculture. Roma: Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations.
FAO (2013). FAOSTAT. http://faostat.fao.org. Acceded 5 November 2013.
Food PLUS (2012). GLOBALG.A.P. Annual report 2012. Cologne: Food PLUS GmbH.
Fulponi, L. (2005). Private voluntary standards in the food system: The perspective of major food
retailers in OECD countries. Food Policy, 31(1), 1–13.
Hanafi, A. (2013). Integrated pest management. In W. Baudoin, R. Nono-Womdim, N. Lutaladio,
et al. (Eds.), Good agricultural practices for greenhouse vegetable crops. Principles for
Mediterranean climate areas. Roma: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
Hu, Y., & Hendrikse, G. W. J. (2009). Allocation of decision rights in fruit and vegetable contracts
in China. International Studies of Management and Organization, 39(4), 8–30.
Fuglie, K. O., & Kascak, C. A. (2001). Adoption and diffusion of natural-resource-conserving
agricultural technology. Review of Agricultural Economics, 23(2), 386–403.
Lambert, D. M., Sullivan, P., et al. (2007). Profiles of US farm households adopting conservation-
compatible practices. Land Use Policy, 24(1), 72–88.
Lemeilleur, S., & Codron, J.-M. (2011). Marketing cooperative versus commission agent: The
Turkish dilemma on the modern fresh fruit and vegetable market. Food Policy, 36(2), 272–279.
Little, A., & Nicholas P. (2009). Socio-economic factors influencing the adoption of organic
farming and other low input pesticide systems: A literature review. TEAMPEST Report.
Deliverable 7.1. Aberystwyth University.
Levidow, L., & Bijman, J. (2002). Farm inputs under pressure from the European Food Industry.
Food Policy, 27(1), 31–45.
Martinez, G. M., & Poole, N. (2004). The development of private fresh produce safety standards:
Implications for developing Mediterranean exporting countries. Food Policy, 29(3), 229–255.
Mencet, N., Çağatay, S., et al. (2012). Turkey. In K. Mattas, G. Baourakis & K. Galanopoulos
(Eds.), Deliverable D09. Report on global and sectorial policies in the MPC’s and in the EU.
Sectorial Agro-Food Policies in MPCs. Report on case-study agro-food sectors (pp. 157–180).
Chania: CIHEAM—Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania.
OECD. (2011). Evaluation of agricultural policy reforms in Turkey. Paris: OECD Publishing.
WHO. (1990). Public health impact of pesticides used in agriculture. Geneva: World Health
Organization.
Yucel, S., Kececi, M., et al. (2013). Integrated pest management of protected vegetable cultivation
in Turkey. The European Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology, 7(1), 7–13.
Chapter 13
Conclusion

Michel Petit, Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier,

José María García Álvarez-Coque, Samir Mili,
Konstadinos Mattas and Etienne Montaigne

How can societies and governments of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean

countries (SEMCs) face the challenges they are confronted with in their fight
against rural poverty, the promotion of rural development and the management of
natural resources? How can outside actors, notably the European Union, help them
in doing so? These are the two questions we want to come back to in the conclusion
of this book. First, we will essentially confirm, sometimes further specify, the
worrisome diagnosis presented in the introduction. We will then assess the lessons
learnt regarding how public policies can respond to the challenges. And finally, we
will draw implications for the neighbourhood policy of the European Union.

13.1 Diagnosis

Poverty, particularly rural poverty, remains a major problem in many countries in

the region. This is particularly true for Egypt and Morocco; even in Tunisia, rural
poverty has re-emerged as a major concern. Rural poverty is also an issue in
Turkey. As discussed in this book, the rural poverty situations in each one of these

M. Petit (&)
F. El Hadad-Gauthier

Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAM),
Montpellier, France
e-mail: [email protected]
J.M.G. Álvarez-Coque
Group of International Economics and Development,
Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain
S. Mili
Human and Social Sciences Centre, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC),
Zaragoza, Spain
K. Mattas
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
E. Montaigne
Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 327

M. Petit et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agricultural Development,
Cooperative Management, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17813-4_13
328 M. Petit et al.

