Tunis — The twinning project between Tunisia and France stipulating "support to the setting up of a space-based cereal information system for crop forecasting and early warnings," came Wednesday to an end in Tunis.

This six-month project (January-June 2012) aims to reinforce the capacities of the National Centre for Mapping and Remote Sensing (CNCT) and the Agriculture Ministry to set up an operational system of forecast for land surface and cereal production by remote sensing.

It will also contribute to a better planning of cereal imports and consequently ensure cereal self-sufficiency.

This French-Tunisian twinning project is funded by the European Union (EU) by means of 250 000 Euros, and is part of the back-up programme to the Association Agreement and the Neighbourhood Action Plan (P3AII).

It is worth pointing out that cereal products represent on national average 16% of the Tunisian citizen's food expenditures and about 5.6% of his total expenditures, Agriculture Minister Mohamed Ben Salem said.

For low-income households, expenditures on cereal products represent over 30% of the total food expenditures.