Tunis: The majority of deputies, Tuesday, called for the need to make the most of state agricultural lands so as to ensure food security and overcome the grain crisis. They added that these lands represent untapped wealth knowing that 24% of them are cultivated. Speaking during a plenary session at the Assembly of People's Representatives (ARP), devoted to the review of a loan agreement of 300 million dollars (approximately 932 million dinars) signed between Tunisia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BIRD), for the funding of the emergency response project to food security in Tunisia, the deputies underlined that most of the state lands dedicated to agricultural development and development companies are not well exploited. «It is crucial to shift investments towards lands located in the south and in the Sahara in order to create new jobs for unemployed young people,» they said. The deputies also underlined that «the State failed to modernize the techniques used in major crops, extend cultivated areas and increase the storage capacity of grains, while the ARP approved, last July, a loan for this purpose. They called for making the most of the outcomes of scientific research in the agricultural field, noting that several studies have shown the possibility of growing grains twice during the same campaign. Representatives of the ARP also affirmed that the government has not taken exceptional measures to supply areas dedicated to large crops with irrigation water, noting that the rainfall deficit has had negative repercussions on the grain harvest in Tunisia, this year. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse