Agro-Industry & Food Processing
Sector’s key figures
companies operating in the sector in 2023
employees in 2023
of the GDP is generated by the sector
of exports in 2024, with an average growth rate of 12%
A SKILLED POOL OF TALENT AND RENOWN HIGHER EDUCATION
The country harness its large highly skilled pool of talents of more than 8500 engineers graduating annually to address the need of the industry
A WIDELY DEVELOPED ECOSYSTEM
A wide range of national and international companies operating in the various segments of the Agribusiness value chain
Tunis Carthage University
Certificate in management and management in agriculture: Agribusiness training in Tunisia
Sectoral Training Center In Agri-Food Industries – ElKhadra
The center members with training to prepare them to integrate agro-food companies as technicians
Packaging Technical Centre (PACKTEC)
PACKTEC offers support to packaging professionals. It has a design department, laboratories for testing materials and food packaging, as well as a logistics centre
Technical Centre for aquaculture
CTA represents seafood professionals working in various development, experimentation and new technology activities (commercializing scientific research in the field, diffusion of aquaculture technology …)
Agri-food technical center
The CTAA is a training player close to agribusiness companies. Thus, it offers a choice of a variety of training sessions scheduled throughout the Tunisian territory
Technical Centre for Organic Farming
The CTAB's mission is to promote and develop organic farming in Tunisia by organising activities in areas such as training, applied research, promotion and information exchange
Training and vocational training center in Sidi-Bouzid
The center provides students with a variety of training programs including a training in Food industries, milk and its derivatives
Training and vocational training center in Sers
The center provides students with a variety of training programs including a training in Food industries
A NETWORK OF INDUSTRIAL PARKS PROMOTING INNOVATION AND R&D
The country developed several integrated business parks as part of the national strategy for the development and promotion of scientific research, innovation and high added- value production
Elgazala Technopark
The Competitiveness Cluster of Bizerte is an integrated space dedicated to agribusiness that includes three components: The Agro-Food Technopole of Bizerte, AGRO'TECH, which covers 45 ha in Menzel Abderrahman aims to foster the creation of synergies, the promotion of innovation and increased competitiveness for the Tunisian agri-food sector Industrial spaces on a total area of 150ha (112ha in the region of El AZIB) can accommodate Tunisian and foreign investors operating in the various agribusiness segments A network of regional, national and international partners providing all operators with information and skills needed and counting 31 partners (23 Tunisians and 8 foreigners) and a core group of industrialists consisting of 102 companies.
Technopole of Borj-Cedria
The Technopole of Borj-Cedria, is presented as a pool of skills and excellence for all areas of the country, and the region. It brings together for the benefit of companies and promoters of all horizons the conditions of their establishment and their development. It also offers the R&D community in the sectors under its responsibility (plant biotechnology, water and environment, renewable energies, materials science) privileged access to the latest technical knowledge and the most promising research work.
Elgazala Technopark
Elgazala Technopark hosts various support institutions including 3 higher education institutions, research and development labs, training centers and business and projects incubators the aim of creating synergy and cross-fertilization between these actors. More than 250 companies including subsidiaries of major Multinationals (Microsoft, ST Microelectronics, Ericsson, Alcatel Lucent ...) as well as many Tunisian success stories (Telnet, Omniacom, Picosoft, Cynapsys, EBSYS ...) are currently hosted in different premises of Elgazala Technopark.
A THRIVING AGIBUSINESS DEDICATED ASSOCIATION
Many professional agribusiness organizations, operating within the framework of various statutory laws
The country has three trade unions at central level :
UTAP (Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fishing) as main national professional trade union, UTICA (Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Crafts) and CONECT (Confederation of Tunisian
Citizen Enterprises) as Tunisian employers’ organisations. These unions mission is to represent farmers and sector professionals and their interests.
Seven central cooperatives, that function as parastatals, are involved in the production, collection and distribution of several essential products (cereals, seeds, etc.).
These 7 central cooperatives operate in the sectors of oils, seeds, cereals, wheat, viticulture and field crops.
Under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce, three chambers bring together the country's farmers, in the 10 governorates of the North, the 6 of the Center and the 7 of the South. These chambers have an advisory role to the government and are responsible for the promotion of agriculture and the training of member farmers.
The sector is also organized around 7 inter-professional agricultural associations that bring together producers, exporters and processors and offer the possibility of networking the actors of the local value chain. These groups play an essential role in the regulation of the market and provide specific information on the sectors concerned, including their organization, legislation or special programs.
Snapshot of major players operating in the sectors
Founded in Switzerland in 1866, Nestlé is one of the world's leading food and beverage companies. With more than 273,000 employees and 376 industrial sites in 81 countries in 2020, the company distributes its products in 186 countries. Since 1964 Nestlé Tunisia is specialized in the food and beverage sector
Since 1993, SanLucar produces, processes and sells about 90 varieties of fruits and vegetables from 35 countries. With 3 200 employees, the company sells 610 000 kilos of fresh fruit and vegetables daily. Established since 2008 in Tunisia, the company, mainly produces tomatoes for the international market
Founded in 1994, Land'Or is an agri-food group that is among the leaders in the cheese industry in Tunisia. The Group designs, produces and distributes a wide range of products for mass consumption and catering, on markets covering the Maghreb and the Middle East, with an export presence in Morocco, Libya and Algeria.
Poulina Group Holding, created in 1967, operates in poultry farming. The Group then started a strategy of integration of all the activities of this sector. Successively, a diversification of its activities was initiated by investing in various sectors to be constituted of 108 companies and almost 12 000 collaborators