Posted on September, 24, 2024 at 08:28 am
Tunisia has been facing difficult climatic conditions for a number of years. Grain production, affected by a variety of hazards, has fallen sharply compared with forecasts for a normal year. This has forced the country to rely more heavily on imports to meet its consumption needs.
To meet this increased demand, Tunisia is turning to international partners, including France and Russia. According to the French grain association Interserial France, France plans to supply around 35% of Tunisia’s soft wheat needs for milling and 50% of its barley needs for the 2023-2024 marketing year.
Russia, a major grain exporter, also expressed its commitment to Tunisia during the visit of its Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. Russia’s expected contribution will help alleviate Tunisia’s cereal supply challenges.
For the 2024 season alone, projections indicate that Tunisia will need to import 1.1 million tons of soft wheat, 1.1 million tons of durum wheat, 0.8 million tons of barley and 0.85 million tons of maize grains to meet its growing grain needs. The food situation in Tunisia will therefore continue to be closely monitored in the coming months.
Towards 1.173 million hectares of grain production
Tunisia plans to cultivate 1.173 million hectares for the 2024-2025 season, up from 972,000 hectares in the previous season. In 2023-2024, the country harvested 6.7 million quintals, despite a reduction due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane of the General Directorate of Agricultural Production announced that Tunisia had sown around 972,000 hectares, of which 76,000 were irrigated, and suffered losses on 450,000 hectares. The yield of irrigated cereals was 17 quintals per hectare, despite an overall drop in production.
For the coming season, the Ministry will increase the area under cultivation and provide 300,000 quintals of quality seed. 220,000 tons of ammonium nitrate will be available, of which at least 70,000 tons will be imported.
Fertilizer and seed prices will be maintained and a budget of 8.383 million dinars will be allocated to support small farmers and agricultural cooperatives.
Downward revision on a global scale
According to the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI), the International Grains Council (IGC) has revised downwards its forecast for world cereal production in the current season to 2301 million tons at the end of April 2024, due to the drought that has affected several producing countries.
ONAGRI pointed to an increase in world grain consumption to 2,310 million tons, up 3 million tons on previous forecasts, due to increased use of wheat and maize for feed production.
On the other hand, the Observatory noted that world grain stocks forecasts are also being revised downwards and will not exceed 591 million tons, the lowest level in 9 years.
Tunisia covers about 70% of its total grain needs through domestic production, but the harvest varies from year to year due to weather factors (…).
Source: African Manager