four countries are very diverse. As a result, the policy dilemmas faced by public
authorities are also diverse. But everywhere they are serious and difficult. In the
four countries, however, a significant reduction in poverty has been achieved thanks
to forceful public policies.
We pointed out that the main instrument used to alleviate poverty in many
countries has been the set of food and nutrition policies. This strategic choice is
justified by the fact that the budget share of food is very high among the poor, who
therefore derive great benefits from consumption subsidies. At the same time, many
farmers are also poor and their welfare is positively affected by high producer
prices. The difference between producer and consumer prices has mainly been born
by the public budget. The resulting costs have been rising, even though they have
been restricted to a limited number of products, wheat in particular. These costs will
continue to do so if the policy is not changed, and they are becoming unsustainable.
Yet, several signs point to a recent growing awareness of the social and political
risks of neglecting rural poverty for too long, as illustrated for instance by the ‘Plan
Maroc Vert’, adopted in Morocco in 2008, and the National Rural Development
Strategy (NRDS) adopted in Turkey in 2006. It is premature to predict what the
rural poverty alleviation policies of the new regimes in Egypt and Tunisia will be.
Nevertheless, as discussed above, in both countries, rural poverty issues are
important, albeit in two quite different contexts, and it would be very surprising if
public authorities do not place high priority to solve those issues. Past efforts have
admittedly been significant. Yet, they have not been sufficient to achieve satisfac-
tory success. And, as discussed extensively in this book, they have been associated
with fast growing imports of cereals, while natural resources continued to deteri-
orate, leading to a situation of great urgency: existing policies, although significant,
fail to stem the deterioration of water, soil and biodiversity resources.
Thus, the time may have come to re-examine the intellectual foundations of past
and current policies. In particular, should not public authorities consider more
targeting of beneficiaries than has been attempted in the past? Admittedly, targeting
only poor consumers is politically difficult under any circumstances; but the eco-
nomic costs of not doing it are likely to become less and less sustainable. On the
producers’ side, targeting the poor would probably mean substituting direct income
payments for price support and targeting those payments. Turkey has already
moved in that direction with the introduction of its direct income support (DIS)
program together with deficiency payments. This directly leads us to a discussion of
other potential policy responses.

13.2 Needs for New, or at Least Renewed, Policy Responses

Sustainability issues are rightly a source of major concern in the region. It is well
recognized that water scarcity is already acute in most countries and that the situation
will worsen rapidly in the forthcoming years and decades. Other natural resources
(soils and biodiversity, in particular) are also under great stress. As discussed in
13 Conclusion 329

Chap. 10, a specific methodology was developed to explore the question of how
effective past and current policies have been in promoting sustainable agriculture,
forestry and rural development in these countries, and what the recommendations for
improvements would be. Factors of sustainability were first analyzed; then, relevant
indicators of sustainability were identified for the four studied countries, on the basis
of international experience and of a benchmarking exercise conducted in the cases of
Finland and Spain. It turned out that many quantitative data for these indicators were
not available. So, a policy impact analysis was finally carried out, relying mainly on
qualitative data and national experts’ judgements.
Two main conclusions emerge from this analysis: sustainability policies are
insufficient and data limitations are so serious that, by themselves, they would
prevent the design and implementation of appropriate policies.
1. Existing policies lack global coherence and proper balance. Practically all the
factors to be taken into account by public policies are mentioned in policy
documents and debates, but they are not given the same attention. In general, the
need to maintain and enhance the existence of resources and their productive
and socio-economic functions is well recognized in the studied countries. But
biodiversity and cultural values are less emphasized or even neglected, their
impacts being less direct and not so easily measurable. Furthermore, the con-
sequences of poor social sustainability have been strikingly demonstrated in
several SEMCs during the last few years. Poverty reduction, women’s
empowerment and the increase of local people’s involvement are at the core of
social sustainability. Without local acceptance, the likelihood to gain long-
lasting success is minor. More attention, including by researchers, is needed on
the local peoples’ perceptions of the major problems related to current policies
and institutions aiming especially at poverty reduction, a decrease in environ-
mental degradation and increasing agricultural productivity, as well as in their
consideration of the best possible policy actions. More attention must also be
given to both institutional and social structures, including issues related to land
ownership and legal frameworks, which have been recognized as critical for
decades but for which policy action is now very urgent. In addition, the
qualitative policy impact analysis carried out in the project indicates that there
exist significant trade-offs and controversies between the different dimensions of
sustainability. Given the multiple objectives which these trade-offs reflect, a
sufficient number of different policy programs and instruments need to be ini-
tiated and implemented, which means that sustainability policies must be quite
sophisticated. Finally, it is also very important to acknowledge that the full
impacts of climate change are yet to be experienced and taken on board by
sustainability policies.
2. Data limitations are very serious, not only for the purpose of analysis but also for
policy making. Data on all major factors and challenges of sustainability are
needed for comprehensive sustainability assessments. Although abundant data
were found on natural resources and their productive functions, not enough
330 M. Petit et al.

