The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohamed Abdelhafid Heni, affirmed yesterday, Saturday, in the municipality of Kelal (south of Setif), that “the momentum of the agricultural sector programs will prevent us from importing the seeds of some widely consumed products in two years from now.”
In a statement to the press in the “Sagrodev” company affiliated with the Agricultural Products Evaluation Complex “Gfabro” on the sidelines of a working visit that led him to the province of Setif, in company of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Abdelbaki Benziane, who supervised the conclusion of the second edition of the National Scientific Week that “ The momentum of the agricultural sector programs will allow, within two years, to reduce the import bill by ceasing the import of the seeds of some widely consumed products such as potatoes.”
In the same context, the minister highlighted that “Algeria is one of the few countries that produces seeds of widely consumed products,” stressing that “it is necessary to follow up and accompany the establishments that do this (the Agricultural Development Company that produces different generations of potato seeds), which will enable us to reach the desired goal of enhancing food security.
In a separate context related to the harvest season, Mr. Heni indicatde that the services of his ministerial department “gave clear instructions to local officials across all the wilayas of the country to mobilize in order to collect the largest possible quantity of wheat,” saying “there must not be a big difference between production and Storage, in implementation of the instructions of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune”.
The minister revealed that many decisions have been taken for the benefit of farmers, such as enabling those who pay barley for storage to re-take this material when needed as seeds or to feed their livestock, at a subsidized price, as well as the free process of harvesting barley, in addition to many advantages for the benefit of livestock breeders such as providing veterinary follow-up provided that these farmers and livestock keepers are structured in an organized framework in order to facilitate the formulation of a development policy affecting the whole sector.
The same minister stated that “work is underway to involve several sectors with the agriculture sector, such as the Ministry of Energy and Mines in the process of delivering electricity to agricultural investors and the water resources sector in the process of granting licenses for drilling wells in a flexible manner and without delay at the national level, as well as the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, in many fields, such as framing the sector’s institutes.”
