The youth doesn\'t have a work culture, says Ennahda

Rachid Rachid Ghannouch Tunisia ? Azhar al-Jarboui Ennahda leader Rachid Rachid Ghannouchi said there was a shortage in the number of olive pickers in Tunisia despite a significant growth in the industry last year. He criticised the Tunisian youth who is complaining about unemployment but still refuses to work in the fields to harvest olives. He said Tunisians are “lazy and don’t have a work culture.” He said: “This mentality is wrong and goes back to the weakness in the Islamic ministry in the country and wanting to earn things without hard work.” Minister of Employment Abdel Wahab Moater said he will personally take part in the olive harvesting along with his wife and kids in the southern city of Safaqis. Moater said he will be personally involved in the campaign to harvest olives on November 17. Ghannouchi said there was an increase in the country’s production of dates and olives this year. Tunisia is among the world’s top exporters of olive oil, a commodity that is subject to growing interest from both consumers and investors. Olive oil productions reached 100,000 tons, about 33 percent of worldwide production, he said. The olive sector in Tunisia has about 1,700 olive presses with a storage capacity of about 350,000 tons. There are reportedly 309,000 farmers working on olive harvesting farms. There is a need for more harvesters, about 250,000 – half of the number of unemployed workers in Tunisia. Moater said the government has allocated $6 million to fund olive harvest. The olive oil industry relies on 70 million olive trees that cover around 1.6 million hectares. They provide a living for at least 500,000 families in Tunisia of 10.5 million. Olive oil represents at least 7 percent of the country\'s total exports which amounted to $16 billion in 2011. Tunisia produced 120,000 tons of olive oil in the 2010 campaign. Tunisia\'s exports of olive oil ranging between 120,000 tons and 150,000 tons each year.