Tunisia: The Mediterranean region remains on drought alert

Like other Mediterranean countries, Tunisia is facing a severe drought that has compelled the Tunisian government to implement water-use quotas, increasing the price of water for agricultural use, and even restricting household access to tap water. Tomatoes are among the most impacted crops, according to Marwa Balti, an agronomist at Sicam Agri. She says, "The climatic conditions have led to a significant decrease in the tomato acreage. At our level, we estimate this decline at 10%, corresponding to our areas in the north of the country. The decrease is much more important at the national level since we have added new surfaces equipped with groundwater irrigation, which is not the case with our competition."Drought in Tunisia leads to lower tomato volumesThe drop in production comes at a time when demand for Tunisian tomatoes is increasing due to insufficient volumes from Morocco and Spain as well. Tunisian growers are deploying efforts to place themselves in a better position ...