Drought Hits 60% of Tunisia’s Grains

Sheep graze in one of the wheat fields in northern Tunisia amidst a wave of drought threatening this year's food security (AFP)
Sheep graze in one of the wheat fields in northern Tunisia amidst a wave of drought threatening this year's food security (AFP)
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Drought Hits 60% of Tunisia’s Grains

Sheep graze in one of the wheat fields in northern Tunisia amidst a wave of drought threatening this year's food security (AFP)
Sheep graze in one of the wheat fields in northern Tunisia amidst a wave of drought threatening this year's food security (AFP)

Agricultural experts in Tunisia have predicted that the country’s upcoming crop yield is anticipated to be a maximum of 2.5 million quintals of grain, a significant drop from the 7.4 million quintals harvested during the previous agricultural season.

This outcome is one of the poorest in the last decade, as the production rate has typically ranged between 12 to 16 million quintals of grain per season.

Sources have confirmed that the damage will be significant, with 60% of agricultural land allocated for various types of grain cultivation being affected to varying degrees. Tunisian farmers are in urgent need of government support to combat the years-long wave of drought currently affecting the country.

Mohamed Rajayebia, a member of the executive bureau of the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries, confirmed that the decline in grain production comes against the backdrop of continuing temperature rises witnessed by Tunisia during the last days of March.

According to Rajayebia, the main grain-producing regions in Tunisia, including the provinces of Béja, Jendouba, Bizerte, and the Sahel region of Kairouan, have been negatively affected by the lack of rainfall and the recent rise in temperature.

This may increase the possibility of higher imports to meet local demand, even though there are difficulties in obtaining grains and their derivatives from the Ukrainian market due to the ongoing war.

Observers of Tunisia's current farming season results have warned that the grain harvest this season will barely be enough to provide seeds for the 2023-2024 farming season.

They estimate that Tunisia needs two million quintals of seeds for the next season, as around 95% of the country’s major crops depend on rainfall.

Government and private organizations are working on finding solutions to this problem, which threatens food security and is causing a continuing decrease in grain production from one season to another.

According to agricultural expert Hamadi Bou Bakri, the Tunisian state imports between 65% and 70% of its local grain needs every year, relying on seasonal national production between 30% and 50%.

“This season it will be very difficult to reach these percentages, considering that we may only be able to collect 2.5 million quintals of grains,” said Bakri.

Tunisia’s annual grain needs are estimated to be at least 32 million quintals, with about half typically met by domestic production.

However, this season’s need for imports is expected to be “unprecedented,” resulting in additional expenses in hard currency for the state treasury.



Lebanon Files UN Complaint against Israel over Pager Attacks

Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP
Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP
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Lebanon Files UN Complaint against Israel over Pager Attacks

Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP
Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP

Lebanon said Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with the United Nations' labor agency over deadly attacks on communication devices across the country in September, which it blames on Israel.

Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram called the attack an "egregious war against humanity, against technology, against work", saying his country had filed the complaint with the International Labor Organization in Geneva.

"It's a very dangerous precedent," he told journalists in the Swiss city at an event organized by the UN correspondents' association ACANU.

The move comes after Israel escalated its air raids on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley on September 23, after nearly a year of cross-border fire, and a week later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, according to AFP.

The escalation kicked off with sabotage attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, which killed dozens of people and injured thousands more across Lebanon.

Israel has not officially taken responsibility for those attacks, but Bayram said it was "widely accepted internationally... that Israel was behind this heinous act".

"In a few minutes, more than 4,000 civilians fell, between martyrs and injured and maimed," he said, speaking through a translator.

Among the victims not killed, he said many people had "lost their fingers; some have totally lost their eyesight".

"We are in a situation where ordinary objects, objects you use in daily life, become dangerous and lethal," he said.

"If left unchecked, this crime could become normalized," he said, adding that filing the complaint was meant "to prevent such crimes from happening in the future".

"I consider it a moral obligation to my country and to the world."

 

- 'Myriad of complaints' -

 

Asked why Lebanon had chose to file the complaint with the ILO, Bayram pointed to all the workers who were on the job when pagers and walkie-talkies -- tools they used to do their work -- suddenly exploded.

"We deemed it necessary to point out that this runs contrary to work environment, security and safety, contrary to decent work principles... defended by the ILO," he said.

He added that Lebanese authorities could still file complaints over the pager attacks in other international forums, including the World Trade Organization.

"In more general terms, the Lebanese government wants to... present a myriad of complaints" against Israel over its operations in the country, he said, since "the amount of crimes is huge".

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began in October 2023, according to the health ministry, including at least 1,964 since September 23, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The war has also pushed more than a million people to flee their homes.