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Tunisia devotes 80 per cent of its water supply to irrigating just eight percent of its farmland, leaving the remainder to rely on increasingly scarce rainfall

Tunisian farmers are bracing for a catastrophic cereal harvest as the country's reservoirs lie near empty and the authorities impose water restrictions to ensure that households have enough to drink. All photos: AFP

At a time when the global cereals market has been disrupted by the Ukraine war, Tunisia's domestic grain production has also withered under a lack of rainfall that has killed crops

Even before the roasting summer months, the soil is dry and dusty in the small Mediterranean country

With some Tunisian water reservoirs almost completely dry, authorities imposed emergency measures last month, rationing household supplies and banning water use for washing cars – as well as for irrigating fields

The shortages come at a critical time for Tunisia, a net importer of wheat that has been hit hard by price hikes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both huge cereals exporters

A painful cost-of-living crisis is compounding woes as the government is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package

Tunisia – a country of 12 million where almost every meal involves bread, couscous or other cereals-based food – needs three million tonnes of wheat and barley a year

Normally around two-thirds of this comes from overseas, but with the Ukraine war showing no signs of abating, that option looks expensive or even impossible

The lack of rain has left reservoirs at historic lows of less than a third of capacity nationwide

The biggest, located at Sidi Salem, a short drive from Chaouachi's farm, is filled to just 16 per cent of capacity

The area has seen less than 10 centimetres (four inches) of rain since the autumn, pushing farmers either to plough withered crops back into the soil or harvest the stalks for animal feed

Farming and fishing union UTAP has called on the government to urgently announce a drought and state of water 'emergency'

Tunisia devotes 80 per cent of its water supply to irrigating just eight percent of its farmland, leaving the remainder to rely on increasingly scarce rainfall

Tunisian farmers are bracing for a catastrophic cereal harvest as the country's reservoirs lie near empty and the authorities impose water restrictions to ensure that households have enough to drink. All photos: AFP

At a time when the global cereals market has been disrupted by the Ukraine war, Tunisia's domestic grain production has also withered under a lack of rainfall that has killed crops

Even before the roasting summer months, the soil is dry and dusty in the small Mediterranean country

With some Tunisian water reservoirs almost completely dry, authorities imposed emergency measures last month, rationing household supplies and banning water use for washing cars – as well as for irrigating fields

The shortages come at a critical time for Tunisia, a net importer of wheat that has been hit hard by price hikes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both huge cereals exporters

A painful cost-of-living crisis is compounding woes as the government is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package

Tunisia – a country of 12 million where almost every meal involves bread, couscous or other cereals-based food – needs three million tonnes of wheat and barley a year

Normally around two-thirds of this comes from overseas, but with the Ukraine war showing no signs of abating, that option looks expensive or even impossible

The lack of rain has left reservoirs at historic lows of less than a third of capacity nationwide

The biggest, located at Sidi Salem, a short drive from Chaouachi's farm, is filled to just 16 per cent of capacity

The area has seen less than 10 centimetres (four inches) of rain since the autumn, pushing farmers either to plough withered crops back into the soil or harvest the stalks for animal feed

Farming and fishing union UTAP has called on the government to urgently announce a drought and state of water 'emergency'

Tunisia devotes 80 per cent of its water supply to irrigating just eight percent of its farmland, leaving the remainder to rely on increasingly scarce rainfall

Tunisia drought threatens grain harvest - in pictures

Lack of rainfall in North Africa has killed off crops

The National

April 15, 2023

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Updated: April 15, 2023, 8:41 AM