Tunisia to lead global market of organic agriculture: minister

Tunisia will be among the pioneers in global market of organic agriculture, Tunisian Minister of agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Samir Taieb said Friday.

"organic agricultural areas evolved from nearly 216,000 hectares in 2012 to 336,000 hectares in 2018," Taieb said on the sidelines of the National Commission for organic agriculture meeting.

The minister said Tunisia ranks 23rd worldwide in this sector, adding that it occupies the first place in the world in terms of areas devoted to the organic olive farming. He stressed that organic agriculture, highly regulated, should obey strict rules.

"Over the past few years, the number of stakeholders in the organic agriculture sector has reached 8,000, while exports have increased by 28 percent," concluded the minister.