Italians, Qataris, Turks, and Saudis are flocking to southern Algeria to produce milk, wheat, and legumes.
Apart from Italy, Europe, particularly France, which has long been the main producer of wheat for Algeria, is conspicuous by its absence.
In mid-October, Youcef Cherfa, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, chaired a meeting concerning the monitoring of the Algerian-Italian project aimed at the production of durum wheat in Timimoun.
Progress of the Algerian-Italian project
Regarding the Algerian-Italian project, 36,000 hectares should be devoted to the cultivation of durum wheat in partnership with the company Bonifiche Ferraresi (BF). For this autumn, 3,000 should be sown and another 6,000 in April 2025 devoted to strategic crops.
Crops are grown under continuous irrigation with the construction of drilling, pipelines, the installation of pivot ramps, communication networks, electrification, and the installation of living bases.
Present around the minister were the Director General of the Algerian Agency for the Promotion of Investments but also, as indicated in the press release from the ministry, the “Chairman and CEO of the company BF Algérie SPA, as well as representatives of the sectors concerned, members of the committee (agriculture and rural development, finance, energy and mines, irrigation, public works, postal and wireless transport, foreign affairs and the National Community abroad, work, trade and export promotion).
These operators are brought together in a multi-sector technical committee responsible for supporting the implementation of the project. A committee that brings together the services responsible for “the supply of electricity, the completion of basic facilities such as roads leading to the investment zone, the fiber optic network, as well as the completion of artesian wells, customs of goods and services and other administrative and technical facilities,” indicates the same source.
A discreet Saudi project
In addition to the Italians, the Saudis are also present in southern Algeria, with an investment project in Saharan agriculture in Naâma dating from 2018. This project is more discreet.
It is the work of the Saudi private investor Meshaâl Bensaoud Ben Abdelaziz and it remains no less ambitious. As evidenced by the figures collected by the daily El Watan: a concession of 5,000 hectares with “cereals (durum wheat seeds) on an area of 800 ha, fodder crops (grain and fodder corn, hay and alfalfa) on 500 ha, in addition to the production of dates (Deglet Nour and Ghars varieties) and livestock.”
This project located in the municipality of Hassi El Gara has benefited from the granting of 30 drilling permits, 20 of which have already been completed. These drillings make it possible to supply 20 irrigation pivots each with a surface area of 40 ha alongside which a 1,600 m2 warehouse and a 1,000 m2 living base have been built.
Equipment whose operation is enabled by the installation of 12 electrical transformers, which should soon increase to 20.
The results look promising. In 2024, 65,000 quintals of durum wheat seeds were harvested and this should increase to 150,000 quintals in the future.
According to El Watan, the Algerian partner, Abdelkrim Bounaâma hopes to build a stable for 500 dairy cows and reserve 200 ha for growing grain corn.
In the south, priority is given to strategic crops
Saharan agriculture is accompanied by a significant withdrawal of water from groundwater. These have benefited from the recent rains, although depending on the geological nature of the land and its depth, natural recharge can be almost instantaneous or take several years.
It is in this context that academics are calling for the exploitation of water from the southern slope of the Saharan Atlas, which is lost in the brackish Chott Melrhir.
During the summer, the Minister of Agriculture and Sustainable Development had the opportunity to insist on the priority to be given to strategic crops (wheat, corn grains, pulses, and oilseeds). In this vein, he requested that at the level of irrigated areas, investors submit crop plans spread over three years and integrate this type of crop.
It has sometimes been observed on the part of certain investors that there is a race towards the most profitable crops: fodder corn, alfalfa with fattening of lambs, or even cultivation of white truffles under pivot.
Alongside the Italians, Saudis, and Qataris in the production of milk powder and fodder in Adrar, where the Baladna group will build a giant farm of 270,000 cows, there is also the presence of Turkish investors in the wilayas of Adrar and Ouargla, investors appreciated for the quality of their services.
Despite the existence of an Economic Association Agreement between Algeria and the European Union, the presence of European partners is only the responsibility of Italy.
The French cereal sector is conspicuous by its absence, whether in agricultural partnerships in the south or the north of Algeria. A sector which in recent years exported to Algeria up to 3 tonnes of soft wheat out of 5 sold abroad.
As for the Association Agreement, article 47 states that “economic cooperation aims to support Algeria’s action, with a view to its sustainable economic and social development.”
