Tunisia, like most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has limited renewable water resources and is classified as a water stress country. The effects of climate change are exacerbating the situation. The agricultural sector is the main consumer (80%) of blue water reserves. In this study, to better understand the factors that influence the food water footprint of Tunisian consumers, we used a multiple linear regression model (MLR) to analyze data from 4853 households. The innovation in this paper consists of integrating effects of socio-economic, demographic, and geographic trends on the food consumption water footprint into the assessment of water and food security. The model results showed that regional variations in food choices meant large differences in water footprints, as hypothesized. Residents of big cities are more likely to have a large water footprint. Significant variability in water footprints, due to different food consumption patterns and socio-demographic characteristics, was also noted. Food waste is also one of the determining factors of households with a high water footprint. This study provides a new perspective on the water footprint of food consumption using “household” level data. These dietary water footprint estimates can be used to assess potential water demand scenarios as food consumption patterns change. Analysis at the geographic and socio-demographic levels helps to inform policy makers by identifying realistic dietary changes.

This paper analyzes the complex relationships of factors influencing residue biomass management in cereal–sheep production systems in semi-arid areas of Tunisia. The Bayesian belief network (BBN) methodology was applied to identify factors enabling the better management of crop residue (CR) at the farm level. Data were collected from 152 farms located in the governorate of Siliana in north-west Tunisia. After designing the complex interactions between different variables that have an influence on the allocation of CR, BBN was also applied as a predictive model by inserting evidence conditional probabilities on the quantity of CR left on the soil and simulating the incurrent changes in the probability state of the remaining network variables. The results show that around 70% of farmers in our sample retain an overall quantity of CR lower than 200 kg/ha. The share of livestock income, livestock herds, cost of livestock feed, and off-farm income are all factors that have a strong influence on residue biomass management.

The chapter aims to develop a regionally disaggregated agricultural supply model for Tunisia in order to investigate the potential effects of increasing water scarcity on the performances of the agricultural sector in the country, and the structural adaptation strategies needed to face such a challenge. A set of scenarios combining future water availability, water use efficiency, and increasing producer prices were simulated using the developed model. Results show that the agricultural sector in Tunisia, particularly the agricultural employment, would be negatively affected in case of decreasing irrigation water availability, and mostly affected regions would be the north east, central west, and southern areas. However, it is always possible to mitigate such effects through a combination of structural adjustments (changing land use in different regions), enhanced water use efficiency, and support of producer prices. The model also provides recommendations regarding specific crops that should be promoted in specific regions in order to maintain an agricultural sector with high added value in Tunisia.

The sustainability analysis of wheat farms is increasingly becoming interesting for the scientific community in order to help propose a production model ensuring food security and sustainability of agricultural production. This work aims to assess cereal farms’ sustainability in Northern Tunisia via analyzing the effect of farm size on sustainability dimensions. Toward this aim, the Farm Sustainability Indicators (IDEA) method and statistical tests (ANOVA, LSD) were used for the analysis of the obtained data from a representative sample consisting of 200 farms—located in the governorates of Beja, Jendouba and Bizerte—with different sizes (<5 ha; 5–20 ha and more than 20 ha). The IDEA method is built from three indicators of sustainability (environmental, social and economic) in agriculture. The results showed a very high variability in the sustainability scores of durum wheat farms. In fact, the scores relating to each sustainability dimension vary according to the farm size. Overall, the results highlight that small farms are the most economically vulnerable despite being friendly to the environment. However, large farms were relatively more viable, but less environmentally friendly.

Food evaluation is a topic central to consumer research and food marketing. However, there is little consensus regarding how consumers combine sensory stimuli, product information, and visual impressions to shape their evaluation. Moreover, the bulk of research relies on studies based on questionnaires and declarative responses, raising questions about subliminal processes and their hierarchy in an evaluation process. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a study with more than 400 participants in Morocco and Tunisia and investigated how factors such as flavor/taste, product information, and packaging design in a variety of olive oils influence visual attention and are reflected in willingness to pay (WTP). We implemented incentivization through an auction to reduce the hypothetical bias in stated WTP values. The results revealed that, compared to tasting the oils, the provision of cognitive information led to an increase in consumers’ WTP. However, a drastic increase in WTP occurred when the consumers were exposed to package designs, overshadowing the formerly dominant effects of product attributes. These findings support theories suggesting a visual perceptual processing advantage due to the picture superiority effect–a picture says a thousand words. Further, it underlines the importance of graphic design in food marketing. The findings have ramifications for food marketing, product development, and pricing strategies.