With the return of the rains, hope is reborn among Algerian farmers. But at the time of the Ukrainian crisis, 40% of wheatland is not sown and remained fallow in Algeria, which is a major importer of cereals.
This practice dates back to the 1960s. If in the current context nothing more justifies it, it seems to be considered inevitable.
Throughout the interior of the country, the persistence of fallow land is visible. Witness this spring the ocher-colored plots which contrast with the green of the cereal plots.
According to the agricultural services, it is the 7.5 million hectares of wheat land that are affected by this 40% fallow.
In France, with barely 4% of land fallow, several agricultural organizations are asking, in a joint press release, to be able to bring this land back into cultivation.
“Europe is forcing us to set aside 4% of the land: this trend must be stopped immediately. We must restore flexibility to farms, to meet all production challenges.”
The agronomic interest of fallowing called into question
One of the arguments put forward by farmers in Algeria to justify the practice of fallowing is that the soil needs an annual rest. It would store water from winter rains.
However, local agronomic research shows that “the role of water conservation attributed to tilled fallow really only exists for areas with sufficient rainfall and with deep to moderately deep soils” which is far from being the case of agricultural land.
In fact, the explanation also lies in the need for many breeders to have rangeland for their sheep. The natural flora that grows during winter and spring thus serves as pasture.
The fallow is then a “grazed fallow”. But the food value of this spontaneous flora is much lower than that of modern forage species.
On social networks with supporting photos, Mohamed Haroun, a farmer in the Constantine region, shows all the interest of cultivating fodder mixtures such as meslin.
For many years, the lack of agricultural equipment may have justified fallowing. Indeed, in the semi-arid areas of the interior of the country, the number of crops that can be planted without spring irrigation is low.
This is not the case in Europe where corn, malting barley and sugar beets are sown in the spring. This diversity of crops and sowing dates makes it possible to have two sowing periods: one in the fall and the other in the spring.
In Algeria, the majority of crops are to be sown in the fall: cereals, fodder and pulses. This situation, therefore, requires a considerable amount of equipment; almost double what is requested in Europe.
Less fallow with higher grain prices
The latest increase in prices paid to producers of cereals, pulses and rapeseed should contribute to increasing the areas sown and reducing the percentage of fallow land. However, it is a question of taking into account the inertia linked to the habits anchored in many farmers and the availability of sowing and harvesting equipment.
Moreover, if fallowing can, in deep soils and worked in time, promote the storage of rain in the soil, reduce the presence of weeds and improve the quantities of nitrogen in the soil, its resorption must therefore go through the adoption of modern techniques capable of compensating for these advantages. This requires the establishment of research and development programs specific to the different cereal-growing areas.
Cereals, priority for Saharan agriculture
So far, for agricultural services, the absorption of fallow land remains wishful thinking. Admittedly, programs to revive the cultivation of rapeseed and fodder crops are underway and these two crops benefit from various subsidies. The quintal of rapeseed previously paid to the farmer 7,500 DA last season now goes to 9,500 DA.
However, beyond these few measures, priority is given to Saharan agriculture with the development at great expense of cultivated areas under pivot irrigation.
According to Abdelhafid Henni, Minister of Agriculture, “the future of the country lies in Saharan agriculture”. The minister is counting on yields of 100 quintals per hectare where the average is between 50 and 60 quintals.
At a time when, on the world market, the ton of wheat is breaking records, the persistence in the North of the country of 40% of fallow land seems to be considered inevitable.
Admittedly, reabsorbing these fallow areas and making use of them by growing wheat and fodder poses enormous challenges. It is a question of finding the means of feeding the ovine herd currently profiting from the grazed fallow or of finding the means to sow 7.5 million hectares in 45 days. Giving sole priority to Saharan agriculture and obscuring these issues related to non-irrigated agriculture is akin to a headlong rush.
However, solutions exist. Drawing lessons from the last sowing campaign, and from the delay in sowing which affected a good number of farms, Professor Arezki Mekliche of ENSA, recently indicated on the airwaves of the Algerian Radio that the solution to the increase in Yields depended on sowing in dry conditions before the onset of the rains.
The Ukrainian crisis pushes for more efficiency and in the depths of our campaigns.
