Aiming for self-sufficiency in durum wheat production by 2023 is Tunisia’s objective.
Faced with soaring cereal prices, a consequence of the war in Ukraine, Tunis wants to reduce its dependence on imports.
As Faten Khamassi, head of the cabinet of the Minister of Agriculture, explains: “From the next campaign (harvest 2023), we are aiming to increase the areas of durum wheat by about 30%, in order to Achieving self-sufficiency in durum wheat Currently, Tunisia achieves a production level of 70% in durum wheat. It is really possible to achieve self-sufficiency in durum wheat.
We worked on a program to increase storage capacity at the national level. We will double the storage capacity. But also, we will strengthen the entire logistics chain of collection and transport to reduce all that is lost and wasted.
To achieve this, the government has launched a series of measures to encourage farmers to produce more. The price per ton of durum wheat was increased, insufficient according to them. The lack of means and obsolete equipment threatens the quality of the harvests.
“We ask the State to take into consideration the situation of small farmers in order to help them replace this very expensive equipment. The small farmer does not have the means to buy equipment such as harvesters or tractors.” castigates Mondher Mathali, a 65-year-old Tunisian farmer.
With 1 million tons collected on average over the last 3 years, durum wheat is the main cereal grown in Tunisia.
