Tunis, Tunisia – Zohra Naffef has been working her husband’s farm near Ghar el-Melh in northern Tunisia for years.
With her husband now sick, and her family having moved on, she does this unaided.
The heat is not helping. Already four years into a drought, Monday’s peak of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) has left water short in supply and the future uncertain.
Conditions for farmers are getting progressively worse, she says. However, between government policy and climate change, they are becoming impossible.
“There’s a serious water scarcity here,” Naffef told Al Jazeera. “The wells are getting dry and the government is putting too many restrictions on water policies.”
“You’re now banned from irrigating your vegetables using water from those old wells,” she said, though cautioning that water remained for animals and trees. “Of course, farmers will disobey these new orders. They need to save their lands. We’re now trying to help each other.”
Post from www.aljazeera.com