Pierre Rabhi


Pierre Rabhi is a French writer, farmer and environmentalist. Originally a Muslim, he converted to Christianity before also abandoning that religion. Rabhi studied in France, and is considered an important figure in French agroecology. He invented the concept of an oasis en tous lieux.
Rabhi advocates a society which respects its population and land, supporting the development of agricultural techniques which preserve natural resources. His theories relate particularly, although not exclusively, to arid countries. His use of anthroposophically-based biodynamic agriculture has been controversial.

Youth

Rabhi was born into a Muslim family in Kénadsa, near Béchar, in 1938. His mother died when he was four years old. Rabhi's father—who was a blacksmith, musician and poet—became acquainted with a French couple when they came to work during the colonial period at the compagnie des houillères in his native village. Since the couple were childless and the elder Rabhi was concerned about his son's future, he allowed them to raise Pierre if he remained an observant Muslim. Rabhi's father later had to close his workshop and work in the mine, which influenced Pierre's philosophy of his son. He spent his childhood in France and Algeria, in the Catholic and Muslim worlds, until he was 14.

Paris

Rabhi found work as a technician and married Michelle, a coworker. Both of them dreamed of escaping urban life, and they considered the possibility of farming. He met Pierre Richard, an ecologist who was involved in the creation of the Cévennes National Park and who encouraged them. They decided to move to Ardèche, where they have lived since 1960; their move predated the late-1960s French neo-rural movement.

Return to the land

When they arrived in Ardèche, they married in Malarce-sur-la-Thines. They had a child and, with no knowledge of agriculture, Rabhi registered with a Maison familiale rural and earned a certificate. In 1963, after three years as an agricultural worker, he became a small goat farmer in the Cévennes ardéchoises. He did not want to follow the productivist model in which he had been trained.

Recognition

In 1978, Rabhi was given responsibility for training in agricultural ecology at CEFRA. Beginning in 1981, at the request of the French government, he visited Burkina Faso as a Farmer Without Frontiers in a programme funded by the CRIAD. In 1985, Rabhi set up the agroecology training centre at Gorom-Gorom, with the support of the Le Point-Mulhouse association. An assessment of his work by French ecologist René Dumont criticised Rabhi's agronomic knowledge and the influence of his mystical beliefs on his work; it is the only scientific assessment of Rabhi's work to date. Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara supported the project and wanted to make agroecology a national policy before his death in 1987.
In 1988, Rabhi founded the CIEPAD with the support of the Hérault departmental council. He developed a model agricultural site, educational and training programs, and began overseas-development programs in Morocco, Palestine, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Togo, Benin, Mauritania, Poland and Ukraine. In 1992, Rabhi began a program for the rehabilitation of the Chenini-Gabès oasis in Tunisia. Since 1994, he has led the Oasis en tous lieux movement, which aims to promote an earth that can produce food and revive social involvement. In 1997 and 1998, Rabhi was asked to prepare proposals for the implementation of his plan in preparation for the Agreement on Action Against Desertification. From 1999 to 2001, he began development initiatives in the Agadez region in Niger and the Gao region in Mali. Rabhi began a pre-presidential campaign in 20012, obtaining the support of 184 elected representatives and beginning the Mouvement d'appel pour une insurrection des consciences. He leads conferences and workshops on themes relating to simplicité volontaire and décroissance - degrowth. Preparing for the altermondialisme movement, Rabhi was invited to the European Social Forum; one of his speeches was "Donner une âme à la mondialisation". In 2007, he founded the Mouvement international pour la terre et l'humanisme. President of Terre et Humanisme, Rabhi was a member of the editorial board of the French monthly La Décroissance, and is vice-president of the Kokopelli Seed Foundation. The foundation works to protect biodiversity in the production and distribution of organically- and biodynamically-grown seeds and for the regeneration of fertility in cultivated soils.

Controversy

Rabhi has been the subject of controversy. His links to anthroposophy, a philosophy rooted in esoteric beliefs, has been questioned. Rabhi promotes disciplines stemming from Rudolf Steiner, including Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture and anthroposophic medicine, some of which are considered pseudoscience. His agronomic skills have been contested; despite claims of outstanding results through his agricultural techniques, no external assessment of his work has been done since a critical evaluation by René Dumont in 1988. An independent investigation led by the skeptical organization Association française pour l'information scientifique reported that his farm at the Mas de Beaulieu does not yield enough crops to feed his employees, in contrast to Rabhi's claims of good results.