TUNIS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- For the first time in Tunisia, drones will be used to secure the national grain harvest, Samir Taieb, Tunisian minister of agriculture, water resources and fisheries, announced on Monday.
During an interview with the local radio station Mosaique FM, Taieb confirmed a meeting on Wednesday with the Interior Minister Hichem Fourati on the problem of fires that devastated several hectares of agricultural lands in different regions of the country.
"For the first time, drones will be used to secure the harvest and monitor the culprits suspected to be at the origin of the fires," Taieb said, adding that 40 young people have already been trained to handle these drones.
The minister assured that the field work would be coordinated with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior.
In the last six days, a series of fires ravaged several fields of wheat and barley, coinciding with a remarkable rise in temperature. Hundreds of hectares were destroyed to ashes.
