Aiming A Productive, A Viable And A Sustainable Agriculture For The Emergence Of Algerian Economy In The Framework Of The Unavoidable Globalization

Abstract

The evolution of the Algerian agriculture is undoubtedly one of the most negative aspects of the economic policy applied in Algeria since independence. Indeed, the Algerian agriculture barely covers 15% of national food needs and contributes only with 10% of GDP. This weakness of agricultural production places Algeria among the world's largest importers of food products, with a food bill that amounts annually to nearly $ 4 billion (with a clear predominance of cereals on which the national food intake is based). This very high food dependence of Algeria is not only the result of under-utilization of existing agricultural resources and the low performance of production processes, but also the consequence of the failure of different reforms applied to the agricultural sector. The crisis that has shaken the Algerian economy in 1986 has clearly revealed its extreme fragility due to its high dependence on oil and gas sector and the international price of oil. The remedy for this weakness lies in a large part in increasing economic diversification in which agricultural development emerges as a fundamental element because it is unavoidable. Indeed, the construction and the emergence of a developed modern economy is not conceivable without a modern and efficient agricultural sector that contributes actively to the national food supply, economic growth and promotion of rural areas that are home to far the majority of the national population. In addition to its highly strategic role, agricultural development is crucial in the case of Algeria which has to strengthen its economy in order to face economic globalization in some favorable conditions. Agricultural policy is imperatively called to adapt to this new situation and to the new challenges introduced by globalization. Those challenges are looming over with the recent Association Agreement of Algeria with the European Union and the prospects for future accession to the WTO. Preparing Algerian agriculture to meet these challenges, inevitably passes through the realization of an agriculture which fulfils the following triple conditions:  a productive agriculture based on scientific and technical progress;  a viable agriculture based on the exploitation of comparative advantages and aiming the satisfaction of national food needs;  a sustainable agriculture that reconciles productivity with respect of the environment and promotes the exploitation of renewable resources in priority. In the present paper, we have tried to determine, given the objective conditions of the Algerian agriculture in one hand, and the national existing potential (material, financial and human) in the other hand, how and under what conditions Algeria can succeed in realizing such a type of agricultural development which is actually the key to its economic emergence?