Nuclear technology for irrigation in Libya, Algeria

Only a few years ago, the world was fearing the development of nuclear weapons in Libya. Now, nuclear technology is used to improve irrigation, water management and growing potatoes in Libya and neighbouring Algeria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - which was key in dismantling Libya's atomic bomb programmes - now is involved in developing a more peaceful use of nuclear technology in North Africa.

In Libya, a project by IAEA and the government is using isotopic and nuclear techniques to improve agricultural water management. Constraints to water use efficiency are identified with these techniques, and appropriate land and irrigation management practices are put in place to enhance more crops per drop of water and improve soil water storage.

The project is already giving results, IAEA reports from Libya. With proper fertigation management identified through nuclear techniques "resulted in tremendous savings of water and fertilizer and reduced the environmental impact of irrigation and fertilizer application," the atomic agency says.

Fertigation - which is the application of fertilizer through drip irrigation system - was said to be "an efficient way of controlling water and nutrients in the root-zone helped to increase yield of the potato tuber by more than 150 percent, and reduced the water and nitrogen fertilizer use by more than 50 percent." Additional benefits had included savings on chemical and labour with increased income for farmers.

With support from IAEA, drip irrigation and fertigation is now becoming a well adapted water management practice on light-textured soils of coastal belt in Libya. The Biotechnology Research Centre in Tripoli carried out a series of drip fertigation for potato production. "Drip fertigation is a potential irrigation and nitrogen management tool for potato production in Libya that can improve field water-use efficiency," says Abdulhafied Ellafi of Libya's Tajoura Nuclear Research Centre.

In neighbouring Algeria, nuclear techniques are now being used to stop desertification, soil salinisation and the recent drastic reduction of arable land. In the western part of the country, where major irrigation schemes are located, some 30 percent of arable lands are risking to be lost to desertification and salinisation.

Algerian authorities, together with IAEA, have started a project in western Algeria using nuclear techniques "to reduce salinity induced land degradation through developing appropriate irrigation, drainage, soil and crop management practices so that preventive and corrective measures of salt-affected agricultural lands can be established."

The use of nuclear technology in Algeria's agricultures is mostly defined to the mapping of problem areas, such as monitoring salinity levels, measuring nutrition levels and identifying water quality. This again can be used to control irrigation scheduling according to crop needs, thus assuring healthy crops and avoiding further salinisation of soils.

This peaceful use of nuclear technology in North Africa indeed is a welcome contribution to agricultural science, according to IAEA. Studies of the application of these techniques in Algeria and Libya are already being assessed, with the aim of using this technology on other locations.

And sub-Saharan Africa is among the regions that could benefit most from this research. 18 African countries are now participating in a new regional irrigation project to introduce and pilot-test appropriate small scale irrigation technologies, with the aim of developing irrigation systems for small-scale farmers for increasing yield and quality of high value crops, and to improve their income and livelihood, according to IAEA.

Afrol

Crackdown on al Qaeda hits Algeria's potato crop

by Lamine Chikhi

Algeria is suffering a potato shortage because officials have imposed strict controls on the use of fertiliser to stop al Qaeda militants using it as a bomb-making ingredient, farmers said.

Security experts say ammonia, used by farmers to improve crop yields, has also been found in bombs detonated by Algerian militants affiliated to al Qaeda.

State security forces in this North African country have cracked down hard on the insurgents but farmers say there has been an unforeseen consequence: a kilo of potatoes in the capital now costs more than three times what it used to.

"Lack of fertilizers, particularly ammonia, is the key reason behind the rise in the price of potatoes," said Azizou Redouane, a 28-year-old farmer from the Ain Defla region, 120 km (75 miles) west of Algiers.

"Ammonia ... guarantees a good harvest," a sweating Redouane said as he stood in his 30-hectare potato field. "To prevent armed groups from fabricating bombs with ammonia, the security forces are tightening control over the distribution of fertilizers. "When you ask for 10 kg of ammonia you get only 5 kg and you need to wait a long time before the local chamber of agriculture deals with your request," he said. "The direct impact is a poor harvest and a rise in prices.

Algerian farmers have to apply to their local chamber of agriculture, a farmers' syndicate, for approval to obtain fertiliser. Farmers said even if they were given clearance to buy ammonia, in some cases they were still required to bring the chemical to their farms under police escort to make sure it did not fall into the wrong hands.

"They tell us fertilizers are used by terrorists to fabricate bombs. This is why it is very difficult to get some ammonia to feed the land," said another farmer, Belkacem Aisssa. "Without fertilizers it is impossible to have a good yield," said Aissa, who was working his 18-hectare field. "I used to get 350 quintals (35 tonnes) per hectare when I used enough fertilizers, and now I have 250 quintals per hectare."

The impact of the lower potato yields is clear in the vegetable markets of the capital, Algiers. In the past week, the price for a kilo of potatoes reached a record 100 dinars ($1.37), compared to a normal price of under 40 dinars.

"Too expensive, it is too expensive. I am angry and I don't know how to feed my six kids," 71-year-old Zakia Rabehi said in one of the city's markets.

Food prices are already a sensitive issue in Algeria, a country of 34 million people which has to bring in much of its wheat and other foodstuffs from abroad at considerable expense. Bread and milk are subsidised by the government.

Algeria was plunged into a civil conflict between government forces and Islamist rebels in 1992 after the military scrapped legislative elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win.

International non-governmental organisations estimate that 200,000 people died in the subsequent violence.

The violence has fallen sharply in the past few years but a hard core of militants associated with al Qaeda continues to launch sporadic strikes against government targets.

Reuters

Algerian president forgives farmers' debts

Algeria's official news agency says President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced the cancellation of 41 billion dinars ($5.2 billion/euro4.1 billion) in total debts owed by the nation's farmers and livestock raisers.

