On a commencé petit-à-petit: des entreprises agricoles multi-familiales dans l'export des fruits et légumes das le Souss

Abstract

Au niveau international, l’agriculture est encore majoritairement organisée autour de familles,
cependant ces exploitations familiales prennent des formes de plus en plus diverses. L’étude porte sur
l’émergence d’entreprises agricoles multi-familiales dans la plaine du Souss et sur leur organisation
actuelle. Ces entreprises sont impliquées dans la production et l’exportation de fruits et légumes. Elles
sont à la fois ancrées au niveau local et fortement impliquées dans des réseaux internationaux de
commerce. La stabilité de ces structures familiales est fondée sur une démarche explicite et
volontariste de « mise en cohésion », portant notamment sur les mécanismes de décision et sur la
répartition des droits et bénéfices entre membres des familles. Cette stratégie permet à ces
entreprises de réussir dans un secteur des fruits et légumes de plus en plus compétitif et exigeant.
Cependant, cette stabilité doit être en permanence réinventée, du fait notamment de l’arrivée de
nouvelles générations au sein de chaque famille.

At the international level, agriculture is still mostly organized around families, however, these family farms are taking increasingly diverse forms. The study focuses on the emergence of multi-family agricultural enterprises in the Souss plain and their current organization. These enterprises are involved in the production and export of fruits and vegetables. They are both locally based and strongly involved in international trade networks. The stability of these family structures is based on an explicit and voluntary approach to “cohesion”, particularly with regard to decision-making mechanisms and the distribution of rights and benefits among members of the family. This strategy allows these companies to succeed in an increasingly competitive and demanding fruit and vegetable sector. However, this stability has to be constantly reinvented, especially with the arrival of new generations within each family.

Biographical Note

Sarah Ruth Sippel (SFB 1199 & Leipzig University, Germany)

Sarah Ruth Sippel is a lecturer at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and a Principal Investigator at the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 1199. Her research interests concern the complex nature of the global agri-food system, particularly questions in relation to food security, the financialization of agriculture and food, and the alternatives that are being developed to the current agri-food system. All these issues raise important questions in relation to politics, ethics, and social justice, which motivate her research. As a human geographer with a background in Middle Eastern Studies and Philosophy, Sarah investigates social phenomena from an interdisciplinary and transregional perspective. She intensively worked on the interlinkages between export agriculture, rural livelihood security, and labour migration in North Africa and the Western Mediterranean. Her current research addresses the diverse (re)imaginations of land in Australia.