Tunisia: Cow smuggling to neighboring countries causes milk shortage

A herd of cows was confiscated by the Tunisian authorities in Sidi Bouzid governorate in late September before being smuggled abroad, amid a crisis of “cattle trafficking” the country has faced over the past few years, which has affected the security of diary and meat production.

A truck loaded with a number of unlabeled cows was seized by the security forces in Bir Al-Hafi city in Sidi Bouzid, Tunis Afrique Presse reported on September 25. Some of the seized cows are of unknown origin.

The crisis of smuggling cows outside the Tunisian borders to Algeria has existed since 2016, Fawzy El Zeyani, member of the executive office at the Syndicate of Farmers, said in media remarks to Diwan FM radio on October 4.

“A farmer is forced to sell his herd abroad because the price of cows in Tunisia is very low compared to their real price,” he said, noting that diary production sharply declined due to this reason.

Due to the hike in prices of animal fodders and the lower prices of diary production, farmers in Tunisia are forced to illegally sell some of their cattle to neighboring countries of Algeria and Libya to secure money needed to buy fodder for the rest of the herd, several local media outlets reported. 

In the second half of 2021, the number of thwarted cases of cow smuggling to Algeria recorded 94 nationwide, a source told Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) in February 2022. The number of cows seized during this period registered 500 cows, with an estimated value of more than 1.4 million dinars.

The phenomenon of cattle smuggling dates back to several years ago and pushed the Tunisian authorities in 2018 to put some regulatory procedures to prevent cow smuggling through the compulsory numbering of cows and the issuance of transit licenses when transporting them from one place to another.

Milk shortage

Consequently, milk production suffered an acute decline amid a wide gap between production and consumption. Zeyani revealed that Tunisia produces 1.4 million liters of milk daily, compared to the consumption of 1.8 million liters, noting that the country suffers an acute shortage in milk.

The milk crisis has been caused by the rise in fodder prices as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as drought, in addition to the smuggling of cows to neighboring countries, said Munawar Al-Saghiri, director of Animal Production Administration at the Union of Agriculture. He added that milk production declined by 20-30%.

In May 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that prices of some basic commodities such as milk, eggs and poultry would increase to mitigate the cost of production following a number of protests that were staged by farmers in several areas against the high fodder prices. The protesters skipped milk in streets and threatened to stop production in case the government did not take action, AFP reported.

Saghiri told Diwan FM on August 9 that the government’s measures were not enough to address the problem, adding that there is no balance between the cost of production and the fixed prices, which led to an exodus by a large number of farmers and a decline in the production rate, consequently forcing the government to import from abroad to meet the people’s needs.

He noted that the state subsidized milk production by 410 millimes ($0.127) per liter, but the milk production factories did not receive the dues of the subsidies that were estimated at 250 million dinars ($76.4 million) for more than one year.

According to Saghiri, the solution boils down to certain measures. First, the price rates should be reviewed and updated. Second, companies should be paid their arrears, and finally, the partnership between the private and public sectors should be activated.

If the country started importing milk to meet people’s needs, the cost of one liter would reach 3 dinars, he said.