Agriculture in Tunisia now offers a range of opportunities to introduce and promote a variety of farming practices that have proved successful in other latitudes. Small-scale mountain farming is one of them.
It has been funded under an agreement signed on July 12, 2024 between Tunisia and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to co-finance the “DINAMO” integrated project in the north-west to the tune of $29.6 million (equivalent to 94 million dinars).
With an estimated cost of 47.7 million dollars (151 million dinars), the “DINAMO” project is intended to help improve the development indicator in the mountainous regions of the north-west of the country (Beja, Jendouba, Kef, Siliana and Bizerte) by creating an integrated socio-economic dynamic in the region.
It also aims to make local people more resilient to the effects of climate change and to help them generate income to lift themselves out of poverty.
The eight-year project, implemented by the Office de Développement Sylvo-pastoral du Nord-ouest, also aims to integrate small farmers into the local economy.
“DINAMO is aimed at vulnerable families with limited incomes, particularly women, young people, small farmers and livestock breeders. It is expected to benefit 19,375 rural households in 15 Northwest delegations by 2032.
The agreement was ratified on Friday during a plenary session at the Bardo Palace with 103 votes in favor, 4 against and 1 abstention.
In response to interventions by MPs from various parliamentary blocs, Minister of the Economy and Planning, Samir Abdelhafidh, stressed that the aim of this project is to contribute to improving the development indicator in the mountainous regions of the north-west of the country (Beja, Jendouba, el Kef, Siliana and Bizerte).
During the plenary session, an MP from the “Voice of the Republic” bloc said that this project would enable a quantum leap to be made in the mountain regions and allow the Office de Développement Sylvo-pastoral du Nord Ouest to resume its role in the region after a long absence which had led to a lack of development in the area.
To this end, he called for the isolation of the inhabitants of these rural regions to be broken. An independent MP stressed the important role of the “DINAMO” project in the economic development of the north-western regions and the need to create more similar projects.
A third MP stressed the need to guarantee a decent life for the inhabitants of the mountain regions, and called on the General Directorate of Forestry to speed up the revision of the Forestry Code and to provide the necessary solutions for forest workers in order to combat the exodus of inhabitants to the capital.
The state was also urged to set up profitable development projects for the benefit of the inhabitants of the north-western regions, in order to break with the old development model.
He also stressed the importance of setting up projects to attract more workers to rural areas.
