Official Launch of the "Soil Matters" Project in Tunisia
The activities of the "Soil Matters: Innovations for Soil Health and Agroecology" project, with a budget of 2.3 million euros (approximately 7.8 million dinars), officially started on Tuesday in Tunis. Financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Soil Matters project will be implemented by the Agricultural Investment Promotion Agency (APIA) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) until April 2028. The objective is to scale up innovations that promote soil health and agroecology, relying on the engagement and capacities of the private agricultural and agri-food sector.
Project Objectives
Concretely, the Soil Matters project will:
- Improve the capacities of 2,000 farmers, including 18% women
- Apply innovations in soil health and agroecology on 3,000 hectares
- Adopt seven planning instruments or policies to promote soil health
- Scale up services or products for soil health and agroecology in 10 SMEs and economic groups
Project Components
The project is structured around three axes:
- Strengthening organizational, technical, and commercial capacities: of enterprises to adopt and implement innovations that promote soil health and agroecology.
- Improving framework conditions: for the adoption of agroecological practices by economic actors.
- Capitalizing and sharing lessons: from experiences and innovations supported through national, regional, and international networks.
Importance of Soil Preservation
According to Haykel Hochlef, Chief of the Minister's Cabinet, soil preservation is not an option but a necessary condition for the sustainability of agriculture. Agriculture plays a central role in the national economy, constituting a strategic lever for growth, employment, and social stability, as well as a vector for food security and a pillar for the sustainable management of natural resources.
Challenges Facing the Agricultural Sector
However, the country faces significant challenges, including:
- Climate change
- Increasing water scarcity
- Worrying soil degradation, which fragilizes ecosystems and affects agricultural productivity
- Low organic matter content (less than 2%)
- Approximately 1.5 million hectares of land affected by salinization
- 23,000 hectares of productive land lost each year due to erosion
These trends threaten land fertility, farm profitability, investment in the agricultural sector, and food sovereignty.
Project Significance
The project is particularly important, with an innovative integrated approach focused on two essential levers: agroecology and technological innovation. The project aims to promote investment in soil conservation practices that can regenerate organic matter, strengthen ecosystem resilience, and disseminate agroecological practices on a large scale to reduce dependence on chemical inputs and strengthen the capacities of agricultural actors.
Global Context
The Soil Matters project is part of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development's (BMZ) special initiative for the transformation of agri-food systems (AGER), which aims to enable all individuals to enjoy the right to safe, sufficient, and balanced food. The Soil Matters Tunisia project is part of the global Soil Matters program, with a global budget of approximately 20 million euros, which will also be deployed in six other countries: India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Cameroon.
