Algeria and Italy sign $455m agriculture deal
The Peninsula
Algiers: Algeria and Italy yesterday signed a 420m deal ($455m) for an agricultural project in the North African country, the Algerian agriculture mi...
Algiers: Algeria and Italy yesterday signed a €420m deal ($455m) for an agricultural project in the North African country, the Algerian agriculture ministry said in a statement.
The scheme, which Italian officials called their country's largest agricultural investment in the southern Mediterranean, covers 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) in Algeria's Timimoune province.
It will produce wheat, lentils and beans, among other foods, in the hopes of increasing Algerian non-hydrocarbon exports, officials said during the agreement ceremony.
It is also expected to create 6,700 jobs, they said.
The deal came months after Algeria signed a $3.5bn agreement with Qatar's largest dairy producer Baladna to establish a vast cow-breeding facility for the production of powdered milk.
