Ezzeddine Ben Cheikh, Tunisia's Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, made it official on Friday: the country is launching its very first general digital agricultural census, and the numbers it produces could reshape how the sector is understood and managed for years to come.
Field data collection is set to begin in November 2026 and will run through 2027, reaching communities across the entire country. The fact that this is Tunisia's first census of this kind says a lot about the gap that has existed in reliable, ground-level agricultural data until now.
Going digital from the start is a meaningful choice. It signals an intention to build a modern, accessible record of what Tunisian agriculture actually looks like today, from smallholder plots to larger operations. What that data will reveal, and what decisions it will drive, is the real story to watch.
Originally published by AllAfrica.