detailed data were available on biodiversity and on the quality of other resources,
on land degradation, on agricultural productivity and even on poverty. More
generally, times series data are not always available. In some cases the value of
an indicator at a single point in time may be enough for assessing how sustainable
the current state is. This is possible if a critical threshold value for the indicator is
known. In many cases however, and especially if the impacts of policies are
evaluated, there is an obvious need to have data from different points of time.
Furthermore, regional data, which would be needed for more profound and
elaborated analyses were available only in Turkey. Yet, regions differ in their
characteristics, especially in large countries. The design of appropriate policies
needs to take into account regional specificities. Thus, the lack of adequate
regional data complicates the specification of suitable policies and decision-
making. As a result, existing institutions need to be upgraded or new ones
created, to ensure the collection of time-series data for relevant indicators. In
addition, these data need to be directly comparable between countries and
regions. The indicator selection and the procedures for data collection should be
an essential part of the policy programs as early as the planning stage of policies.
International Competitiveness of agricultural value chains is also a necessity
for SEMCs. Private actors have the main responsibility to enhance this competi-
tiveness; but governments can also contribute and public policies are also critical in
this domain. The role of the private sector in economic growth, competitiveness and
the promotion of rural development, through employment creation, has mainly been
studied through an original approach, called ‘Global Value Chain Analysis’
(GVCA). The focus on value chains is justified because understanding where value
lies in the eyes of consumers and identifying where ‘bottlenecks’ exist in the chain,
could spur a new line of debate over how SEMCs can tackle the question of
competitiveness in their agri-food sectors, the bottlenecks often being the result of
unproductive interactions among various actors, both private and public, in other
words a lack of appropriate governance. This is particularly true for export sectors
and it is consistent with two key premises: competition is moving away from
‘between firms’ to ‘between value chains’ and value chains cut across borders.
The specific GVCA approach used in our research, drawing heavily on the
management science literature, is based on a key assumption: the value of a finished
product is decided by the final consumer; thus, the value chain is defined as the
activities that add value to a product from basic raw materials to the final consumer.
Effective chain practices, based on inter-firm trust and a high degree of quantity and
quality in information sharing between firms, create a competitive advantage that, in
turn, improves organizational performance. The full approach was used to analyze
the fresh orange export sector in the four studied countries although other value
chains (tomatoes, dairy, sheep meat, and olives) were studied in various countries.
One should note that the fresh orange export sector is quite interesting per se. Most
SEMCs are concerned, the volumes traded—notably with the EU—are significant
and the policy issues are often controversial.
13 Conclusion 331

