Algeria Plans to Raise Cereal Output, Cut Imports

Algeria, one of the world's top grain importers, plans to increase its annual cereal output to 5.4 million tonnes by 2014 from an average of 3.4 million tonnes, its agriculture ministry said on Sunday.

• The North African country imported 6.3 million tonnes of cereals last year for around $4 billion as its domestic crop meets only 30 percent of the needs of its 33 million people, official figures showed.
• The government has a programme to develop cereal farming, with more soft loans to farmers and subsidies of fertilisers and high-yielding seeds.
• “With the implementation of this programme, cereal production is expected to be at 53.7 million quintals in 2014, including 36 million quintals of wheat,” the ministry added in a statement carried by official news agency APS.
• The country’s cereals harvest shrank to 2.1 million tonnes in 2008 from 4.1 million in the previous year. Average crop for the past four years was at 3.4 million tonnes.
• The ministry said average imports of cereals were at 5 million tonnes of wheat per year.
• Last year, the government has said it would almost double the price of grains it buys from local farmers as part of incentives to boost domestic output.