Agricultural lands make up 62% of Tunisia’s total surface area. But every year, over 20 million hectares of these lands disappear due to erosion and urbanization. The social and environmental consequences of this dual phenomenon are irreversible.
Agriculture 22
Beja: Water scarcity threatens agriculture and life itself
As water levels in Tunisia’s dams have fallen, the country itself has fallen below the water poverty line. Water levels in the country’s dams are at a record low in comparison with previous years, at 28.5% of reserve capacity, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Financial Resources. This drop has had a direct impact on agricultural activities and contributed to soaring prices, while also causing interruptions in the supply of water used for irrigation and human consumption.
Tunisia Running Dry
For the past five years Abderrazzak Sibri hasn’t harvested a single olive from the 357 olive trees on his land in Sidi Mahmoud, a rural town in the province of Kairouan (central Tunisia). Sibri had planned to plant more olive trees, but lack of rain, several years of draughts and decreased ground water levels impacted production and changed his plans. “What bothers me most is that I have been investing in these trees,” he says. “When they finally reach the age in which they can produce regularly and abundantly, there is no more water to keep them growing.”
Hammamet’s forest
Beginning in October, farmers in Tunisia’s northwest, particularly Beja, Jendouba, Zaghouan, will begin planting cereal crops like wheat and barley and leguminous crops including chickpea, lentil and faba which will both feed soil and stock pantries. A select few farmers in the region will also plant canola, an industrial oilseed supplied by French agribusiness giant Groupe AVRIL who is partnering with the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture to develop a canola sector that is « 100% Tunisian ». The project is in fact part of a decades-long push to introduce canola as a « locally grown » alternative to imported grains and oils.
Tunisia’s skies soon to be opened up to drone technology?
On the heels of Korea’s joint agreement with the African Development Bank including a $5 billion assistance commitment to Africa, Tunisia’s Ministry of Development has landed a piece of the deal. The Korea Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAPEC) fund has carved out a million-dollar grant towards a project that will deliver Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), more commonly known as drones, for data collection in Tunisia’s agricultural sector. Until now, drone use in Tunisia has been largely restricted under ministerial law of 6 April 1995. Will South Korea’s experiment influence lawmakers to devise new regulations and open Tunisia’s skies to a wider application of this technology?
American grains in Tunisia: can self-sufficiency be imported?
The National Agronomy Institute of Tunis has collaborated on several projects with the US Grain Council over the past decade. Now they are launching a new project in the country’s animal feed sector. On March 1, Minister of Agriculture Samir Taieb and US Ambassador to Tunisia Daniel Rubinstein convened at INAT to announce the creation of a regional training center for feed manufacture engineers and technicians. With the aim of improving feed and livestock production in Tunisia, the project promises to serve consumers but also farmers and feed manufacturers. The USGC is clear in its communications that the project also serves to promote American grains in Tunisia’s import-saturated market.
How to unblock growth through Agriculture in Tunisia?
Opportunities to develop a more equilibrated development model are possible by pushing Agriculture sector at the top of Nation’s agenda. It will require a clear plan and a huge investment in people –especially rural women- and in infrastructure. This note is an attempt to describe the potential of the primary sector, notably the extensive Agriculture before identifying some measures to be followed in order to disentangle obstacles facing the sector and the growth in Tunisia.
France’s colonial fantasies in Tunisia
Similar to other aspects of colonialism, agricultural colonialism endures. Indeed, its manifestations are apparent in Tunisia today. In this article, however, I only go back to the micro-foundations of France’s agricultural colonialism in the country.
Jemna: The peasant question and democratic revolution
Recently, all we talk about is Jemna. It has become the new bone of contention. Exchanges are violent, charged with furor and raised voices. In the médias aux ordres, the most unlikely of arguments are used to denounce the occupation of land by peasants. Such arguments say more about the fantasies of their authors than they do about the reality of the situation.
