The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Rachid Benaissa, said the government will grant a reduction for all the farmers in the price of fertilizers by 20%, and will extend the exemption of the fertilizers from the tax to the end of 2010, under the Finance Act of 2010.

• He also confirmed in an interview to Echorouk that will authorized, beginning of the coming agricultural season, the establishment of independent organizations in the form of “free cooperatives” in order to become a partner to the authorities instead of the ancient cooperatives, in accordance with the law which was issued in the official gazette a few days ago.
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• He explained that his ministry had decided that the farmers, who benefited from the financial loans for equipment, or what is known as “leasing” or elimination of debts, will not benefit from this measure.
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• – Are there new procedures to control the speculation, noticed in the strategic agricultural products and avoid the high prices of the grain, meat, milk, and potatoes?
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• ·Supporting the prices of milk and bread will continue, and government will not back away from supporting these products, no matter what happens, because they are essential for the Algerians.
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• –The citizens complain of the crisis of potato and the high prices of vegetables. What is the problem exactly? Is it at the level of the farmers or in the markets, or at the level of the ministry?
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•  Agricultural products that you already mentioned are seasonal crops, which means that during the some periods the demand is large, in others it is not sufficient or inexistent, in contrast, the demand becomes high and is growing regularly, in this case the storage systems must be developed in times of plenty in order to avoid excessive collapse of the prices during the production, thus effecting the reluctance of the farmers from engaging in this activity, at the same time this system would allow the providing of stored agricultural products in the markets, during the periods between the seasons in order to avoid the excessive high prices and protect the consumers from the effects of speculation.
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• – We all noticed that potato is poor in the markets, what is the cause? Is it because of the inappropriate temperatures in the cooling rooms?
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• Your talk is exaggerated, there is also good potato in the markets, and the consumer does not hesitate to pay the price required to obtain it. In order to develop the storage system in Algeria, we launched training courses for the managers and workers.
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• –The president insisted on the need for rational exploitation of water resources in order to irrigate the agricultural lands and ensure an acceptable level of production. Are there new measures in this regard?
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•  The new measures for the rational exploitation of water resources include development of a special program of irrigation through increasing the valuable support for the acquisition of the equipment of irrigation, supporting and encouraging the use of shared water and equipment, the contribution of the specialist dealers in the pipes and the National of Office for Irrigation and Drainage in developing the use of irrigation equipments.