Tunisia will receive an $87.1 million loan from the African Development Bank to scale up cereal production.
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Tunisian Minister of Economy and Planning Samir Saïed and African Development Bank Group’s Deputy Director General for North Africa Malinne Blomberg signed the loan agreement in Tunis on 19 July 2023.
Over the last decade, Tunisia has harvested an average of 1.5 million tonnes of cereals against a national consumption requirement of 3.4 million tonnes.
The Bank Group’s funding will allow the Tunisian government to implement the Cereal Sector Inclusive and Sustainable Development Support Project. The project aims to improve cereal productivity and upgrade storage capacity.
It will also support rail transport for cereals, secure supplies and build the capacity of key stakeholders to strengthen resilience against external shocks and climate change.
Implementing the project will allow Tunisia to increase durum wheat production by 1.6 million quintals, barley by 1.2 million quintals, vegetable oil by 18,000 quintals and cattle cake by 42,000 quintals.
It will also help the country reduce post-harvest and storage losses, saving around 115,000 quintals of cereals.
Like many other countries, Tunisia is facing a food crisis driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has increased the price of cereals, especially wheat, globally.
The country has also experienced a drastic decline in its wheat production due to an extreme drought in the last five years, according to Tunisia’s Ministry of Agriculture. Dams are at their lowest levels over the past 10 years.
The Agriculture Ministry also recently announced that the 2023 cereal harvest would only be around 250,000 tonnes, much lower than the previous year’s 750,000 tonnes output, and that the country would have to import 95 percent of its cereals requirements.
Implementing the project will boost food security, particularly for vulnerable populations whose diet heavily relies on cereal-based products. The project will also benefit the food processing value chain (flour mills, bakeries, cake shops, etc.) and livestock feed production. ■