{"id":328124,"date":"2023-04-14T16:16:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T19:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/seca-sem-precedentes-ameaca-colheita-de-graos-na-tunisia\/"},"modified":"2023-04-17T17:17:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T20:17:26","slug":"unprecedented-drought-threatens-grain-harvest-in-tunisia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/unprecedented-drought-threatens-grain-harvest-in-tunisia\/","title":{"rendered":"Unprecedented drought threatens grain harvest in Tunisia"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 An unprecedented drought in Tunisia<\/strong> heralds a catastrophic<\/strong> year for the grain harvest<\/strong>. The country is in its fourth year of drought; however, unlike in previous years, the lack of rainfall is also affecting the fertile and cereal-rich northwest of the country. Pictured above, a producer plowing a wheat crop that did not thrive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tunisia will have a greater dependence on imports<\/strong> in the context of rising prices after the Russian offensive in Ukraine \u2013 two key producing countries.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Farmer takes cattle to graze in a dry field<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the 600 hectares 65-year-old farmer Tahar Chauachi planted with wheat, barley, and pulses, only 70 will yield grains this summer, and cereals will be destined mainly for animal feed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sowed wheat here, but the seeds have just died because it\u2019s too dry,\u201d he told AFP while showing his fields in Medjez El Bab, 55 km from Tunis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we say the March rain is pure gold. But it did not rain in March or in April. The whole year went by without rain,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

Tunisia relies primarily on rainwater for its drinking water supply, and dams in the 12-million-people country are currently only a third full.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The level dropped in the water reservoirs of Tunisia<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sidi Alem dam in the rainy region of B\u00e9ja, close to the Chauachi farm, is just 16% full.<\/p>\n

The drought forced the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture to restrict water consumption<\/strong>. Irrigation with drinking water for plantations, green spaces, and street cleaning was prohibited until the end of September, in addition to implementing water quotas for neighborhoods and evening suspensions of supply for households.<\/p>\n

Billboards at the entrance to the capital read: Drought is a threat to our country. Saving water guarantees our children\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wheat imports<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s harvest will be catastrophic,\u201d explained the spokesman of the country\u2019s main agricultural union, the Tunisian\u00a0Union of Agriculture and Fisheries\u00a0(UTAP), Anis Kharb\u00e8che, who estimates \u201ca grain harvest between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes\u201d against 7 million last year.<\/p>\n

He states the country \u201cwill have to import all its needs for durum wheat, common wheat, and barley.\u201d He also demanded a \u201cclear strategy\u201d to increase water reserves and allocate a plot for minimum agricultural irrigation.<\/p>\n

Agriculture represents between 10% and 12% of Tunisia\u2019s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but \u201c2% or 3% of farmers are leaving the sector every year,\u201d pointed out Kharb\u00e8che.<\/p>\n

Any reproduction of this content is prohibited.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated by El\u00fasio Brasileiro<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9Fethi Belaid\/AFP<\/div>\n
\u00a9Fethi Belaid\/AFP<\/div>\n
\u00a9Fethi Belaid\/AFP<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The North African Arab country is experiencing a severe lack of rainfall with projections of a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d harvest, according to local agricultural entities. The problem could cause greater dependence on imports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2345,"featured_media":328086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[40900,40894,40895,35352,40904,40896,40897,35347,40898,40899,40903,9556,40902,37555,40901],"class_list":{"0":"post-328124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agribusiness","8":"tag-catastrophic-harvest","9":"tag-colheita-catastrofica-en","10":"tag-colheita-tunisia-en","11":"tag-drought","12":"tag-drought-in-tunisia","13":"tag-importacoes-tunisia-en","14":"tag-producao-de-graos-tunisia-en","15":"tag-seca-en","16":"tag-seca-grave-en","17":"tag-seca-na-tunisia-en","18":"tag-severe-drought","19":"tag-tunisia-en","20":"tag-tunisia-grain-production","21":"tag-tunisia-imports","22":"tag-tunisian-harvest"},"wps_subtitle":"The North African Arab country is experiencing a severe lack of rainfall with projections of a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d harvest, according to local agricultural entities. The problem could cause greater dependence on imports.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}