Hadj Kacem, Director of the Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Investments at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture (Apia), went to Algiers on September 6, at the headquarters of the Groupe de Réflexion Filaha Innove, a partner of SIPSA-SIMA, to officially announce to the press the arrival of Tunisia as a featured country at SIPSA-SIMA.
Find below the article of the newspaper DZ Entreprise, written by Zaid Zoheir:
« Initiating the possibilities of an Algerian-Tunisian partnership in the field of agribusiness is the objective of the [2017 edition] of the Livestock and Agricultural Equipment Show (Sipsa-Sima), scheduled from 10 to 13 October 2017, at the Palais des Expositions (Safex), Algiers. This is what emerged from the press conference, which was held on September 06, at the Club-Fayet (Bouchaouoi), headquarters of the Filaha Innove think tank (Grfi), organizer of the event.
Of the 610 exhibitors expected, including 300 foreigners from 34 countries, 13 are from Tunisia, the guest of honour of this edition. Hadj Kacem, director of the Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Investments at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture (Apia), said that « this number includes professionals, representatives of the inter-profession (vegetables, fruits, livestock, red meats), private and agricultural promotion agencies.
Placed under the slogan, « for a fruitful Maghrebian cooperation, for the modernization of the agricultural sector of our region », the Tunisian participation, represented by 25 sectors, aims at highlighting 5 or 6 sectors « of major importance », points out Riadh Attia, Head of the Tunisian Trade Mission in Algiers.
He specifies that this future partnership will be centred on « the development of the sector », essentially profitable for the olive sector whose development could be determined by the sole exploitation of olive growing waste. « From this waste, three products can be extracted: soap, light oil and cattle feed.
As a reminder, Tunisia is among the first olive oil exporting countries in the world, targeting the US and Chinese markets.
Tunisian agriculture: 8% of GDP
According to Dr. Bensemmane Amine, President of Grfi, Tunisian agriculture contributes to 8% of GDP, 16% of job creation and 9.7% of the country’s exports. He also revealed that « the Arab participation is limited, for the moment, to Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Tunisia and Palestine ».
A decrease in the number of participants was recorded compared to the previous one. This is due, says Dr. Amine Bensemmane, « to the European slump, reflected in particular by the closure of several companies involved in agricultural machinery. On the other hand, there has been an increase in the participation of countries.
75% of the surface area of agricultural holdings in Algeria is less than 5 hectares
On the sidelines of the press conference, an impromptu debate by experts highlighted the obstacles to the development of Algerian agriculture. Agricultural mechanisation, rural reparcelling, tax-exempt financing of agriculture, the weakness of water reserves, the small size of farms (75% of them have less than 5 ha) and the obvious lack of technological and biotechnological innovation were all mentioned.
In addition, Dr Hadj Henni, vice-president of the Grfi, indicated that the exhibition will include conferences and debates on various themes, including « A collective intelligence at the service of a modern agriculture » and « Food security, intensification, valorization and rationalization of our agricultural productions ».
As a reminder, Filaha Innove, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, is a foundation created in 2007, on the sidelines of the « Filaha » International Agricultural Show. Its members include economic operators, specialised professional associations, and experts in agronomy, veterinary medicine and agro-economics. Its objective is to establish a framework for consultation and proposals to contribute to the development of the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors in Algeria.
