Tycoons and fake farmers control the Algerian agriculture

The Algerian Free Farmers Union revealed that barons and influential groups are holding the grip on the money dedicated to the professionals of the sector to use it for personal purposes.

• The same source added that some of them took advantage of their position to benefit from credits and subsidies and used them to acquire houses and buses instead of investing in the land; while scores of farmers are crumbling under debts.
• Taking the floor before journalists in a conference call, the union’s spokesman Kaid Salah declared that these tycoons are behind the scandals that undermined the sector and went against all efforts to export the Algerian meat abroad.
• He went on saying that thousands of farmers were denied credits because they do not posses professional IDs. As a consequence, they were forced to turn to these barons in order to acquire basic commodities on the black market.
• M Kaid also declared that the union has informed the ministry of agriculture about these unlawful practices and call for the opening of a thorough investigation to be submitted to the Algerian president, during the upcoming national meeting on agriculture slated for the next few days.