“Domestic grain production for the current season will not exceed 2.5 million quintals, of which 1.7 million quintals will be harvested in the best cases. This is down significantly on last year’s harvest of 11 million quintals (only 7.4 million quintals were collected),” Anis Kharbach, a member of the Central Committee of the Tunisian Agriculture and Fisheries Union (UTAP), said in an interview with TAP news agency.
This production is “very low” and does not even cover seed requirements, he said, expressing the hope that the decline in cereal harvests will not continue over the next two years, especially as the country’s needs are currently estimated at around 30 million quintals of soft and durum wheat and barley.
He pointed out that Tunisia produces about 50% of its durum wheat needs and 10% of its soft wheat needs, which means it has to rely on imports.
Next year will be difficult in terms of wheat supplies, which means that efforts must be stepped up to limit the damage caused by this crisis, he added.
The state must draw up a plan for wheat supplies throughout the year, with a huge budget in foreign currency earmarked for this purpose, Kharbach said.
He also called for cereal consumption to be rationalised and for Tunisians to change their eating habits to adapt to the current situation, pointing out that between 800,000 and one million loaves of bread are thrown away every day, out of an average of 6 million loaves produced.
The cereals sector in Tunisia has been suffering from the same problems for several years due to the lack of a clear vision and an appropriate production strategy, he pointed out.
He went on to say that the deterioration of the sector is the result of the poor use of cereal land, the failure to produce around 60% of the selected seeds and the limited expansion of irrigated areas dedicated to cereal production.
In addition, there is a lack of water desalination projects and the reuse of treated water in irrigated cereal production, as well as a lack of control over fertilisers…
Kharbach also mentioned the problem of the lack of phosphate and nitrogen phosphate in sufficient quantities, despite the fact that these two materials are produced and imported by the Gafsa Chemical Group.
He went on to say that only 20% selected seeds are used, pointing out that by using these seeds yields can be tripled from 20 to 70 quintals per hectare.
“If we find solutions to overcome all these difficulties, we will be able to ensure our self-sufficiency in durum wheat and even have seasons with record harvests,” he said.
“Since 2019, the price of compound feed has increased dramatically. It’s time for the Ministry of Agriculture to address the issue of feed and present it to the Head of State, especially as this sector is under the hegemony of a single company that imports the raw materials for these feeds (soya and maize) and sets the prices and quality as it sees fit. The same company supplies only five factories,” he said.
Kharbech added that this company, which “has a stranglehold on the farmers’ destiny, is behind the excessive increase in production costs and the shortage of compound feed for livestock”.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse