2024-01-18 18:06:02
ALGIERS – More than 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land dedicated to cereal growing were plowed during the 2023/2024 season, said Thursday in Algiers the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Youcef Cherfa, who spoke said optimistic despite the low rainfall.
The minister, who spoke during a plenary session at the Council of the Nation devoted to oral questions, under the chairmanship of Mr. Salah Goudjil, President of the Council, in the presence of the Minister of Relations with Parliament Basma Azouar, indicated that more 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land had been plowed to date, including 2.217 million hectares cultivated, or 74% of the objective set by the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, namely the cultivation of 3 million hectares of land dedicated to cereal growing, said Mr. Cherfa.
The plowing-sowing campaign will continue until the expected level is reached, underlined the minister, saying he is optimistic regarding the success of this operation, thanks to the rainfall recorded recently as well as the support measures for farmers decided by the ‘State.
The minister was responding to a question from Senator Mohamed Rebah (FLN) on the sector’s strategy for combating drought and the mechanisms put in place by the sector to compensate farmers affected by this phenomenon.
In this context, Mr. Cherfa affirmed that the last season 2022-2023 had recorded a rainfall deficit of almost 90%, which affected the majority of wilayas in the north of the country, particularly during the months of March and April which constitute the germination period of crops depending on rainfall.
This situation was at the origin of the damage recorded in agricultural production, with the census of 95,347 farmers affected across 34 wilayas, and 84,771 expert assessments of the damage, according to the minister.
To deal with this situation, urgent measures and procedures have been taken, in collaboration with the sectors concerned (Hydraulics, Finance, Interior and Local Authorities), and the involvement of representatives of the profession, for the management of compensation for affected farmers, in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, given during the meeting of the Council of Ministers held on October 1, 2023.
In this regard, Mr. Cherfa recalled that cereal producers in the northern wilayas were compensated, through the supply of agricultural inputs (fertilizers and seeds), “free of charge”, by the Algerian Interprofessional Office of cereals (OAIC).
Out of a total of 3.5 million quintals of stored seeds, 3.16 million quintals were distributed, including 2.114 million distributed free of charge for the benefit of 114,776 affected farmers, according to the report presented by the minister.
As for fertilizers, out of a total of 1,870 million quintals of fertilizers, 856,000 were distributed and more than 545,000 benefited 17,695 farmers free of charge.
In addition, the payment of royalties due under the agricultural concession was postponed over a 36-month schedule, without condition of early payment of 10% of these rights, in addition to the postponement, for three years, of payment deadlines for agricultural credits “R’fig”.
In addition to the payment of interest by the State, the latter provides financial support to cereal producers, granting them a credit of 20,000 DA per hectare, without interest, repayable over a period of three years.
53,000 farms connected to the electricity network
To the question of Senator Ali Abdelkader (FLN) on the connection of agricultural farms to the electricity network, the minister affirmed that a total of 52,741 agricultural farms were connected to the electricity network nationally, including 31,725 within the framework of the national farm connection program for the year 2020.
The connection, he continued, extends over a distance of more than 18,346 km, stressing that the budgetary envelope dedicated to this operation exceeded 71 billion DA.
“The number of farms in which connection work is in progress has reached 10,069 farms extending over 8,017 km with a budget of more than 32 billion DA,” said Mr. Cherfa, explaining that the connection to the electricity network continued until all of these farms were connected.
In response to the question from senator, Hassan Bouchri (Front El-Moustakbel) on the shortage of hydraulic resources in the Abadla plain (the wilaya of Bechar) which has caused the degradation of thousands of fruit trees and palm trees, the Minister indicated that the conclusions sanctioning the meetings held with a view to rehabilitating this space, in particular with the local authorities and the parties concerned, underline the imperative to accelerate the supply of irrigation water through the drilling of wells. a depth of 230 or even 300 meters in the Menounet region, as a solution initially.
The interministerial commission, established in 2022, responsible for examining the situation of irrigation resources in this plain is currently working to find suitable solutions for supplying this space through the drilling of wells or even large transfers, with the aim of meeting the various needs in this area, preserving and expanding agricultural areas.
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