Nabeul: “Good signs for agricultural season” (Minister of Agriculture)

Our field visits to several Tunisian regions have rekindled hopes for a good agricultural season in our country," Abdelmounêm BelSati, Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, said on Tuesday. "We are very satisfied with what has been achieved in the field of agriculture, as we have sown large areas that show positive signs of achieving the goal of self-sufficiency in durum wheat," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of his working visit to the Nabeul governorate. He added that the olive-growing season was progressing well, pointing out that the olive harvest would be between 210 and 220 thousand tonnes, which would be a positive indicator for the mobilisation of foreign currency. This is not to mention, 'the impact on Tunisian consumers of the presidential decision to supply quantities of virgin olive oil for local consumption at preferential prices,' he added. On another level, the Minister of Agriculture refuted reports that there is a serious shortage of feed. 'The informatio n being circulated that there is a major shortage of feed is not true, especially as investigations carried out by the ministry in many governorates confirm that the quantities of feed supplied by the state exceed the needs by 50 to 60%," the minister said. He added that "investigations have shown that a number of farmers are deliberately making false declarations in order to obtain larger quantities of feed.' "We will crack down on speculators and recover all the quotas they have wrongly obtained," he stressed. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse