Securing smallholder (self-)employment in rural areas of Tunisia

Context

Agriculture plays an important part in Tunisia's economy, offering employment opportunities and generating income for many people in rural regions. However, microenterprises prevail, often with low productivity. Farmers frequently lack opportunities to professionalise their production, strategically align their value chains and manage their farms effectively. The fragmentation of farmland, widespread ageing of the producers and problems related to climate change pose major challenges to the profitability of farms.

Other problems for the farms include gaining access to new sales markets and financing for technical and business management innovations. At around five per cent, only very few operations are currently organised in farmers’ organisations and business associations such as cooperatives. Better cooperation between the farmers could help them overcome these obstacles, as well as secure growth and create new jobs regionally.

Objective

Employment and income in small and medium-sized farms as well as cooperation in farmers’ organisations are improved.

Approach

The project operates in four fields of action:

Agricultural entrepreneurship providing agricultural producers with education and training in business management and the strategic alignment of the farms using a package of proven training formats.

Promoting collaborative and cooperative business models between producers and small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in processing and the retail sector by improving cooperatives’ services, assisting in access to new markets and consolidating value chains.

Agricultural finance by informing cooperatives and MSMEs about appropriate financing options and how to apply for them, developing financing instruments and assisting cooperatives with the application process through specific training.

Promoting the support structures by developing options for assistance to farmers’ organisations and MSMEs through government and non-governmental support structures.

Last update: May 2023