Tunisia’s new PM: Youssef Chahed, a singular professional trajectory
While opposition parties have denounced the appointment of Youssef Chahed as partial and contrary to the idea of a coalition government, some decry the designation as a relapse to the old “all in the family” way of politics. Few, however, have paid much attention to Chahed’s singular professional trajectory prior to his swift ascension to Prime Minister.
Liberalization of Tunisia’s agricultural sector: moving towards the inevitable?
Amidst a circle of union representatives, business-owners, farmers, and researchers, reservations and concerns regarding the impact of a free trade agreement on Tunisia’s agricultural sector were part of a debate that was ultimately less about whether or not than how to proceed with a “greater integration into the European economic space.”
Food Sovereignty Forum: envisioning an alternative model of agriculture in Tunisia
“The most important thing is to remain loyal to the concept,” explains geographer Habib Ayeb who recently launched preparations for the Food Sovereignty Forum which will take place in 2017. “Without this loyalty, we cannot gain anything, we cannot make any progress. We cannot organize a forum on food sovereignty and demand financial support from Monsanto; Monsanto is a target for the Forum—Monsanto must be broken. Also we won’t work with USAID or AFD or GIZ—these are governmental organizations that try to impose their models on the Global South, and they are also targets of the Forum.”
Bread: cereal production and food security
Earlier this year, the Food and Agriculture Administration (FAO) of the United Nations reported that wheat constitutes 96% of cereals consumed and over half of the daily caloric intake per person in Tunisia. What’s more, the high demand for cereals, and by extension cereal imports, are projected to rise in the years to come. In measure with these findings, statistics recently published by the Ministry of Agriculture for the 2014-2015 seasons report above-average imports; meanwhile, market speculations for 2016 anticipate that cereal imports to Tunisia will be up 15% from the previous five-year average.
EU “support” for Tunisia: loans and free trade to remedy terrorism
With each measure of “support” the EU has offered Tunisia—whether in the form of a sizable loan for security reforms, or a free trade agreement for economic growth—particular emphasis has been placed on the recent successes and imperative role of civil society in the country’s path to democracy. But if what Tunisian civil society demands is a shifting of the scales and relations based on reciprocity, is Europe really prepared to listen?
Chouigui Farm: Sustaining the land, destroying the village?
Land operator Faouzi Bellamine filed a complaint against the inhabitants of the village accusing them of having damaged his crop harvest. Chouigui inhabitants, on the other hand, accuse Bellamine of poor management and of having betrayed promises to provide employment. The affair recalls other conflicts between farmers and private investors stemming from their management of State-owned lands.
Still far from policy reform and self-sufficiency in Tunisia’s agrifood sector
Representatives of Tunisian farmers’ unions have insisted on agriculture’s currently vital and potentially stabilizing role for the economy. Filled with data and trend analyses, a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations contradicts this observation, identifying the “relatively low” and even “falling” importance of agriculture in the national economy while pointing out that it has nonetheless buffered the blow of economic crisis and may represent a “missing link” in fighting high youth unemployment.
Debt, Farmers, and Farming Companies in Tunisia: laying ground for security and stability through agricultural reform
If important steps have been taken to improve management and optimize exploitation of State-owned agricultural lands and alleviate the debts of tenants who lease these properties, adopted measures are yet limited and incomplete … Working at the very heart of a sector upon which depends the country’s food security and, to a certain extent, the economy, Tunisian farmers have yet to gain substantial financial backing, adequate legal support, and due political recognition. Moving onward from a year of climatic fluctuations and political violence which have had devastating effects upon the sector, government officials and decision-makers will do well to recognize and invest in agriculture as the base from which sovereignty, security, and stability can grow.
Water Scarcity Initiative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – to help countries in the region fight hunger and poverty and improve agricultural sustainability
The article presents the situation in Kasserine, but in fact the water problem and challenges are common in most of the countries in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. Water scarcity is one of the most urgent issues and binding constraints for food security and agricultural development in these countries. Let us look at some striking numbers published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
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