Tunisia’s milk shortage reflected a squeeze across the dairy supply chain: farmers said the state-set price they received did not cover rising costs, especially fodder, while drought was reducing feed availability. When some producers cut their herds, less milk reached wholesalers and shops. The clearest accounts of empty shelves and farmer losses date to 2022; later evidence confirms continuing agricultural pressures, but does not establish current milk prices or current availability.
Why was milk hard to find in Tunisia?
The shortage had no single cause. In Reuters’ November 2022 reporting, dairy farmers said the price they received for milk was too low to meet rising production costs. At the same time, drought and fodder scarcity added pressure to livestock production. When farmers could not afford to keep producing at scale, lower farm output meant less milk for collection and retail.
The evidence describes a chain of pressures, not a complete national accounting of how much each factor contributed. A later World Bank document reported that drought had reduced cereal and fodder production and affected dairy production, and recorded a year-on-year decline in livestock numbers. That supports the importance of agricultural stress, but a fall in livestock numbers is not itself a measurement of milk output.
How did administered prices affect farmers?
Reuters reported that in November 2022 farmers sold milk to wholesalers at a state-set price of 1.1 Tunisian dinars per liter, while the retail price was capped at 1.35 dinars per liter. Those are historical figures for the period Reuters covered, not verified current prices.
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Farmers interviewed by Reuters said fodder and other expenses were rising while the price paid for their milk did not keep pace. The resulting pressure is straightforward: if the return from selling milk is below the cost of producing it, a farmer may reduce output, sell animals, or leave the business. The figures alone do not establish the margins of every farm, but they explain why producers objected to the administered price.
How can selling cows lead to empty shelves?
Reuters illustrated the supply-chain effect with farmer Maher Gizmir’s account. He said he had sold 10 of his 22 cows because he could not cover costs, and that his daily production had dropped from 700 liters two years earlier to 100 liters. A wholesaler near his farm said daily milk collection had declined from 40,000 liters to 12,000 liters.
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These are attributed local accounts, not national totals. They show how a farm-level decision can travel downstream: fewer cows or lower production means less milk available for collection, and lower collection leaves less to distribute to shops. The Reuters report described milk as difficult to find on shelves, but the cited examples do not measure the shortage across the whole country.
What did the shortage mean for shoppers?
Reuters quoted a shopper in Tunis, identified only as Arij, who said she had searched for milk for her child for three days without finding any. That is a direct account of one person’s experience, not a survey of Tunisian shoppers or a measure of typical search times. The report also described intermittent shortages or rationing of other goods, but its milk coverage is best understood as reporting from that particular episode.
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Why do drought and feed costs matter?
Feed is a major input in dairy production. A 2024 World Bank emergency food-security project document described feed as more than half of dairy production costs and linked drought-related fodder scarcity to pressure on small dairy producers. In a 2025 project information document, the World Bank reported livestock numbers were down 9 percent in January 2024 compared with a year earlier, attributing the pressure to drought-linked reductions in cereal and fodder production.
The 9 percent figure concerns livestock numbers, not milk production, and it does not explain every cause of the shortage reported in 2022. Together, the documents show why feed and water conditions matter for dairy resilience: when feed becomes scarce or costly, producers face greater difficulty maintaining herds and output.
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What support was proposed, and what did Tunisia prioritize later?
Planned barley support
The World Bank’s 2024 emergency project document proposed a temporary barley supply for small dairy producers facing fodder scarcity. It estimated 250,000 metric tons of barley for smallholder dairy production, intended to cover approximately ten weeks of producers’ feed needs, and expected at least 200,000 small dairy producers to benefit. These are plan estimates and expected beneficiaries, not verified delivery or impact figures.
Government strategy for 2026–2030
In an April 2026 announcement, Tunisia’s government said its agricultural strategy for 2026–2030 would prioritize sustainable use of natural resources and climate impacts, water security, food production and productivity, viable pricing policy, and development of livestock and dairy value chains. The announcement states priorities; it does not establish that the measures have been implemented or that milk output, farmer incomes, or consumer availability have improved.
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What would a durable response need to balance?
Policy choices involve trade-offs rather than a single fix. The relevant questions include whether milk remains affordable for households, whether producers earn enough to cover inputs, whether feed and water supplies can withstand drought, what subsidies or imports cost public finances, and whether a measure offers immediate relief or supports longer-term herd and productivity recovery. This is an analytical framework for assessing proposals, not a ranking of proven interventions.
For readers assessing claims about the shortage, dates matter: Reuters’ administered prices and interviews describe 2022; World Bank documents provide later evidence of drought and planned feed support; and the government’s 2026 announcement sets out intended priorities. None of those sources establishes today’s shelf availability, milk price, or typical farm income.
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