The high contribution of the agricultural sector to the national economy

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohamed Abdel Hafeez Hani, announced an increase in the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product in 2022, given the great importance the state attaches to it, given that it is an essential engine for economic growth and social development, and what the stage requires in order to face security challenges. food and support economic diversification.

Today, Monday, during a seminar on the role of the National Seed Bank in achieving self-sufficiency and ensuring sustainable food security, Hani said that the sector now contributes more than 14.7% to the gross national product (PIB), and represents more than a quarter of the active labor force, including equivalent to three million workers. The value of agricultural production amounted to 4.550 billion DZD during the year 2022 compared to 3.500 billion DZD in 2021, an increase of 38%, and the rate of coverage of food needs (available) from national production reached more than 75%.

The minister stated that the sector initiated the establishment of a seed bank at the level of the National Center for Seeds and Seedlings Control and Certification (CNCC), about a year ago, as an essential tool to enhance food security and national sovereignty, by preserving agricultural biodiversity and its sustainable use, in addition to providing seeds and varieties adapted to climate changes. And disease resistance, in order to confront, as the storage capacity is 6000 breeds for different people, and it currently contains 4,015 entries, for the vegetable side: grains, legumes, vegetables, industrial plants, forest trees, aromatic and medicinal, and for the animal side: cows, sheep, Goats, horses, and its genetic resources have been supplied by all institutes, and continue to be provided regularly by producers and institutes affiliated with the sector.

Hani stressed the importance of this bank in preserving seeds from human-induced, climatic and genetic erosion changes, as these seeds are considered a necessary vital resource and play an essential role in the sustainable development of agriculture and in the development of regions, through their direct use or by introducing them into selection and improvement, to ensure security. The food on which the country’s national sovereignty depends, and which also constitutes a “legacy” for local breeds and varieties, must be passed on to future generations to meet the main challenges related to climate change and harmful biological factors, according to the Minister of Agriculture.

The source revealed the establishment of 05 to 06 specialized banks, in the interior regions of the country, with a minimum storage capacity, of which a duplicate copy will be kept in the National Gene Bank, which is located at the level of the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAA), which has a storage capacity of 80,000 strains, and will enter into space. Service during the second semester of 2023, and it is scheduled to be launched on July 5. It will also allow the creation of scientific, technological and economic dynamism.