Advancing public private and people partnership (PPPP) for small scale mechanization in Tunisia: a milestone towards enhanced farm and landscape management.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas ICARDA and its national partners in Tunisia engaged in a comprehensive dialogue with private sector entities specializing in manufacturing and trade of small mechanization, along with farmers’ organizations and representatives, to explore potential pathways and identify priority actions necessary to formulate national strategic plans. A high-level national workshop titled “Petite Mécanisation Agricole – Vision 2030 en Tunisie” was organized in Hammamet, Tunisia, on June 25th. The workshop brought together over 30 participants from the public and private sectors, farmers’ organizations, and research institutions. The objective of the workshop was twofold: first, to identify pathways and concrete priority actions, including Public Private and People Partnerships (PPPPs), needed for the development of the sector of scale-appropriate mechanization in Tunisia; and second, to support ICARDA and its National Agricultural Research System (NARES) in Tunisia in identifying priority investments of the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program (MFL SP)  to further support such an important national orientation.

 Current state and future challenges related to the sector of scale-appropriate mechanization in Tunisia

Key plenary presentations emphasized the importance of the small-scale machinery sector, as around 56% of agricultural holdings manage less than 5 hectares, a figure that is expected to increase further in the future due to inheritance laws among other factors. Over 90% of the country’s agricultural land is cultivated using tractors, with only 6% of farmers being tractor owners (according to the latest statistics), which underscores the importance of service provision in the field of agricultural mechanization, as well as the importance of prioritizing the scale-appropriate design, manufacturing, trade, deployment and maintenance of agricultural machines, that are cost effective and well adapted to the small scale operations. The representative of the National Agency for Agricultural Extension and Training (AVFA) mentioned that AVFA currently offers “initial training courses” on farm machinery, each composed of 30 modules. These courses take about two years to complete and enable participants to become Farm Machinery Operator or Agricultural Equipment Maintenance Technician. The mechanization curriculum is divided into different modules covering areas like tillage and soil fertility equipment and harvesting machines, thus focusing on large equipment mostly. ICARDA presented a preliminary inventory of small agricultural machines co-designed, piloted and tested in its various R4D projects, during the last decade, with farmer feedback in different agroecological contexts of Tunisia. The machines ranged from grinders and forage shredders to tree pruners, silage-making implements, seed cleaning and treatment units, and compact feed processing units. Many of these have already shown high potential to increase productivity and reduce labor for smallholders – especially women and youth.

All presentations and discussions around the current key state of small-scale mechanization sector in Tunisia ended with the following list of key challenges to be solved:

• Although local production of small-scale machinery is protected by the imposition of customs duties, only a small number of local manufacturers operate in this field
• Lack of up-to-date data, strategy, and specific studies on the development of small-scale mechanization
• Lack of a dedicated public agency that can guide the selection of agricultural equipment and its adaptation according to farm size
• Weak coordination between smallholder farmers and research and development institutions for future development and design of such equipment,
• Lack of both public and private funding for field training and support of smallholder farmers in terms of small mechanization use and maintenance.

What Machines to prioritize under the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program

Three multidisciplinary working groups, including combinations of public agencies, researchers, manufacturers, traders, and farmers, were established to discuss priorities for the most strategic crops and livestock activities in Tunisia. These priorities are also relevant for the MFL science program and its living landscape partners in the Medjerda basin. The three focus groups concentrated on identifying the existing demand for small machines and the way MFL can make them available (either through local prototyping and/or through importation) for piloting and testing by its local living landscape stakeholders. The three groups were as follows: i) mechanization for crops and trees; ii) livestock production and feeding; and iii) agro-processing and value addition. From these working groups, a shortlist of 15 priority small machines was proposed for priority design, prototyping, and piloting, including silage wrappers, solar-powered dryers for tomatoes, figs, and aromatic plants, as well as grinders and mixers for feed production. These machines were identified as having strong potential to transform smallholder systems, especially in the arid and semi-arid mixed crop livestock systems where ICARDA and its partners have been working for the last 10 years. A second priority was identified around the development of solar-powered, mobile agro-processing equipment, with a focus on rural women and youth entrepreneurs working in food and feed value chains. This is of particular importance in rural areas where electricity grids are not available or where high electricity prices could potentially compromise the financial viability of local businesses.

Toward a National Vision and a PPPP Transition Model

A notable outcome of the workshop was the collective commitment to developing a PPP transition model for small-scale mechanization. A fourth working group discussion was dedicated to this purpose. In fact, the private sector has expressed its strong willingness to collaborate with public authorities. This collaboration would benefit from the public authorities’ extensive data sets and connections with farmers. This would enable the private sector to enhance its comprehension of farmers’ needs and demands, facilitating the conversion of this data into market opportunities. They were also calling for joint collaboration with public agencies, particularly Tunisia’s network of agricultural extension services, technical centers, and universities. These entities should be used as platforms to gather and share this information and as spaces for piloting these innovations. These centers and universities usually have pedagogical farms that could serve as a living lab for co-designing, piloting, and testing demand-oriented solutions with farmers and other local actors.

Local manufacturers of small-scale machinery have requested financial incentives, such as tax exemptions on raw materials, to strengthen their participation and stimulate further investment in this sector. Such measures are particularly critical as domestic producers face increasing competition from imported machines, predominantly from Turkey and China. Elevated prices for steel and other metals substantially raise production costs, leaving local manufacturers with narrow or no profit margins. As a result, some enterprises have shifted from domestic production to importing small machines, leading to job losses among local blacksmiths, a decline in local value addition, and increased outflow of foreign currency.

Private actors also expressed its willingness to play a stronger role in training farmers as part of their marketing strategies. This objective would be accomplished through the organization of field days dedicated to instructing farmers on the proper use and maintenance of the developed and/or traded machinery. Two private companies have expressed their interest in organizing training sessions for MFL SP farmers within the ICARDA living landscape. However, participants also agreed that the PPPP model will be further discussed and elaborated (perhaps also tested) within ICARDA’s Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program (MFL) in collaboration with the GIZ projects in Tunisia (particularly ReGNR and Soil Matters). A workshop is planned for late 2025 to further develop this PPPP model in collaboration with GIZ and ICARDA. Additionally, a workshop was held on September 26, 2025, at ICARDA with several of the identified private actors to discuss a plan for the joint development of some of the suggested solutions. The workshop focused on the planning of field trainings to be organized by one of the private partners.

By Udo Rudiger, Aymen Frjia and Zied Idoudi