Agriculture
Many of Algeria’s large farming estates became property of the government during the 1960’s. The management of the farms was turned over to laborers who had once worked for colon landowners. The FLN, however, favored the development of industry and energy resources over agricultural reform. Another setback was the drought and erosion of the 1980’s, which destroyed some productive land. As a result, farm production in Algeria declined steadily. The situation has caused food shortages and has forced the country to import most of its food. In the 1980’s, the government allowed many farmers to buy the land they worked. Others were offered free plots in exchange for a promise to cultivate the land. For the first time since independence, laws permitted private food markets. Growers seeking better prices and more efficient distribution of their goods formed marketing cooperatives, which also allow members to share equipment and supplies. By the early 1990’s successful farm cooperatives had begun to increase the country’s production of food. Most of Algeria’s farmable land lies on or near the Mediterranean coastline. Wheat, barely, and oats are the principal grain crops. Also suited to the warm, dry climate of the Tell region are citrus fruits, vegetables, wine grapes, and olive trees. In the oases of the Sahara, farmers grow grains and vegetables on small plots. Plantations of date palms are common in the oases and near desert water sources. Algeria has become one of the world’s leading exporters of dates. Animal diseases and the loss of pasturage reduced the number of livestock in Algeria during the 1970’s. Herders still raise sheep and goats on uncultivated land in the north, as well as in the lower elevations of the Saharan Atlas. Farmers also raise cattle for dairy production and camels and donkeys as work animals. Algeria has both private fishing operations and government-run cooperatives that fish in the Mediterranean Sea. Tuna, sardines, bluefish, and shellfish are sold on the domestic market. A lack of commercial trucking, however, prevents much of the Mediterranean catch from reaching consumers who live south of the coastal region. Loggers have cut down many of Algeria’s pine, cedar, and oak trees for building materials and for firewood. Sawn timber supplies the construction industry, and Algerian farmers harvest cork from cork oak trees. The government, which has begun reforestation and conservation efforts, now owns about one-half of the country’s forests. But centuries of unrestricted logging has reduced forested areas to only about one percent of Algeria’s total land area.