Tunisia has launched its first fully digital agricultural census. The count aims to cover nearly 831,000 farm holdings without a single paper form. It began on 30 October 2026, at the opening of the 2026-2027 farming campaign. The exercise replaces decades of paper-based surveys with a system built to capture a complete, current picture of the country’s farms.
Tunisian authorities designed the operation as a fully digital exercise. It covers close to 831,000 exploitations, the term used for registered farm holdings. These range from smallholder plots to larger commercial operations. The census marks the first time the country has run its general agricultural count entirely through digital tools rather than printed questionnaires.
The scale of the operation shows in its budget. Officials have put the cost at around 5 million Tunisian dinars, or roughly $1.6m, about £1.2m. That figure covers data collection, enumerator training and the digital infrastructure needed to process results. Hundreds of thousands of holdings are spread across the country’s farming regions.
Why a digital count matters
Tunisia’s farm sector feeds a large share of its population. It also anchors export earnings from olive oil, dates and cereals. Yet planners have long worked from outdated estimates of how many farms exist and what they grow. Digital collection lets enumerators log data in real time. That cuts the lag between fieldwork and usable figures that paper surveys typically carry. Officials describe the approach as a way to build a more accurate, current register of the country’s holdings. The data is meant to feed directly into decisions on input subsidies, irrigation investment and credit schemes aimed at farmers.
Agricultural censuses typically underpin decisions far beyond headline farm counts. Governments use them to target fertiliser subsidies, extend credit lines and plan irrigation networks years in advance. A current, searchable register also helps planners respond faster when drought or pest outbreaks hit specific regions, since officials can see exactly where affected farms sit and what they grow.
The census follows other efforts across North Africa to modernise farm data systems. A full accounting of holdings, officials say, should sharpen the targeting of support programmes. It should also set a baseline that later censuses can update far more easily than the paper-based count conducted before.
A first for the country’s farm data
This is the first time Tunisia has run its general agricultural census using fully digital methods. Earlier editions relied on printed questionnaires and manual data entry. That process could take years to produce usable national figures. Tunisian authorities now expect digital collection to shorten that timeline substantially. Figures can be checked and compiled as fieldwork proceeds, rather than after it ends.
Tunisia’s farms range from small family plots growing olives and cereals to larger operations exporting dates and olive oil. Olive oil remains one of the country’s most valuable agricultural exports, and reliable figures on how many groves exist, and where, matter directly to export planning. A digital register also makes it easier to cross-check farm data against land records and irrigation permits, reducing duplication that paper surveys often struggled to catch.
Close to 831,000 holdings are expected to be surveyed by this digital agricultural census before the 2026-2027 campaign closes. That would give Tunisia its most complete farm register in years. Officials say the dataset will underpin decisions on seed distribution, irrigation funding and other support in the seasons ahead. Future census rounds should take far less time to compile, now that the paperwork has gone digital.
