Tunisia excludes agricultural fires from public compensation system

Tunisian farmers will not receive public compensation for agricultural fires, even those impacting vital cereal crops. The national compensation fund, the Fonds d’Indemnisation des Dommages Agricoles dus aux Calamités Naturelles (FIDAC), explicitly excludes damages caused by such fires.

Midani Dhaoui, president of the Tunisian Union of Farmers, clarified that these types of risks fall under the purview of commercial insurance. He stressed that farmers are responsible for securing their own coverage in advance to protect against potential losses from fires.

This distinction means that farmers must actively seek and purchase commercial insurance policies to safeguard their harvests and agricultural investments against fire damage. The public system is designed for natural calamities, not agricultural fires, placing the onus on individual farmers to manage this specific risk.

The announcement highlights a gap in public support for agricultural losses due to fire, emphasizing the need for farmers to be proactive in their risk management strategies through private insurance channels.