Agriculture represents about 12% of Tunisia's GDP but it's facing several obstacles: erosion, drought, lack of funding and lack of labor... Despite high unemployment farms are finding it hard to find staff... [SCRIPT]] Synthé : DJedeida, gouvernorat de Manouba Rows of oranges are waiting to be picked... but workers are nowhere to be found Despite a 15% unemployment rate in the region, the owner of the grove is struggling to hire staff. Synthé : Manoubi Darghouth, Ingénieur agronome et agriculteur "It's hard to find workers, fortunately there are women and they help a lot for this type of work but men are very rare... Young people risk their lives trying to cross over to Europe to find work even though there are jobs right here. But there aren't enough benefits so some people would rather not work or work on the black market to make more money." During harvest season, men make about 8 euros a day and women 6. But for Salwa, its the difficulty of the job that keeps young people away Synthé : Salwa El Mejri, ouvrière agricole "They feel farm work is not good enough for them, they want a clean and easy job, that isn't too tiring. Most of the people working here are women. Young people depend on their parents a lot. If there's a clean job that's ok, but they won't go for an agricultural job." The unemployed blame low wages and lack of benefits... saying they'd rather not work at all ... Synthé : Hani Gazouani, chômeur "They want to pay us about 6 euros. You can't buy anything with 6 euros. Go and check, a kilogramme of lamb costs 12 euros, we can't even buy chicken. And there are no benefits, it's true, we have absolutely nothing, they want to make us work illegally..." 20% of the tunisian workforce is linked to agriculture, but for many these are low paying and precarious jobs... Reportage de Marine Casalis et Hamdi Tlili How do artists and writers see the world? France 24 takes you beyond the headlines to the crossroads where culture meets the news and engages with what's happening in our lives today. Monday to Friday. All shows: http://www.france24.com/en/taxonomy/emission/18005 FRANCE 24 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 24/7 http://www.france24.com

• published: 27 Feb 2014
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