The agricultural sector occupies an important place in the Tunisian economy, as it ensures the food security of the country, based mainly on domestic production and is the main activity in several regions 

Land resources: The area of land used for agricultural purposes is estimated Ha 10 million, divided between:  -Arable land: 5 million ha;   -Rangelands: 4 million ha;   -Forests and scrublands:1million Ha

• The 5 million hectares of land are divided into uses as follows:

- Arboriculture: 2 million ha (including 1.6 million ha of olive trees);

 - Crop: 2 million ha (including 1.6 million hectares of cereals)

- Fallow: 0.7 million Ha

- Cultures: 0.3 million ha.

• Area equipped for irrigation: 420 thousand ha, of which 75% equipped with water saving.  

Water resources: 

• Resource mobilization: 4.8 billion m3 divided between:

·        - Surface water: 2.7 billion m3;

·        - Water: 2.1 billion m3.

• Resources mobilized: 4.1 billion m3 (2008) split between:

- Surface water: 2.1 billion m3 by 29 major dams, 222 dams and 810 ponds;

- Groundwater 2 billion m3 by 4700 drilling and 138 miles deep wells.   

Fishing resources:

• The Tunisian coasts extend 1300 km;

• There are 41 fishing ports (one port every 40 km on average);

 • The fleet consists of more than 10 miles coastal boats, half of which equipped with engines; 875 boats for fishing on the high seas

• The labor force in the fisheries sector is about 60 thousand people;

• Production is estimated at 105 000 tonnes including 24 000 tonnes from inshore fisheries, 22 000 tonnes of the trawl fishery and 51 000 tonnes of fisheries fire.

Structure of agricultural production (average for the period 2004 - 2008)

The structure of production is dominated by livestock, followed by trees (olives, dates, and citrus fruit), vegetable and cereals.