Agriculture, a strategic sector for the Mediterranean Basin

A field in which culture, economics and politics overlap, Mediterranean agriculture is central to regional identity. The future of Mediterranean populations will largely depend on agricultural trends and the way the sector is managed.

A number of trends are affecting agricultural and rural life: trade is becoming more vulnerable, the development gap between different territories is widening and calls to safeguard the environment are growing more urgent. At the same time the Mediterranean region is faced with the problems of population growth, water shortage and climate change. The provision of food security for the Mediterranean populations is a daily struggle, in which the imperatives of producing sufficient quantities and maintaining good quality have to be reconciled. Such are the challenges facing Mediterranean agriculture today.