In the absence of seeing whether we are facing a new announcement or the definitive relaunch of the old one million-hectare olive plantation project, which the Algerian government has been in its portfolio for more than 20 years, it seems good news that this optimism will continue when the sector gives symptoms of overproduction that seem to lead to a deep restructuring crisis.

It is true that the Algerian market has its own evolution different from other markets in the sector, due to strong state interventionism, which often renders domestic supply unable to meet domestic demand, which makes consumer prices much higher than those of the Mediterranean environment and, of course, this would correspond to the country’s production capacity and income level.

The state’s ownership of most of the (dark) farmland, the strong state intervention and the mistrust that followed it from private investment have led to this situation being maintained.  Therefore, it is the impulse of the state through public money that is supposed to reverse this situation. We will see if, on this occasion, the official forecasts made at a recent regional seminar are gathered in Aïn Delfa, according to the statements of the President of the Conseil Nional  Interprofessional of the sector, Mr. Belaâsla M’Hamed, which includes in his article and then the Spanish specialized publication OLIMERCA.

Algeria is immersed in a new programme of planting new olive trees with which it wants to reach up to 900,000 hectares of this crop by 2024, and to do so, 400,000 hectares of olive groves will have to be planted throughout the country. This was underlined by Belasla M’hamed, President of the National Interprofessional Council of the Olive Sector of A’n Defla.

Thus, «out of the 500,000 hectares currently engaged in olive trees, equivalent to some 70 million olive trees, a 400,000-hectare planting programme is underway at the national level, which should bring the total area devoted to this sector closer to 900,000 by 2024,» Belasla said at a regional seminar on the promotion of the olive sector. , and thus published by the national media.

For his part, the director of the Chamber of Agriculture of A’n Defla, Hadj Dja-lali, stressed the need to use technical and modern processes to develop the olive sector in the country.

«If the olive production process were based on technical and modern processes, there is no doubt that this sector would correspond to other crops such as potatoes and export dates, thus ensuring additional exchange ins for the country,» added the director of the Chamber of Agriculture.

Makhlouf La-b, director of agricultural services at A’n Defla, said that while climate change and all related effects had a negative impact on agricultural production in general, «we need to optimize this sector at the disposal of governments for economic recovery. Olive production must be increased so that our country becomes a benchmark in the field,» he concluded.

https://www.olimerca.com/noticiadet/argelia-plantara-400000-has-de-olivos-hasta-2024/0745cde5c05c596316c14368a1e9ad17