Important policy lessons regarding this sector were learnt: Since the price of an
orange is not as important to European consumers as certain quality attributes,
agricultural policies that seek to drive down production costs, with little concern for
what the impact on consumer value could be, might be doing some harm to the
competitiveness of the value chain. Modernization plans in SEMCs should be put
within the context of maximizing value. Driving down production costs and
increasing export quantity should not be the only, perhaps even not the main,
indicator of competitiveness, as is typically associated with traditional approaches.
More specific and detailed recommendations are spelled out in Chap. 8.
In addition, convinced that the dynamic of technological innovation adoption by
both farmers and by suppliers of inputs has become a key factor of competitiveness,
special attention was given to the analysis of key technological constraints and risks
associated with a specific agricultural product, in this case the citrus production
sector in Tunisia. Specifically, we analyzed how the various actors in the value
chain cope with clonal selection of some varieties of citrus fruits, viral sanitation
and the improvement of citrus fruit varieties and rootstock, as well as with phy-
tophagous citrus fruit mites. We investigated the introduction of methodologies to
combat them. Another topic of investigation was the study of the diagnosis for
citrus fruit “mal secco”, including chemical measures and varietal resistance.
Finally, the study of the ‘tristeza’ disease found in citrus fruits, and their vectors,
was undertaken. The main result is that citrus fruit farmers are very willing to, and
do, adopt technical progress. But sometimes the obstacles they face are hard to
overcome. Thus for instance, we identified an interesting group of highly educated
and highly innovative farmers, who appear highly individualistic in their behaviour.
They are not involved in the collective actions necessary to fight these pests and
diseases effectively. Apparently, their land holdings are too small and fragmented
for them to participate in these desirable collective actions. Furthermore, the means
required to fund the research and implementation of collective action aimed at
providing phyto-sanitary protection would appear limited. Thus public action is
called for.
Another factor of international competitiveness is the ability to respect public
and private norms and standards of food safety. In this respect we specifically
studied how fresh fruit and vegetable chains are organized to comply with such
safety standards in the cases of tomato growers in Morocco and Turkey. The most
noteworthy finding is that when consumer markets provide powerful incentives for
safety, private regulation becomes the main driver of growers’ practices, whatever
the initial level of public regulation. From this viewpoint, Morocco has only a very
recent history of governmental intervention in pesticide regulation and can therefore
be considered as a reference of “laissez faire”. However, for all the good agricul-
tural practices surveyed, the rate of adoption is higher in the Souss-Massa
(Morocco) than in the region of Antalya (Turkey), and Moroccan greenhouse
producers have more advanced practices than their Turkish counterparts. This
probably results from various causes, notably that tomato farms are much smaller in
Turkey than in the Souss region of Morocco, which has a longer history of
developing a high-value produce chain, with a significant role played by foreign
332 M. Petit et al.

investors. All of this probably explains why, in the Turkish case, the public sector
plays a more critical role in pesticide residue rules than in Morocco.
Trade liberalization policies are quite controversial in the Mediterranean
region. The debates on this topic have even too often been counterproductive, as
they distracted attention from more fundamental issues, such as those discussed
above. In our research and in this book, we built on results from past research,1
indicating that the economic stakes in Europe of liberalized imports of olive oil and
fruits and vegetables coming from the SEMCs would not be huge; they should be
manageable and they are not commensurate with the long standing political
opposition to Euro-Med agricultural trade liberalization, manifested again for
instance recently in the European Parliament at the time of the ratification of the last
trade agreement with Morocco.
As discussed in Chap. 7, we focussed our main attention on two issues: an
assessment of this last agreement with Morocco and an in-depth review of Non-
Tariff Measures (NTMs).
In general terms, the results on the impact of the trade agreement between
Morocco and the EU show that trade liberalization, including the removal of entry
prices for Morocco, would substantially boost its exports of tomatoes and
cucumbers, the two vegetables we studied most closely. These are the cases where
the effect of the minimum entry price seems most protective. Yet the impact on the
domestic European market would be very modest. For other products, eliminating
the entry price for Morocco would not affect domestic prices in the EU to a
significant extent. Moreover, our results indicate that trade liberalization in EU
markets would not result in dramatic price and sale changes for EU producers, in
spite of the result that extra-EU import flows could rise significantly. Thus we
confirm in this case that the marginal impact of trade liberalization does not pro-
voke substantial trade impact, which is consistent with past research mentioned
earlier. This does not mean the absence of problems in the value chain for exporters
and farmers. Pressures on prices at the producer level are in many cases related to
the lack of transparency, lack of organization and asymmetric information among
the different agents in the value chain. Very often, market pressures are attributed to
foreign competition when the source of problems may perfectly be related with
weak functioning of the value chains, including lack of coordination and collabo-
ration among actors, and fragmentation of producers’ organisations.
As already indicated, a comprehensive study of the extent to which NTMs affect
the agri-food sector in SEMCs has been carried out. In addition to an inventory of
NTMs, an assessment of their impact, with a focus on the extent to which the alert
system in the EU is motivated by disguised protectionism, was done. The analysis
confirmed that, in general, the sanitary and phytosanitary rules applied by the EU
are not used as unfair barriers to the access of these goods. Besides, we even tested

