Objective: Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) is endemic in central Tunisia and is more prevalent in rural agricultural areas. The aim of this work was to determine ZCL prevalence among farmers and to test their availability to take ownership of the problem and participate actively to fight and address the disease. Methods: A sample of farmers from Sidi Bouzid, central Tunisia, was selected randomly. Farmers were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire about ZCL lesion occurrence, its date of onset among family members, and the farmers’ availability to contribute to fighting this disease. Results: ZCL occurred in at least one of the family members of 38.5% interviewed farmers. The disease was endemic with recurrent epidemics every 4 or 5 years. ZCL among farmers was associated with irrigation management. With regard to ZCL preventive measures, the majority of farmers agreed and expressed willingness to collaborate (93.1%), to follow health care facilities instructions (73.1%), and to join the nongovernmental organization (NGO) (56.9%). However, they did not agree to reduce irrigation activities mainly at night, to live far from their irrigated fields, or to sleep out of their houses at night. Conclusions: ZCL is more prevalent in farmers engaged in irrigation activities. Farmers are not agreeable to reducing their activity to avoid exposure to the sand fly bites. Thus, population involvement and commitment is required to implement effective control measures to fight and address ZCL.

En Tunisie, la culture de blé dur en irrigué est pratiquée sur une superficie moyenne annuelle de 48 700 ha, soit environ les deux tiers des superficies céréalières conduites en irrigué. Elle produit en moyenne 180 000 t, soit 20 % de la production nationale de blé dur. Cependant, les rendements réalisés restent toujours en dessous des attentes avec une faible productivité, particulièrement celle de la ressource en eau. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif de ce travail est d’élaborer un diagnostic opérationnel de fonctionnement des exploitations céréalières irriguées et de mettre en exergue les principaux leviers d’amélioration des performances de la culture du blé dur. Pour ce faire, des enquêtes de terrain ont été menées auprès d’un échantillon de 698 céréaliculteurs. Les données recueillies ont permis d’élaborer une typologie de fonctionnement et d’analyser les performances de la culture du blé dur. Trois systèmes de production types ont été identifiés : un système monocultural basé sur la culture du blé dur, un système diversifié à orientation céréalière et un système diversifié à orientation maraîchère. L’analyse des performances a révélé une disparité nette entre deux niveaux de performance distincts pour chaque système de production.

The Water Demand Management by Monitoring the Technology Performance and the Water Use Efficiency

In Tunisia, the development of the irrigated cereal sector plays a key role in the mitigation of the fluctuation of the rainfed production and to ensure a minimum of production. However, the archived yields remain under the expected potential performance, and the water productivity is very low. Hence, this work aims to investigate the performance of the irrigated durum wheat activity and to identify eventual determinants to improve the water productivity. To reach the objective, a field survey was carried out with a sample of 555 farmers. We adopted a data envelopment analysis approach to assess the technical efficiency and water use efficiency. A Tobit model was estimated to identify determinants of the technical performance. The results showed that the technical efficiency reached only 63%, which meant that farmers could increase the durum wheat yield from 3.5 tha⁻¹ to 4.8 tha⁻¹. The water use efficiency reached only 30%, which translates to an unwise use of the water resource. The results also showed an eventual improvement of the water productivity by more importantly saving the irrigation water rather than optimizing the production. To improve the performances, the results revealed some key determinants that could be taken into account by policy makers to implement appropriate strategies.

A Crop Model for Improvement Water Use Efficiency and Durum Wheat Production in the Siliana Region