Food security issue is getting more attention in middle-income countries such as Tunisia after the revolution 2011, where many factors affecting its food security are multiplied. An econometric analysis of food security was done through the Vector Error Correction Model approach (VECM). The result of this approach shows that there is a significant long-term causality between the dependent variables and the explanatory variables. Some signs of variables like land under cereals assert the hypothesis of Ricardo’s land rent theory and also attract attention for the preservation of land fertility in climate change context. However, there is a short-term causal relationship between food security and independents variables like: land under cereals, inflation and food imports. These results confirm that the issue of food security in Tunisia is a question of threat in the short and long-term instability. So, it is important today to readjust some factors to ensure food security in Tunisia like controlling inflation and lowering the food importation as short-term measures and preserving and improving the fertility of land under cereals and adopting climate change as long-term measures.

Climate change is expected to have serious environmental, economic, and social impacts on arid regions such as Tunisia country. This research uses a “bottom-up” approach, which seeks to gain insights from the farmers themselves based on a farm household in the south-east of Tunisia. Econometric analyses and Main Component analysis was conducted in this research. Finally, probit binary models were estimated to determine the factors influencing adaptation strategies. All actions aimed at improving the resilience of agriculture in Tunisia’s arid regions to climate change, emphasize mainly the strategies adopted by farmers in terms of water management, technical choices and the adopted production systems combined with the experience and local know-how. Others Government policies and national adaptation programs should focus on education facilitate farmers’ access to extension, information and specialized training needed.

Increasing pressures on water resources are causing many countries in Mediterranean to (re)consider various mechanisms to improve water use efficiency for agricultural like Tunisia country. The price mechanism remains the most appropriate instrument to allocate this water resource, but the search for the optimal price of water that reconciles different aspects economic and environmental is the most important issue to rise. In this paper, we will show that the search for a compromise between farm income and water consumption is possible through an optimal price applying both the entropy maximization approach and the multiobjective optimization. The results show that the use of Generalised Maximum Entropy (GME) approach is able to calibrate the model. Once the model is calibrated, a Multi-Objective Programming (MOP) was used to determine the optimal price using the compromise method. This optimal price determined has resulted to a slight economic decline in agricultural income against an immediate environmental gain of water saving. This compromise is a way to ensure the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and the preservation of water resources in Tunisia.

Good management of water resources requires a good allocation of their availability, especially in public irrigated schemes in Tunisia. This paper contributes to a better reallocation of available water resources at the farm and regional levels. A case study was discussed in the Kalâa Kebira region, in the center-east of Tunisia. Regional models based on aggregation and the possibility of water transfer between two irrigated schemes was tested. The results show that a good seasonal allocation is possible with a total regional exchange of 9.60% m3 of water available between these two schemes. This reallocation is beneficial at the regional level, recording an increase of 2.12% in agricultural income and less beneficial, except for farms that are less competitive, in terms of use of water resources. This reallocation also allows for cultural diversity and specification of agricultural farms. Competitiveness in the water use, diversification and specification of agricultural production systems help to preserve natural resources but they also help to satisfy demand of the regional market.Good management of water resources requires a good allocation of their availability, especially in public irrigated schemes in Tunisia. This paper contributes to a better reallocation of available water resources at the farm and regional levels. A case study was discussed in the Kalâa Kebira region, in the center-east of Tunisia. Regional models based on aggregation and the possibility of water transfer between two irrigated schemes was tested. The results show that a good seasonal allocation is possible with a total regional exchange of 9.60% m3 of water available between these two schemes. This reallocation is beneficial at the regional level, recording an increase of 2.12% in agricultural income and less beneficial, except for farms that are less competitive, in terms of use of water resources. This reallocation also allows for cultural diversity and specification of agricultural farms. Competitiveness in the water use, diversification and specification of agricultural production systems help to preserve natural resources but they also help to satisfy demand of the regional market.

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