To avoid food crisis, the government must help the farmer: official said

The Algerian Farmer Union secretary general, Mohammed Alioui, called on the government to apply three major measures to protect the country from the international food crisis which consist in boosting the agricultural outcome by subsidizing crops and cattle production, protect lands from cement invasion and freeze local meat instead of importing it in addition to shift the interest on the development of milk –cows.

He said that the subsidy must be dedicated to the farmer after the production by “buying directly from the farmer with the real price to avoid speculation”. M Alioui went on saying that the cattle breeders who produce some 19 million heads are not supported by the government while some 600 tons of frozen meat are imported monthly. He called for the freezing of local meat instead to protect the local cattle- breeder.

In this respect, he called on the government to, swiftly, create an office regulate this sector, accusing the trade ministry for not possessing a clear strategy to guarantee the stability of the market; “it (the ministry) completely out of topic and is basing its policy on the WTO figures”, he said.