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Strengths of the Sector

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Booming Organic Production

Tunisia has significantly strengthened its expertise in the field of organic farming. Indeed, with an area of organic farmland of about 500,000 hectares, an organic production volume of about 265,000 tons per year and about 80% of organic produce intended for export, Tunisia is the second exporter of organic produce in Africa.

Agri-food Industry shows a positive trend in export revenues and generates 120 MTND in 2014.

This production mainly concerns olives and olive oil with organic produce of approximately 25 thousand tons of olive oil per year (representing 12% of total national production) followed by dates (over 1 000 hectares of date plantations re certified organic), citrus fruits, organic pastures and aromatic and medicinal plants which respectively represent 18% and 15% of the current total area of national organic farmland. The volume of investment in this field aims at 585 MTND in 2016 (as compared with 385 MTND in 2012).
Tunisia is the second exporter of organic products in Africa and the 24th largest exporter in the world in terms of value. It is the third largest producer of organic olive oil in the world.

  • In 2010, Tunisia was certified organic exporter. It hence became the 8th country accredited in this field in the market of the European Union.

Available and Skilled Human Resources

Tunisia is the country with the highest percentage of university graduates in the North African countries. A real pool of skills is available with over 1,200 Tunisian graduates are trained in sections specializing in agriculture, forestry & fisheries as well as veterinary sciences.

Competitive salaries

Agri-food sector employs more than 25% of the country´s engineers. Salaries in Tunisia are relatively low compared to neighboring countries and industrialized countries.

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In Tunisia, the salary of a junior engineer is around 600 euros and that of a beginner senior technician is 350 euros.

Synergy between Research Centers and Companies

Food industry in Tunisia is known for its capacity in terms of research and innovation.

There is growing synergy between research centers and companies operating in Tunisia where they Hhave 64 laboratories and 270 research units in the discipline of life sciences and biotechnology. A number of groups integrated biotechnological applications in their production system as is the case of DANONE and POULINA groups.

Compliance with Standards

Tunisia has also adopted since 2001 the international standard at the level of management systems of food safety developed by ISO: the international certification reference scheme ISO 22000.

This increasingly widespread standard in Tunisia aims to define the management requirements of food safety and covers all the needs of both consumers and market. It represents a significant asset for Tunisian exporters.

Technology Park dedicated to food industry

The Bizerte competitiveness cluster houses the food technology park "AGRO´TECH" which extends over 45 hectares with a land reserve of over 100 hectares, the network has 31 partners (23 Tunisian and 8 foreign ones) and a core of manufacturers representing 102 companies.

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