In recent weeks the flow of Tunisian cows arriving in Algeria has increased. Between the high price of fodder and the unprofitable price of milk, Tunisian breeders make their animals cross the Algerian border.
Advantage: the high prices of the Algerian market on which red meat is currently under pressure.
The astonishing paradox in this situation. For years, herds of sheep illegally left Algerian territory for neighboring countries.
Tunisia is emptying its dairy herd
The Tunisian press is full of testimonies of seizures of contraband animals made by the customs services.
At the end of October in Kairouan, the security services checked a van intended for the transport of cows and calves to the wilaya of Tébessa.
As early as 2021, the border police made arrests. Most often simple vans as in Jendouba. Two vehicles each carrying three animals were stopped as they drove towards the Algerian border.
The six cattle represented a value of more than 11,000 Tunisian dinars. In Algeria, smugglers would have taken 15 times more. Sometimes entire trucks are used. With several hundred kilometers, the border is difficult to control and around 250 cattle cross the border every day.
Crisis in the Tunisian sector
This hemorrhage is linked to the serious crisis currently facing the Tunisian dairy industry. A sector that was nevertheless efficient. In 2016, the surplus of milk produced in Tunisia was such that the Mornaguia drying unit undertook to transform 10 million liters of fresh milk into powder.
Today this sector must take into account, the soaring price of imported concentrated feed, an increase fueled by the war in Ukraine and which has led to a 56% increase in the feed item for dairy cows.
The solution could go through an increase in the selling price of milk. But, as in Algeria, this price is administered and any increase would risk unbalancing the budget of low-income households.
Also, breeders prefer to sell part of their livestock to Algeria where the demand for red meat is currently under pressure with prices on the shelves of 2,000 DA per kilo.
Algerian meat imports
Traditionally, Algeria imports from Spain young calves, “grass-eaters”. These are first placed in sanitary quarantine in lazarets, then fattened in specialized farms.
But the current slowdown in economic exchanges between the two countries has dried up this source. As for the importation from the French port of Sète of young bulls ready for slaughter, it was marked by a dramatic episode.
At the beginning of September, for health reasons, more than 780 young bulls were stuck on a ship off the coast of Algiers. The animals returned to France where they were euthanized. The French daily Liberation then spoke of “animal abuse” and the NGO Welfare called for “an end to the export of live animals”.
Other sources of supply are explored. This is the case for the import of animals from the countries of the Sahel.
Calves for fattening, up to 7 kg of barley per day
Last February, in the columns of the daily El Watan, Mohamed Taher Ramram, president of the Association of meat wholesalers, denounced the fact that “imported calves are monopolized by only 3 importers who control the market; however, it is not possible to solve the problem of red meat only by giving the possibility to others who wish to invest in this niche”.
Added to this, as in Tunisia, is a rise in the price of imported fodder and concentrated feed. The spectacular increase in maize silage from plots under pivot irrigation in the south of the country is not enough.
To increase a young Charolais weanling from 320 kg to 720 kg, it must be provided daily with up to 7 kg of barley, more than 1.5 kg of soy cake, and plenty of straw. The cost of this type of ration has now reached astronomical heights.
Consultation between nutritionists, the agricultural sector, and public authorities
For nutritionists, it is above all a question of ensuring the Algerian consumer, and especially the youngest among them, an appropriate level of essential amino acids. We too often forget that these are found in both animal and vegetable proteins. The national dish consisting of couscous with chickpeas is there to remind us.
Also, to affirm that the consumption of red meat of 14.4 kg per year per inhabitant in Algeria represents “a relatively low level compared to industrialized countries” requires consultation between nutritionists, the agricultural sector, and public authorities.
