Driving out to Bou Al Ajat you pass by the some of the major estates cultivating oranges for which this part of the Sousse valley is famous. This area north of the town is set to benefit from the building of the new dam for irrigation and the investment in the new bottling plant (By which I assume they mean some sort of Tetrapak).
This is cultivation on an industrial scale, the trees planted densely in rows. Many are grown in huge permanent green houses made of large frames of outward cantilevered posts covered usually in green mesh rather than plastic although sometimes plastic is used. The sides can be ruched up like austrian blinds to allow even more air circulation.
Some times they just use long lengths of mesh to wrap individual rows.
Others are left entirely unwrapped. We were unable to discern any particular rationale for wrapping , or covering , or not; perhaps it is a mechanism to extend the season.
they seem to need a lot of pruning. The prunings are taken presumably as forage on the most overloaded vehicles, motorbike pickups, donkey carts, bicycles. This is not really a problem on the remote valley roads but on the dual carriageway to Agadir it is another matter. we long ago realised that if you see a tree in the middle of the road, particularly on coming towards you down the wrong way down the fast lane of the express way it is not an illusion.
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