Sustainability assessment and analysis of Tunisian olive growing systems

Abstract

This paper aims to assess and to analyze the sustainability of Tunisian olive growing system. Results show two types of farms in this sector. The first one is the traditional farms. The second is the modern farms. The sustainable value method (SV_method) inspired from the "ADVANCE" approach showed that those who adopt the modern management of the olive tree are more sustainable than the traditional type. In fact, the modern group presents a positive sustainable value. However, the traditional group recorded less efficient values than the Benchmark. Indeed, its Sustainable Value is negative, which means that the farms belonging to this group are not economically viable. Therefore, the traditional mode of management and the lack of innovation threaten future farming and viability of traditional olive tree farms. Furthermore, since most of these farms are family type, the cultural utility, which explains the current existence of these farms, will be insufficient and decision-makers must enhance the adoption of new governance models.