Mediterranean rural communities in times of crisis

On the 11th and 12th of December, 2014 at the Mediterranean Institute of Agronomy (IAM) in Montpellier, 3 YPARD members attended the third preparatory meeting for 2015 Global Forum in Agricultural Research on the future. The main objective of these two days was to discuss the situation of Mediterranean rural communities in times of crisis and how not to forget them.

As young professionals in agricultural development based in Montpellier, three YPARD members -Víctor Suarez Villanueva, Ana Huertas Francisco and Damien Jouen- were invited to attend the preparatory meetings by GFAR Secretariat. Their role during the different sessions was to contribute with personal experiences and insights from their home countries relating to the different topics discussed. The meeting was declined into the following four main discussion topics.

Inequalities at regional and national level and Rural exodus

For the first day´s session, about inequalities at regional and national level and the rural exodus, the different points of view of researchers specialized in various Mediterranean countries were articulated. As an example, Egypt is confronting a great problem of educated young adults leaving the country in the quest of finding a better future.

After being told that studying was key for a better living, undergraduates who come back home in rural areas with the hope to develop a bright career have to face the ugly truth. The only opportunity they have left is to move to the other side of the Mediterranean and leave family and friends behind.

From this example, Víctor Suárez could draw a parallelism with his country -Spain- where due to the high unemployment rate (highest youth unemployment rate in the EU with 53.8%) and the lack of opportunities, a real exodus of the best educated generation to other EU countries has been taking place for 6 years already.

Agriculture policies, governance, new populations and rural development

During the second session, the identification of problems concerning governance and rural development continued. For instance, it was brought up to our attention the loss of women´s jobs in Tunisia due to a free trade agreement in textiles signed by the country lately.

An enormous number of women were fired because it was not economically interesting to keep the industry in the country. It was also mentioned the great impact that this had in the livelihoods of many families because the local women allocate all their salary to the household well-being -health, food, education-.

Employment, education and empowerment of capacities, access to services, infrastructures and rural investment

During the third session, it was highlighted the coherence gap between scientific research in agriculture and some needs on the field. Different participants stressed about the need to better integrate and connect research and education as well as the different ways to integrate new technologies in agriculture education.

Likewise, there was a call for thinking about pedagogical strategies and technical knowledge spreading. Ana Suárez took the chance to expose her own experience by mentioning the fact that agricultural students in some countries like France and Spain do not practice enough on the field. She also claimed that it's important to get more skills and methods in order to bring effective solutions to farmers. All participants agreed that all stakeholders involved in rural development have to focus on the co-construction of the demand to better answer the needs of agriculture.

Some attendants underlined as well the lack of valorization of agricultural education in developing countries as another important challenge. Indeed, in these countries most of students consider that agriculture is difficult and not really profitable comparing with other professional activities. Policies should also contribute to empower the attractiveness of this sector by enhancing entrepreneurship and initiatives.

As women are deeply involved in agriculture and not only in the production process but also in the farm management, according to the participants, it's also necessary to include the gender in agricultural policies in order to provide them with a real status and a better recognition of their role.

At the end of the session, all participants agreed on the importance of not forgetting the social and economic links between the actors of the different territories, by enhancing these social links in order to reduce the tension and conflicts between farmers and non-farmers.

Sustainable use of natural resources, biodiversity, food security, health and nutrition

The last session started with an important aspect - How to better valorize the agro biodiversity and the agro ecology. Indeed, intensive agriculture is not really adapted to this fragile Mediterranean ecosystem and only very specialized production systems can valorize these territories. The payment for environmental services could also be an interesting way of natural resources management, even though there is a significant need to well define the common goods and to develop a legal framework though adapted policies.

The scarcity of water resources was highlighted during the discussion. It is a real stake of solidarity between Northern and Southern countries of the Mediterranean Region to ensure food security. Following to this topic, participants talked about the benefits for health and nutrition of the Mediterranean diet. This is a real style of life which could be promoted to reduce the over-consumption of animal fat, sugar, amongst other nutrients which can cause serious public health problems.

Moreover, there is a need for rethinking the systems of valor through consumers’ education. Production systems are not the only aspects to deal with and it is also indispensable to focus on the different emerging or reemerging supply chains and market models like local markets, short commercialization channels, slow food, etc.

Question for YPARD members:

During the workshop, an important question was submitted to YPARD members: How do we imagine agriculture in 20 years? Which kind of agriculture would we like to be part of?

There is a real need for sustainability, sovereignty and to put the human in the center. It is necessary to enhance the connectivity of countryside and urban areas. Rural exodus appears to be a problem in some countries of the Mediterranean area as the countryside is becoming an area focusing only on food production.

Therefore, it is important to create new opportunities and dynamics to explore high multi-functionality, as well as to enhance the attractively of rural areas. Living in the countryside is a lifestyle which can give great opportunities and policies should take this into account.

Article written by Damien Jouen and Víctor Suárez.

Picture credit: Grain Field in Spring, by Simonklit.