Tunis — President of the Republic Kais Saied had a meeting on Tuesday afternoon in Carthage with Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources, and Fisheries Ezzeddine Ben Cheikh and Secretary of State for Water Resources Hamadi Habaieb.

The Head of State gave instructions to further support small farmers, in particular, in connection to fertilisers, guidance and storage after the recent rains. Indicators, he said, show there will an exceptional crop yield this year in the wake of a long drought. He also expressed the hope to achieve zero loss under adequate storage conditions.

In another connection, the President underlined the need to redouble efforts to preserve the livestock; the National Feed Office was established to this end, notwithstanding a number of attempts to thwart it.

Water resources have to be further preserved, the Head of State said. There is likewise need to ensure dam maintenance, create hill lakes and issue water cut notifiations to avoid a repeat of such incidents on the grounds of the deterioration of drinking water pipelines. "The latter are only deteriorated in some regions and in heat periods," he added.

Agriculture, in all its components, is part of national security. Those who seek to undermine it in whatever way will not remain unpunished, the President highlighted.