Agriculture and Rural Development sector plans to reduce the volume of food imports by USD 2 billion by 2024, particularly in cereal products, oilseed crops, fodder and sugar, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abdelhamid Hemdani, has announced.
Overseeing the opening of a meeting organised under the theme “for an attractive and sustainable investment” which brought together investors in the presence of a number of members of the Government, the Minister said that his sector “has been able, despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19 health crisis and the drought, to reduce imports by 435 million DA, thanks to the projects and programs started on the ground”.
According to Hemdani, Algeria has been ranked by international organisations “as the only stable country in Africa and the Arab Maghreb, in terms of food, on the same level as European and American states, reducing the famine rate to less than 2.5% during the current year”.
According to the Minister, the agricultural sector represents 12.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with a production value equivalent to USD 25 billion and employs 2.6 million workers.
ENTV 12/10/2021
