Lawyer, the hidden side of the salad star
When you buy a product, you like it or not, you buy the world that goes with.On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Futura and as part of World Food Day, let's see what this wise maxime implies with regard to lawyers.
Futura fête ses 20 ansDécouvrez sur notre page anniversaire tout le programme, nos invités, des contenus originaux...This is a fruit from Mexico and Central America, and which has always been strongly consumed on site in many forms.Until a few years ago, there was very little in Europe given the difficulties of conservation of this eminently tropical product (just like mango, another really excellent and really tropical fruit).
An explosion of global demand
And then suddenly, it has become fashionable, especially in the United States, which is quite logical given the number of people of Mexican origin who live there, but also in Europe, and especially in France, country of gastronomes.Great cooks and dietitians have started to say the greatest good.It is full of vitamins and would be good for intestinal transit, heart, sight, pregnant women, and would make it possible to fight against cholesterol, cancer, rules of the rules, etc..On average, a French home now eats three kilos per year.
“L’avocat est devenu le 6e fruit le plus consommé au mondeLa demande mondiale a explosé ; la production aussi, qui est passée 3,7 millions de tonnes en 2010 à 7,2 millions de tonnes en 2019 ! L'avocat est devenu le 6e fruit le plus consommé au monde derrière la banane, le raisin, la pomme, l'orange et l'amande.The avocado is a humid tropic tree which requires a lot of water to push.
Avocado, a humid tropics tree that becomes furiously trendy.© B.Navez, Wikimedia Commons, CC 3.0
Mexico, by far the world's leading producer
Mexico has of course tried to keep its advantage over this production;It remains by far the largest world producer countries and alone represents almost a third of world production;She has doubled since 2010, going from 1.1 to 2.3 million tonnes, which generates more than $ 2 billion in income.
The other large producers are also Latin American: Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, but they produce much less.Apart from Latin America, two countries have managed to significantly fit into this world market, Indonesia and Kenya, but with quantities that remain modest compared to those of Mexico.Others try it, but with quantities for the moment much less significant, in particular Chile, Israel, Ethiopia, Spain, Malawi, South Africa.
Is there enough to eat for everyone on earth?This is the question that Bruno Parmentier answers in this exclusive interview.© Futura
Cultivating avocado in dry countries is an aberration
Sunny but arid countries have therefore started to take advantage of this windfall.This causes many local conflicts to it for access to water, because the avocado is a shadow of the humid tropics which needs a lot of water to push, and that, when it does not naturally fall from the sky,you have to irrigate abundantly.It is estimated that it takes a thousand to two thousand liters of water per kilo of avocado (against around 200 for tomatoes and 150 for the salad), and one hectare which produces 7 tonnes per year must therefore receive'Order of 10.000 tonnes of water per year!
Lawyer needs five times more water than tomatoes.© Barmalini, Adobe Stock
This is how the 10.000 hectares planted in avocan trees and mango trees in Andalusia make it easier to weigh the risk of a "hydrological collapse" of the region, despite sophisticated mulching and management water management techniques.The idea of the short circuit which could lead to prefer the lawyer of Spain to that of Mexico comes up against agronomic common sense: it is a heresy to consume fruits from the implantation of wet trees onArid lands, instead of the more natural cultures of olive trees and vines that were there before!Note that this is not the case when you can acclimatize plants less greedy in water like kiwi...
So, in the strict sense, when you start to consume many more lawyers, it is obviously very good for taste and morale, and probably our physical health, but...We actively help transform southern Spain into a desert...Or we consolidate the social structure of Mexico which goes with it!
Mexico and lawyers: violence and pesticides
It is a great mistake to think that the world is in accordance with our dreams and our hopes;When we talk about millions of tons of a single product, we are necessarily dealing with a completely industrial production, and in accordance with the ecological, political, economic and social situation of the producer country.
This is what happens for example for almond, which is a product that has become very fashionable (especially because of almond milk judged by much healthier than cow's milk), and 80 % of theworld production is located in California.This causes enormous water shortages and a real bees in this region, because there are about three million hives each year for thousands of kilometers to succeed in pollinating trees in a very short time.Not to mention the great excess of pesticides, logic in a monoculture situation.
Monoculture + tropical heat + faulty state = pesticide abuse.© Hugoalejandro, Adobe Stock
In the case of the lawyer, what happens in Mexico?This country is literally plagued by violence and bags imposed by drug cartels...and in particular in the states of Michoacan and Jalisco, where production is concentrated.There are billions of dollars to win and of course it cannot leave the said cartels indifferent, who need to diversify their income and whiten their dirty money.In addition, their income decreases due to the tumble of the poppy price due to the increase in the production of synthetic opioids.At the same time, the price of the lawyer has exploded, so much so that many Mexicans can no longer consume it!This green gold now occupies a central place in the economies of organized crime.
The "narcos" therefore embarked on the violent grabbing of the land, to the detriment of the peasants who lived on the spot, and the biodiversity of the tropical forest (it is estimated at least 15.000 hectares the area of illegal plantations).
Violence becomes omnipresent: faced with the deficiency of the authorities, the peasants are in turn to protect themselves and large farms have armed guards.We no longer count the monthly extortion according to cultivated areas and whose breaches are sometimes punished with death, truck flights, settling of scores and even mass killings...
In addition, no need to say that respect for health prescriptions is not their first concern.Now, in this wet tropic atmosphere, arboreal monoculture strongly attracts predatory insects and diseases;So these trees are abundantly watered with pesticides, which are obviously not all approved!The poisoning problems mainly concern local populations (which is also a way of making them get out), but, despite the very important barrier due to the thick skin of the avocado, it is difficult to guarantee that it does notThere are never traces of these pesticides in the flesh of the avocados that we eat...
Very polluting transport
In addition, these are fragile and perishable products, harvested still hard, which must now be traveled by truck over hundreds of kilometers via approximate tracks, then by boat over thousands of kilometers, and again in trucksin Europe.That's already it, given the quantities concerned, we have largely abandoned the plane.
“On est très loin du fruit cueilli mûr sur l'arbre et mangé frais !But it is necessary to maintain a temperature of 6 ° C during the 26 days of transport by boat, and consume a lot of packaging, because this fruit is relatively fragile.Upon arrival in Europe, it spends one to two weeks in "maturery" where the temperature is gradually increased and put them in an atmosphere loaded with ethylene to accelerate the process.All this has a significant environmental cost: we are very far from the fruit picked ripe on the tree and eaten fresh!
Lots of packaging, full of truck transport, 26 days by boat at 6 ° C, two weeks in "mattress", there is far from the plate on the plate!© Sandid, Pixabay, DP
Once you have understood this, it becomes more delicate to wish yourself "Buen Provecho" and feast on...As an enlightened and united consumer, if it is still possible!Recall that local and seasonal fruits and vegetables are always a valid option, even more if they are responsible, or even organic...
For further
By Bruno Parmentier, author of "Nourishing humanity" and "Zero hunger" (editions La Découverte), "Eating all and well" (editions du Seuil) and "Agriculture, Food and Global Warming" (Internet broadcast),and animator of the blog "http: // nourrir-manger.fr/"and the channel you tube" http: // nourrir-manger.com/video ".
Pour en savoir plusAll publications under the aegis of Bruno Parmentier, guest editor -in -chief of Futura for World Food Day
Voir aussiLe goût amer de l'exploitation du café dans le monde, par Bruno ParmentierVoir aussiL'édito de Bruno Parmentier sur l'ampleur du gâchis alimentaire dans le mondeVoir aussiLa playlist de Bruno ParmentierVoir aussiMadagascar : enquête sur une famine passée sous silenceVoir aussiBruno Parmentier : « le monde a atteint son quota de ruminants »This year, Futura celebrates its 20 years of existence.20 years of discoveries, explorations and popularization scientific.
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Voir tous les contenus 20 ans sur FuturaIn 2021, Futura celebrates its 20th anniversary!
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Définitions associéesCe que "banane" veut direQue veut dire "désert" ?Qu'est-ce que "raisin" veut dire ?Qu'est-ce qu'une mangue ?Une forêt tropicale : définition simple
