In Tunisia, the agricultural sector faces multiple challenges that affect both productivity and farmers’ livelihoods. Although agroecology is increasingly recognized as a pathway to sustainable agriculture, the extent of its adoption by farmers remains unclear. This study assesses the agroecological performance of 50 farms in the Sbikha delegation of the Kairouan governorate (Central Tunisia), using the Tool for Agroecological Performance Evaluation (TAPE), developed by the FAO. This tool assesses how existing cropping systems align with the 10 principles of agroecology and explores their potential for further transition. The results reveal a modest level of agroecological adoption, averaging only 41%. Several factors influence this outcome, including limited farmer knowledge and technical capacity, a weak institutional and organizational framework, and low diversification of cropping systems. Furthermore, three types of farms were identified based on their production systems: farms specializing in fruit trees, farms specializing in cereal and vegetable crops, and farms specializing in olive and vegetable crops. Among these, fruit tree farms exhibit a higher level of agroecological transition, averaging 51%. This increased diversification enhances resilience to market fluctuations. To accelerate the agroecological transition, several key measures should be implemented. Updating land property titles would improve access to credit by enabling farmers to provide the necessary guarantees. Additionally, targeted training programs and awareness-raising initiatives could strengthen technical capacities, thereby facilitating the adoption of agroecological practices. These interventions would enhance farmers’ economic resilience, support sustainable agricultural production, and promote equitable rural development.

Goat farming represents a critical component of rural livelihoods, food security, and cultural heritage in southeastern Tunisia. This study adopts a multi-stakeholder approach to analyze the goat value chain in Tataouine, incorporating focus groups, semi-structured questionnaires, and direct observations with 80 farmers, 3 veterinarians, 13 butchers, and 100 consumers. The findings reveal strong local demand, with 72% of consumers purchasing goat meat and 66% consuming milk. However, significant inefficiencies exist, particularly a misalignment between production and market requirements: while 92% of butchers prefer fattened animals, only 16% of farmers engage in fattening practices. Women constitute 49% of dairy processors, yet face persistent resource constraints. Climate pressures exacerbate these challenges, with 80% of farmers reporting water scarcity and 93.8% observing pasture degradation. Three strategic interventions emerge as pivotal for sustainable development: targeted support for feed-efficient fattening techniques, establishment of women-led dairy processing collectives, and implementation of climate-resilient water management systems. These measures address core constraints while leveraging existing strengths of the production system. The study presents a transferable framework for livestock value chain analysis in arid regions, demonstrating how integrated approaches can enhance both economic viability and adaptive capacity while preserving traditional pastoral systems.

Since the end of December 2019, the COrona VIrus Disease (COVID-19) is sweeping the world and has caused huge damage to the health, economy, and social life of the communities. Meteorological variables are among the factors influencing the spread of contagious diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between climatic parameters and COVID-19 spread in Tunisia. To do this, we designed a daily dataset including the number of confirmed and deaths cases, minimum temperature (°C), maximum temperature (°C), mean temperature (°C), rainfall (mm), and wind speed (km/h) during the period of June 27 to October 22, 2020. To investigate the association between climatic variables and COVID-19, the Spearman correlation test was employed. The Mann-Kendall test has been also used to detect the direction of the COVID-19 trend. As many researchers have demonstrated that the incubation period of the ongoing pandemic varies from 1 to 14 days, the correlation of each parameter with COVID-19 was examined on the day of the confirmed cases and deaths, and before 7 and 14 days. The results showed that out of the five selected climatic variables, four variables were correlated with COVID-19 cases and deaths (statistically significant at a 99% confidence level). A positive correlation of the rainfall with COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths was observed, the highest was 14 days ago. However, negative correlations were observed for minimum, maximum, and mean temperature, the highest was on the day of the incident. Besides, the Mann-Kendall test showed increasing trends for COVID-19 cases and deaths (statistically significant at a 99% confidence level). The results of this study might be useful to understand the role of climatic factors in the spread of COVID-19 and provide insights for healthcare policymakers to well manage this global pandemic.

The Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) assumes that all capitals are complementary and that more capital assets would lead to greater adaptive capacity. However, the SLA neglects the interactions and transformations between different livelihood capitals. This paper suggests a methodological approach to understand how different capitals may be structured, transformed, and used to improve the farm households’ adaptive capacity to climatic stresses. Data for this study were gathered by means of a questionnaire survey during 2018 from 100 farm households representing the main farming systems of Medenine governorate, Southeast of Tunisia. The analyses were carried out using three tools following a stepwise approach. First, to understand the interactions that exist between the different capitals, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried out. Then, the adaptive capacity was calculated using the PCA results. Finally, using the Pearson's correlation index, the impact of livelihood assets on adaptive capacity was tested. The results demonstrated that households are trying to compensate for the lack of certain assets through interactions with others in order to improve their adaptive capacity. Moreover, human, natural and financial capital seem to better influence the adaptive capacity of farmers, while the impacts of physical and social capital are relatively less important. These results have improved our comprehension of the livelihood capital purpose for strengthening the existing approaches that enhance the adaptive capacity. Finally, this study has demonstrated that exploring the interactions between livelihood capitals is a first concern, which should be incorporated into adaptive capacity planning and policy development.

Tunisia’s current food dependency highlights deep structural challenges facing the agricultural sector, which struggles to meet domestic demand and ensure an exportable surplus. This crisis is especially acute in irrigated agriculture, despite its central role in regional development. A key policy challenge lies in integrating irrigated agriculture, which is dynamic yet shaped by informal and unequal access to land and water, into a sustainable development framework. This study focuses on irrigated perimeters in northern Tunisia and examines how farmers adapt to increasing precarity and negotiate resource scarcity and climatic variability. Although the hydro-agricultural strategy has contributed to regional growth, it has failed to ensure long-term sustainability and now faces structural limits. Overexploited and fragile groundwater resources, growing competition among users, and fragmented governance threaten its viability. Addressing these challenges requires stronger regulation, transitioning to new governance models, promoting alternative agronomic systems, and restructuring agrarian structures to enhance food security, improve environmental services, and build system resilience.