CHAPTER 8 RURAL UNDER-DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNAL MIGRATION: the example of Tunisian agriculture Marie-Hélène Schwoob, IDDRI Mohamed Elloumi, INRA, Tunisia Although the problems of rural under-development concerns the entire North African region (CIHEAM, 208), the link between these issues and internal migrations appears more striking when we focus on the case of Tunisia. Indeed, this country faces major challenges, especially in the marginalised areas of the hinterland. Eco- nomic delays and lack of employment opportunities lead to the phenomenon of major migration of populations towards the coast and its urban areas in particular, which have experienced an accelerated growth of their population throughout the past decades. These massive internal migrations pose several problems. First of all, they empty poor rural areas of valuable resources such as human capital or even investment capacity that are necessary for their development. Moreover, these migrations increase pressure on resources located in coastal areas (water and land resources etc.) and exacerbate competition for the use of these resources between different users and different territories. These migratory dynamics could be amplified in the coming decades, especially due to climate change. Further efforts to develop Tunisian agriculture, value chains downstream and asso- ciated infrastructure in marginalised rural areas could be levers allowing containing migration. These territorial development policies could include both bundles of goods specific to these territories, inclusive governance and value chains that favour producers in order to mitigate the factors encouraging migration. The analysis of these characteristics of marginalised areas and the impact of migra- tion on coastal areas, but also the potential of Tunisian agriculture in terms of employment and maintaining populations, food security and nutrition enables to establish a diagnosis of the existing possibilities to activate these levers. Through this analysis, this article then seeks to present a panel of possible solutions to prepare for a better future.