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The strategic stock of basic food products, notably cereals and legumes, is sufficient to supply the national market for a period of more than one year. This is what the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Youcef Cherfa, said this Wednesday from the wilaya of Laghouat.
During a working visit, Cherfa indicated that “his sector has allocated 340 billion dinars for the creation of 30 logistics platforms, including 350 local centers for the storage of more than 50 million tonnes of widely consumed products in order to to meet the needs of citizens.
In this regard, he mentioned the yield of the current year’s combine harvest campaign, which reached 80 quintals (qx) of cereals/hectare, affirming that this figure testified to the success of the agricultural season. In addition to the 11,000 harvesters mobilized for this campaign, Mr. Cherfa indicated that his services had also taken advantage of silos with a total capacity of 43 million tonnes of cereals.
The minister also underlined that the State has met all the conditions for agricultural investment allowing, thus, the farmer to obtain a plot of cultivable land one week after the submission of his request, on condition, “that he has the will to work and produce,” he added.
It should be remembered that the agricultural sector in Algeria, which employs more than a quarter of the national workforce, or 2.7 million workers, ensures coverage of 75% of national food needs. Or a contribution of 18% to the gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures recently announced by the minister.
During this visit, Mr. Cherfa inaugurated a refrigeration complex with a capacity of 10,000 m3, built on an area of 3 hectares in the Bouchaker area, in the capital of the wilaya.
This project, entrusted to the Société Entrepôts Frigorifiques de la Méditerranée (Frigomedit), benefited from a financial envelope of more than 700 million da. It includes 10 positive cold rooms, 3 negative cold rooms and three reception, distribution and freezing pavilions, according to the explanations provided.
The ministerial delegation also visited the “Atlas Saharien” agricultural operation (private investment), which extends over an area of approximately 200 hectares in the commune of Aïn Madhi, and includes several sectors including cattle, horse and camel in addition to aquaculture.
For his part, the Minister of Hydraulics, Taha Derbal, inaugurated a water tower, as part of this visit, with a capacity of 500 m3 in the daïra of Aflou, before commissioning a station wastewater treatment plant (STEP) in the same municipality. Mr. Derbal underlined the importance of this 2.4 billion DA project, to ensure irrigation water for farmers in the region.