Tunisia has made considerable efforts to support investments along agricultural value chains and to encourage rural youth to become agri-entrepreneurs. However, significant challenges have to be tackled to stimulate and promote more and better investments to stop rural outward migration and reduce youth unemployment rates. FAO and the Rural Economy Laboratory of the National Agricultural Research Institute of Tunisia (INRAT) aim to identify concrete solutions to this end. A first multi-stakeholder workshop was organized on 14 October 2019 to develop a vision on how to make the agriculture and agribusiness sectors more attractive for young Tunisians and encourage them to become agri-entrepreneurs.

The marginalization of young Tunisians and their exclusion from political decision-making and development processes has been considered as one of the triggering factors of the revolution of 14 January 2011. The youth from rural and agricultural regions have been the spearhead of that movement. Since then, substantial efforts have been made, especially by the Agricultural Investment Promotion Agency (APIA), to empower young agri-entrepreneurs in rural areas to invest and to support their farms and businesses. The land loans (“prêts fonciers”), subsidies and technical support services (“coaching”) are yet but the most emblematic services provided. APIA has even developed an investment map enlisting all priority investment opportunities per region.

Despite these efforts, the unemployment rates of young people, and particularly university graduates, remains high, reaching up to 30%.

The North-Western region of Tunisia is particularly affected by high unemployment rates. At the same time, this region has a high territorial development potential based on the differentiation, labelling, and marketing of several agricultural products, particularly in the olive oil and goat dairy value chains. Interventions in these areas could contribute to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in each of these value chains.

Following this initial assessment, FAO and INRAT, in partnership with APIA, supported by Switzerland, and in technical collaboration with the Swiss School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL), are undertaking a diagnosis following a specific request from the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries. This diagnosis should result in concrete recommendations to empower young agri-entrepreneurs to invest in the olive oil and dairy goat value chains in the North West.

A first multi-stakeholder workshop has been organized on 14 October in Tunis by INRAT and FAO following initial field-level consultations and research activities. Approximately 30 participants representing young agri-entrepreneurs active in both value chains, as well as other stakeholders, have sought to identify a vision of an enabling environment that would be adapted to their needs and conducive to increase investments by the youth and for the young agri-entrepreneurs.

Young agri-entrepreneurs operating in both value chains have presented their projects, the challenges they are facing, as well as encouraging factors. Then, the participants were led to discuss the following questions: how to make agriculture and the two value chains more attractive? How to improve the financing of agricultural and agribusiness investments? How to strengthen the institutional, policy, regulatory and incentives frameworks for investments in agriculture? How to improve access to information and coaching? Finally, the participants developed problem and solution trees and prioritized key interventions.

The workshop has resulted in concrete conclusions which will form the basis for a roadmap, designed by the youth for the youth:

• It is essential to strengthen existing projects and programmes by streamlining them and enhancing their coherence, and by improving communication on the various services which are available. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could play an important role in this context.
• It is crucial to improve access to financial services and introduce innovative solutions, such as the creation of a credit guarantee fund. It is also important to strengthen the legal and political framework regulating access to credits. In this context, it is key to explore options such as preferential interest rates for young agri-entrepreneurs and realistic grace periods which correspond to the agricultural production cycle (according to the activity).
• It is important to create a dynamic in the areas of coaching and technical support to young agri-entrepreneurs, and strengthen existing projects and programmes in these fields.

Based on these results and input received, INRAT is going to carry out a situation analysis and subsequently present its comprehensive assessment with specific recommendations.

The young agri-entrepreneurs will participate in a second workshop in February 2020 to validate and fine tune the solutions proposed by FAO and INRAT.