Key Trends

• Total spending and agricultural researcher numbers rose steadily in Tunisia during 1996–2002, although the trend in total spending was more irregular.

• The National Agricultural Research Institute of Tunisia (IRESA) oversees most of the country’s agricultural R&D. In 2002, the agency’s four research institutes accounted for more than 40 percent of Tunisia’s agricultural research staff and expenditures, while its nine higher-education agencies accounted for more than a quarter of all agricultural R&D staff and spending.

• Agricultural research is primarily funded by the government, although three consecutive World Bank projects have had a significant impact on the structure and the organization of the country’s agricultural research.

• Most agricultural R&D activities still take place in and around Tunis, but a large-scale decentralization program is in progress with a view to addressing farmer needs and making R&D more demand-driven.

• Private-sector agricultural R&D is nonexistent in Tunisia.

Tunisia