The Algerian Ministry of Agriculture signed on April 24, 2024 in Algiers a framework agreement with the Qatari company Baladna for the realization of an integrated milk powder production project in the Adrar region, in southern Algeria. . Details.
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Producing 200,000 tonnes of powdered milk is the objective of theAlgeria still very dependent on imports. To achieve this the authorities; via the National State Investment Fund, have signed a framework agreement with a Qatari agri-food giant: a $3.5 billion project which should result in the construction of several large farms breeding in the Adrar region, in southern Algeria.
The objective of the agreement initialed in Algiers this week is to make Algeria more autonomous by allowing it to produce 50% of its powdered milk needs. To achieve this, Algiers chose the Baladna group, which, at the time of the blockade against Qatar in 2017, succeeded in record time in bringing out a mega-automated dairy farm of 24,000 cows. Beasts imported by plane from several countries, including the United States and Australia.
An immense challenge for Algeria
The Algerian project should actually be deployed over 117,000 hectares in the south of the country. The ambition is to build a cattle farm for the production of milk and meat, a milk powder manufacturing plant and, in the same place, to grow the fodder and cereals needed to feed the beasts.
The challenge is immense for Algeria, which has so far never succeeded in developing very large-scale dairy farming, which is sustainable, such as those which exist in Qatar or even in Saudi Arabia, perhaps because Taking care of heifers is a more technical activity than fattening cattle for their meat alone: it requires a balanced diet and rigorous animal health monitoring.
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