Last November, in Belassel (Relizane), Bouabdallah Houmari is satisfied with the arrival of the rain. He can finally sow wheat. On this farmer’s plot, a tractor turns the soil, immediately followed by several workers who manually sow the wheat on the fly.
In Algeria, rudimentary techniques persist and imports make up for the shortfall.
The figures for the last campaign are disappointing, only 13 million quintals of wheat against 39 million quintals previously. In the best years, the production of cereals in Algeria reaches 60 million quintals; according to experts, the local potential is 100 million quintals.
At the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this poor performance is attributed solely to the lack of rain. However, Algeria is not the only country to suffer from this natural handicap. A country with a semi-arid climate like Australia achieves better results.
Cereals, low-profit margins
The Algerian farmer is no less capable of innovation than his foreign counterparts. The results obtained in the cultivation of watermelon irrigated by drip or early tomato attest to this. For these crops, the innovation implemented is impressive and the profit margins follow.
In May 2016, an investor from M’Zirâa (Biskra) revealed to the monthly Le Monde Diplomatique that he had made a net profit of 600 million DA, adding: “In one season, I almost repaid my investment. Another added: “You can really make a lot of money there. The State offers aid, and in addition, it does not claim any tax. »
For agricultural services, the challenge is therefore to arouse the same enthusiasm for cereals. For this purpose, loans at reduced rates, certified seeds, fertilizers, and subsidized agricultural equipment are used.
Obviously, this is not enough. Grain growers complain about the high price of fertilizers and the lack of availability of barley, oat, and wheat seeds.
In the good wheat lands of the Constantine region, a farmer points out that he needs to produce a minimum yield of 20 quintals per hectare to start making a profit.
Bet everything on irrigation?
The agricultural services are betting everything on irrigation. Thus, in 2020, faced with the delay in autumn rains over 3.5 million hectares, the director of the National Institute of Soils, Irrigation and Drainage (INSID) quite simply suggested that farmers resort to ‘irrigation. But irrigation cannot be improvised.
The deep south is seen as a new cereal eldorado. Immense pivots continuously irrigate the crops. Benefiting from subsidies on irrigation equipment and preferential rates for their electricity bills, large investors are deploying considerable resources there.
In Timimoune, under pivot, part of the sowing is done with a giant seed drill with the pneumatic distribution. The machine is equivalent to 4 ordinary drills and is usually found only in the great grain plains of Canada or Australia.
This abundance of means, however, requires know-how in the face of the arid climate, failing which yields peak at 40 quintals per hectare, compared to the expected double. Sandy soils retain neither water nor fertilizers, the doses of which must be doubled.
Insufficient supervision
With the arrival of the November rains in Belassel, Bouabdallah Houmari confided to Ennahar TV that all his neighbors started to sow: “the one who had planned to sow one hectare sows four.”
But the long-awaited rains continued to fall in December and plantings were considerably delayed. A technician testifies: “the wheat sown in November is well established, but that of December is weak and will have difficulty withstanding the current cold period”.
Dry sowing would have made it possible to overcome this uncertainty of the rains. On November wheat, weeding would reduce the weeds that emerged with the rains. But the technical delay is such that the agricultural services are still having to justify to the farmers the interest of weeding. Only 25% of the surfaces are weeded. That is to say the existing productivity reserves.
In Belassel, the farmer adds: “it’s raining, we’re confident. We sow by relying on God”. In Algeria, of the 8 million hectares of wheatland, only half is worked. The rest is left fallow and used for grazing sheep. They yield more than wheat.
Admittedly, other farmers have a good technical level and adopt an intensive cropping itinerary. They are often monitored by technicians from phytosanitary product firms or the Institute of Field Crops (ITGC). In the south under pivot, with strong chemical products, the Profert company offers a turnkey technical itinerary to newcomers to the profession. In Constantine, the Axium company develops the cultivation of lentils alternately with wheat and provides quality monitoring to farmers under contract.
If in Guelma, lentil sowing is progressing, in Mila last December they were at a standstill. Farmers could no longer find seeds. For the local CCLS, the fault lay with the farmers who did not announce their intention to plant.
Different approaches, therefore, clash with commercial dynamism versus administrative conformity. The equation is to be able to sow more cereals in a limited period of time while intensifying the mode of cultivation. Will the current system of Cereals and Pulses Cooperatives be enough to meet this challenge on its own?
