Enhancing food security and climate resilience in Tunisia through innovative seed systems and scaling mechanisms in wheat-based production

 

Despite its cultural and economic importance, national wheat production contributes only 30% of the wheat consumed in Tunisia. The gap is mainly due to the use of old, low-yielding varieties, low availability of improved seeds, soil degradation, pests and diseases, low water-use efficiency and climate change, which is inducing hotter temperatures and more frequent droughts. As a result, Tunisia imports 1.6 million tons of wheat annually, which weakens its economy and increases the risks of food insecurity.

This project aims to enhance food security and climate resilience in Tunisia by improving the efficiency and gender-responsiveness of the seed system and developing and sharing knowledge about the best agronomic practices to increase wheat productivity. The project will assess the existing seed system and work with public, private and community organizations to design, test and establish more efficient and gender-responsive interventions to upgrade it. Four innovation platforms will be established in the different agroecological zones to facilitate the participation of stakeholders required to pilot and demonstrate the impacts of adopting improved varieties and crop management practices on productivity, income and climate resilience.

It is expected that 4,000 men and women farmers from different agroecological zones will be adopting improved wheat varieties and agronomic practices, thus contributing to increasing the productivity of wheat-based production systems as well as their resilience to climate change. This will enhance national food security. This project is supported through the Wheat Research Accelerator Fund initiative, which is a co-funding partnership between IDRC and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.