1
See in particular two research projects (EUMED AGPOL and MEDFROL) supported by the EU
within the 6th Framework Program (FP6), and in which a number of authors of this book were
involved.
13 Conclusion 333

the hypothesis that there might be a “reputation effect” in the implementation of

NTMs by European countries, i.e. that rejections of shipments are positively cor-
related to the past history of rejections, presumably reflecting the perception that
there are real chronic phytosanitary problems in some countries. We did indeed find
evidence of such a correlation. Yet, econometric tests suggest that the fruit and
vegetable exports to the EU and shipments from the Mediterranean region are not
particularly discriminated. Notifications are not specially activated by an import
surge, which indicates weak links between the functioning of the alert system and
import volumes. So, implementation of NTMs by the EU does not discriminate
along the level of economic development, which suggests that it rather depends on
the integration of agri-exporting firms in the global value chains.

13.3 Implications for the EU Neighbourhood Policy

The implications of these results for the European Neighbourhood policy in the
Mediterranean region are important. Given the magnitude of the poverty challenge
discussed above and drawing on the results discussed above, it is clear that trade
liberalization alone will not be sufficient to alleviate the urgent need for new jobs
for rural youth in SEMCs, which in general lack infrastructure, education, sanita-
tion, human rights and peace. Yet since the first Barcelona conference in 1995 at
least, trade liberalization has been the backbone of the European Mediterranean
policy. The main objective then was the establishment of a Mediterranean free trade
area, to be achieved in 2010. Today, we are far away from that lofty objective,
which is widely seen as having been utopian. Yet, trade liberalization continues to
be at the heart of what is now called the ‘Neighbourhood Policy’, since the so-
called ‘Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements’ are the main instrument
of association with, and reward to, partner countries well engaged in the process of
“economic integration and democratic reforms”. The results of our research as
presented in this book challenge this primacy given to trade liberalization.
Trade liberalization in, and with, SEMCs will take a long time and may never be
complete. The EU Neighbourhood Policy in the Mediterranean region must shift its
main focus to increased development aid and partnership, enhanced sustainability
of agricultural and rural systems, support to civil society, and an immigration policy
with a medium-term perspective. Accordingly, in the field of agriculture and rural
development, the ENPARD initiative is welcome, given the meager real attention
given to the rural sector in past cooperation programs. But the promotion of rural
development is very difficult everywhere in the world. The Terms of Reference of
our research did not include the study of the mechanisms involved and conditions
for success of such efforts. But several remarks can be made at this stage: the
monitoring and evaluation of ENPARD projects will be very important in order to
draw effectively the lessons, both positive and negative, from these experiences.
Similarly, important lessons can be learnt from LEADER projects in Europe.
Current efforts to support cooperation among civil society organizations, notably
334 M. Petit et al.

farmer organizations, seem encouraging. Here again lessons identifying best

practices need to be learnt. In addition, there is a huge scope for closer collaboration
in the field of agricultural research and education, with some known good practices,
notably in CIHEAM or in many programs, such as Tempus for instance.
Finally, much more could be done by the private sector, particularly in terms of
Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), and adaptation to public and private norms to be
respected for accessing the European market. Here, there are enough successful
experiences to be optimistic, since the conditions for success are known.

Acknowledgments The authors are the members of the editorial committee, reflecting the col-
lective nature of the effort which was needed to produce this book. As co-authors of individual
chapters, their professional profiles have been briefly described above.