Page 20 - FULL YEAR BOOK 2021

Algeria

wheat from France, Canada, Germany, 38.5 and DZD 42.50 (USD 0.30 USD 0.33),
the United States of America, Spain and depending on the degree of coarseness.
Mexico. However, the Algerian Office of Cereals
(OAIC) will sell to flourmills, at a non
Decline of oil prices subsidized price, both common and
durum wheat intended for milling into
impacts economy other types of flour as well as production
of pasta, couscous and other products.
The country is dependent on
petroleum and natural gas exports The annual rate of the general price
for export earnings. The economy inflation between January and August
contracted 3.9 percent year on year 2020 ranged from 1.2 to 3 percent. In
in the first quarter of 2020 (last data August 2020, food prices declined by
available), compared to an average 1.8 percent year on year, down from an
growth of 0.8 percent in 2019 and mostly increase of 2.3 percent recorded in June
due to a decline of the oil sector. Lack of 2020.
employment opportunities are likely to In line with the strategy to control
impact the purchasing power of workers, spending and balance the decline in
particularly in the informal sector. The energy earnings, in early September
collapse in the prices of crude oil in 2020, the Government introduced
March 2020 deepened the economic changes to the consumption subsidies
uncertainty. In response to the oil price of both common and durum wheat. The
shock, the Government announced its new decree maintains the consumer
intention to lower current spending by 30 retail price of 1 kg of “ordinary”
percent (8 percent of the Gross Domestic (common wheat) flour at DZD 27.50
Product or USD 15 billion), while (equivalent to USD 0.21) and the price of
maintaining the wages and protecting a 100 kg bag for bakeries at DZD 2 000
health and education spending. (USD 15.56). Likewise, the retail price of
1 kg of semolina is fixed between DZD

DATE GROWERS FACED WITH CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS

In Algeria’s Biskra province, small- the deglet nour, a cultivar with nan institutions working in the fields of
scale growers are increasingly battling elongated, fleshy, velvety fruit that is climatology and climate change
to cultivate and protect their precious almost too sweet for consumption. With corroborated that information, saying
crops. Biskra is a gathering of oases in its delicious taste and versatile use, the July 2019 was especially hot across
the north-east of the Algerian Sahara divinity of the fruit is never called into the country. “It was between 0.2 and
Desert. The locals there live by the motto question. 3.3°C warmer than normal average
‘give to the date palm and she will return temperatures in all but one province,”
the favour’. Temperatures rise reported the National Centre of
For centuries, the indigenous while rain stays Climatology. To protect the bunches of
deglet nour from the summer heat, which
populations of the Ziban mountain range can average more than 40°C, farmers
have carefully planted and pollinated away “bag” dates by hanging plastic or fabric
their precious date palms. These days, bags over them to provide shade and
more than 100 cultivars of dates sprout Assuring the production of a high- keep insects and birds away.
from four million trees in Biskra, ensuring quality fruit is increasingly challenging
agriculture remains the lifeblood of the owing to changing precipitation
region’s economy. patterns. According to several date
growers, the rainfall in 2020 has been
More than 200 000 tons of dates less than previous years. As a result,
were shipped out of Algeria in 2019, some small-scale growers have used
amounting to exports worth over $50 pesticides to repel spiders and parasites
million. They are the country’s second that otherwise would have been washed
most profitable commodity after the oil away by the rain.
and natural gas exports.
According to the Copernicus Climate
For Khoualed, and tens of thousands Change Service, 2019 was the hottest
like him, life revolves around the date calendar year since 1981. Algerian
palm. The queen of the date palm is

18 Arab Agriculture 2021

White Section 1-48.indd 18 4/20/21 2:51 PM