|
The choice of this niche is justified by the basic structural characteristics of agricultural sector in Tunisia and of its population.
In spite of its low contribution to GIP, agriculture still has an undeniable social and economic importance:
-
It provides about 28% of the jobs among the active population.
-
It helps to maintain the rural population in situ; thus slowing down the rural exodus toward cities.
-
It ensures food supplies and provisions for the local markets with basic products.
-
It provides living revenues for a large social vulnerable peasant’s class whose sole income comes from farming.
This category of small farmers represents the majority of the farming poulation.
More than half of the farmers exploit small areas that do not exceed 5 ha. Besides, about 3/4 of farmers exploit an average of 10 ha surfaces.
Referring to the estimations of the Ministry of Agriculture, the irrigated surface is estimated at 294.000 Ha, which counts for 6 % of the productive surface. The basic productions that occupy 31% of those surfaces are located up to 60.70 % in the north, 37% in the central region and 2.3% in the south of Tunisia.
These small farmers occupy 78.5 % of the fertile surfaces, where 20-50 ha farmers exploit 14.9%. The under 5 ha farms and the 5-10 ha ones represents respectively 23.9% and 21.9% of the vegetable productions. On the other land, the wealthier farmers own only 6.6% of the vegetables productions area in Tunisia. On the economic and social level these productions has fundamental role. It ensure about 24.6 millions working days, almost 20% of the employment offered by the agricultural sector. It ensures also an income of 435.25 MD (1990), which counts for 18% of the added value of agriculture and fishing activities.
However, vegetable farming, which seems to be the most attractive activity for small farmers with its social and economic impact, is at risk in the coming years because of the competition of south European products, and the coming into effect of the free exchange agreement for agricultural products with EU in 2008.
According to the latest studies made in 1997 by the General Forests Direction, the total consumption of energy wood in Tunisia reached 1.9 million tons of basic state wood and 148.000 tons of charcoal per year. Thus the total consumption of energy from wood is estimated to 2.650 millions tons basic wood equivalent per year. In terms of final energy, this consumption represents about 927 Ktoe per year, which is about 17% of the Tunisian final energy consumption in 1997.
According to the General Forests Direction predictions, consumption would have reached 2.720 millions tons in 2002, which represents 17% of the total energy consumption (14% of primary energy).
On the social level, the stakes are also important as more than 800 thousand households still use wood or coal for domestic purposes, particularly in rural areas, where the petrol distribution network is not well-developed, 92% of homes (600 thousand houses) use fire wood mainly to bake bread ( 580.000 houses).
It is to be noted that wood collections are mainly a women's task. Time and distances undergone to gather wood are some times important which prove the hardships of this task. According to research carried in Kasserine it was estimated that a woman spends about 6 hours per day in wood collection, with an average distance undergone of 14 Km.
On the economic level, the balance supply/needs on the regional level shows that only the central region of Tunisia has an excess in wood and that all other regions have a deficit, with covering rates varying from 50% to 65%.
This Imbalance is really detrimental to the ecosystems which are already very degraded in the North-East, North-West and the South of Tunisia. |
