By Faridat Salifu
Algeria is stepping up efforts to strengthen domestic food production with a 4 percent increase in its 2026 agriculture budget, bringing total funding to 764.2 billion dinars (US$5.84 billion).
The move, announced by Agriculture Minister Yacine El-Mahdi Oualid recently, comes amid growing concerns over the country’s reliance on food imports.
In 2024, Algeria’s food import bill rose 10.66 percent to US$10.97 billion, making it Africa’s second-largest food importer after Egypt.
The government plans to channel most of the budget over 90 percent into agriculture and rural development programs.
Priority areas include modern irrigation, mechanization, improved seed systems, and agri-food processing, all designed to boost yields and reduce post-harvest losses, which currently range from 20–30 percent.
Despite contributing 13 percent to GDP and employing around 9 percent of the workforce, Algeria’s agricultural sector faces structural challenges, including low cereal yields of 1.8 tonnes per hectare well below the global average of 3.9 tonnes and limited irrigation coverage.
The 2026 budget aims to address these weaknesses by modernizing the sector, improving productivity, and reducing vulnerability to climate-related risks such as recurring droughts. Officials see these investments as critical for achieving food self-sufficiency and creating sustainable employment in rural areas.
