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  • From: "Jill Taylor Bussiere" <jdt AT itol.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Tomato farming in the midst of war
  • Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 10:39:10 -0600

In reading this article, I recognized a similarity in independence of spirit
between many on this list, and the farmers described in the article. -Jill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,929142,00.html
Tomato republic

Burhan Wazir discovers that a little thing like war does not prevent Iraqi
farmers from focusing on life's priorities - such as getting their produce
to market

Thursday April 3, 2003

On the dusty and wind-torn flats that lead into Zubayr, a market town near
Iraq's second largest city Basra, local farmers can often be seen tending to
their tomatoes.
The tomatoes - and I recently had the pleasure of tasting one - are large
and sweet, rendered bright red with natural fertilisers. Each morning,
wooden carts pulled by donkeys and laden with these ripe tomatoes make their
way into the town centre.

The tomatoes of southern Iraq are famed in the region for their taste. And
the farmers here, unused to modern agriculture methods, diligently raise
their plants to face the sun. Watching the field men work, and eventually
tasting their produce, one realises the benefits of natural farming.

The farmers, for the most part, are fascinating in their indifference to our
presence. As we roar by in armoured vehicles, spitting up large clouds of
dust, the farmers seem to pay no mind. Three weeks ago, the tanks darting
past their fields would have been those of the Iraqi Republican Guard.
Similarly, and I am sure of this, the farmers would have ignored them also.
Their latest neighbours have provoked no curiosity.

As the war in Iraq builds to a crescendo, with campaigns in both Baghdad and
Basra at its centre, these farmers remain unaffected by our arrival. For
nearly 50 years, perhaps longer, they have diligently tended fields and
harvested their tomatoes. We see them walk around abandoned Iraqi tanks.
Soon, perhaps, they will walk round the rubble left behind by coalition
forces.

Politicians, wars and all the trappings of western democracies are beyond
them. In that way, I find, they enjoy a more fulfilling version of freedom.
Zubayr's tomato farmers have come to expect nothing from the Ba'ath party: I
am convinced they have no interest in accepting what we, the coalition
invaders, have to offer them.

As western conglomerates line up to "civilise" the countries at the heart of
the American-defined "axis of evil", containers of western branded goods
will soon land at the nearby Basra International airport. I hope the farmers
will reject their contents in favour of their own lifestyles.

This is undoubtedly a dilemma in the forthcoming rebuilding of Iraq. The
farmers of Zubayr, for example, do not use toothpaste - they are accustomed
instead to using the herbal wood, sakh, favoured by Muslims in this part of
the world. The benefits of sakh are multiple, and well documented.
Similarly, they have had no need for soap, televisions, cars, pesticides and
tractors. That may rapidly change as the west imposes its values on them.
And while the elder generation of Zubayr's farmers will undoubtedly flinch
at such modern accoutrements, their offspring, unfortunately, may not
display such a strong affection for history.

To me, it would be a nightmare to return here in 30 years time to find it
littered with shopping centres, cafes, American tourists and electrical
goods shops. Life here has always managed to survive the onslaught of
invading armies in the past. To some it might appear medieval. To others it
possesses a certain harmony.

Still, as we drive past each morning, in a sandstorm of motorised rumbles
and English chatter, the farmers continue to ignore us. They have yet to
come forward and ask for aid. They have yet to stop our tanks and our trucks
to plead for modern medicines. Instead, they are concerned with their own
economic survival. Life revolves not around politicians, non-governmental
organisations, "shock and Awe" or the legal machinations of the United
Nations.

There are more pressing matters in hand. Namely, the prompt delivery of
those delicious, plump red tomatoes to the bustling local market.







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