Exploring the Links Between Agriculture and Food Security: a Survey of Women in the Governorate of Sidi-Bouzid, Central Tunisia

This paper presents and describes the contents of a database built from a survey conducted in central Tunisia in the governorate of Sidi-Bouzid. In this evolving region, the agricultural sector, which occupies a predominant place in economic activity, is characterized by the diversity of its farms, both at the organizational level (family or salaried workforce predominantly female) and technical (presence of irrigation infrastructure, under-cover cultivation). In terms of technical and economic orientations, tree crops and market gardening develop when other more traditional crops persist (olive cultivation, cereal farming). Recent public policies have also encouraged dairy farming. Cradle of the Jasmin revolution in 2010, Sidi-Bouzid faces economic and social difficulties. In this context, agriculture has a key role in ensuring food security for population. The objective of this survey was to identify the links between the structure, functioning and performance of farms and the food security of adult women in the territory. Individual incomes of household members, self-consumption of agricultural products, and women empowerment may also punctuate this impact pathway. Indeed, women's income could increase their autonomy, thus favoring, through the control of their expenditure, their food needs and those of the household to which they belong. The survey is based on three questionnaires. A sample of 575 women, selected from a representative sample of 20 to 49-year-old women from the governorate of Sidi-Bouzid, 575 heads of households and 316 heads of farms responded to the questionnaires. The collection was carried out on a paper questionnaire in face-to-face interview in December 2015. The data were then entered and checked on the EpiData software before being exported and cleaned on the Stata software.