Rows of sprawling cacti fill a valley in central Tunisia, where producers are hoping the spiky fruit can fuel a cosmetics cash-in. "This is the capital of the Barbary fig," said Mohamed Rochdi Bannani, one of the North African country's first producers of cosmetic oil from the seeds of the fruit -- better known as the prickly pear. He is hoping the oil, with its rich antioxidant properties and a price tag of some €350 euros a litre, can bring wealth to the marginalised province of Kasserine. "This fruit has changed my life and the life of the region. It's created wealth in the district, even though the fruit used to be a symbol of poverty," the 52-year-old said. He was standing on his 420-hectare (about 1,000-acre) organic-certified farm in the parched Zelfen district. Every year, Bannani produces 2,000 litres of oil from the plant, which has been cultivated in North Africa for generations. The prickly pear tree once featured on Malta's Coat of Arms. The prickly pear tree also used to grow extensively in Malta for centuries, and even featured on the country's Coat of Arms) Used in moisturising and anti-ageing products, it is a much-needed cash cow in a region where one third...
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