Presidential elections in the natural gas-rich, north African country are scheduled for April 9, and Bouteflika is running. The state-run APS agency quoted him as telling an agricultural conference in northeastern Biskra that the Treasury will buy up the debts owed by the farmers and livestock raisers. A few days later he announced higher wages for state workers.

Parliament in November modified the constitution to cancel presidential term limits — previously limited to two — and setting the stage for Bouteflika to seek a third mandate.

AFP

Algeria makes land use reforms to spur agriculture

The Algerian parliament approved a law on farming state land in a bid to spur growth of agriculture, stunted by red tape and decades of centralised economic management, newspapers reported on July 9.

The state-managed land concession law voted on July 8 is part of the efforts to reform the agricultural sector in the OPEC-member country of 34 million people, where oil and gas sales abroad account for 98 percent of total exports.

State-run agricultural land represents around 30 percent of the total farming surface, estimated at 8.5 million hectares (21 million acres), and experts consider it as the best land with high agricultural potential, El Watan newspaper said.

"The principle which was established and for which everyone agrees upon is that we'll have the concession as a means of land management," the daily quoted Agriculture Minister Rachid Benaissa as saying.

The minister added that all participants would be encouraged to be more efficient and more economical."This will reassure them and they will invest," he said after the vote.

The state will play the role of a regulator after starting to implement the concession option, and beneficiaries would be punished in case of any use of the land for goals other than farming, said independent dailies El Watan and Liberty.

Those violating the terms of the concession may receive up to a five-year prison term and fines ranging between 100,000 and 500,000 dinars ($8,080).

Newspapers repeatedly reported that agricultural land in several areas had been turned into building sites.

"Given that our natural resources are fragile, the concession method gives the state the opportunity to intervene to protect these resources through the offices ... which will intervene to regulate," Benaissa added.

For centuries, farming dominated the north African country's economy and at independence accounted for 63 percent of export revenues.

But the end of French colonial rule in 1962 set off a decline, with the loss of foreign managers and skilled labour compounded by the introduction of a rigid command economy that for years fixed salaries for farmers and enforced effective state ownership of farms.

Farming suffered further damage in the 1990s when political violence triggered an exodus to cities by rural families fleeing fighting between the army and Islamist armed groups.

The state has budgeted $4.2 billion for farming in a 2005-2009 national economic recovery plan, aiming to improve soil quality, grant concessions of land to agricultural investors, carry out reforestation and to promote farm businesses.

The Guardian

Algeria struggles to regain its wheat farming prowess

High world grain prices should make this a golden age for Algerian wheat farmers, but a legacy of mismanagement means the former Mediterranean farming superpower is struggling to regain its lost agricultural glory.

Erratic rainfall is a perennial threat and weeks of drought this year will likely hit cereals output in a country that is already one of Africa's top food importers. But it is administrative and policy flaws that pose the bigger menace, say farmers. They complain of a lack of financial support despite well-intentioned government efforts to reverse a history of neglect and a debilitating reliance on oil and gas in the north African country.

Farming provides work for around 25 percent of those of working age in the 33 million-strong population, and accounts for about 10 percent of the Opec member's $110-billion gross domestic product. But agricultural productivity is low, with Algeria harvesting less wheat than Egypt on three times as much land.

Farmer Achour Slimani stands in a parched wheat field of stunted plantings and echoes a complaint common among his peers."The banks refuse to provide loans to farmers. They support importers and industrialists, but never farmers," said Slimani, part-owner of a 134-hectare (330-acre) field in Ouled Yellis near Setif town at the centre of the main wheat plains."You can't build agriculture without an efficient banking system," he said.

In a major policy speech in February, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Algeria should devote more land to food, including cereals, more land should be irrigated and greater efforts made to prevent desertification. But he did not directly address one of the main constraints cited by cereals farmers - access to loans. Inflexible credit means farmers cannot invest and banks often cite lack of title as a reason to refuse loans, farmers say.

The issue is critical because 62 percent of farmed land is private smallholdings where farmers usually lack title to the assets that would qualify as collateral, official figures show. The remainder is state land, managed in many cases by private farmers under long-term concessions."We have cultivated wheat since the Romans, but a majority of farmers don't have title to property," said Lahcene Lamri, secretary general of the Setif chamber of agriculture.

For decades, farmers tilling some of Africa's richest land were the pillars of Algeria's economy and, at independence from France, accounted for 63 percent of export revenues. But the departure of the French in 1962 triggered a decline, with the loss of foreign managers and skilled labour compounded by the advent of a command economy featuring fixed salaries for farmers and effective state ownership of farms. Hydrocarbons took over as the economy's mainstay and the government began to favour heavy industry over farming, a humiliating reversal for a sector with a proud history as a regional breadbasket dating back to Roman times.

Today, energy accounts for more than 95 percent of export earnings. Farming suffered further damage in the 1990s when political violence triggered an exodus to the cities by rural families fleeing fighting between the army and Islamist armed groups. As a result Algeria, one of the biggest purchasers of wheat on the international market, imports around 5 million tons of cereals annually to fill shortfalls in the domestic crop, forking out $1,5-billion per year for foreign-grown cereals. Algeria's productivity is below that of its neighbours, harvesting 4.3 million tons of cereals in 2007 on cultivable cereals land of 3 million hectares, official figures show. In comparison, Egypt produced more than 7 million tons in 2007 on just 1.1 million hectares, and Morocco harvested 9 million tons on 5.5 million hectares in 2006.

Cereals farmers say heavy bureaucracy, bad quality of seed corns and expensive pesticides hinder their work. To be recognised as a farmer, individuals have to lodge a request with the local chamber of agriculture, which can take months to issue the official card that allows them to do business. Since many farmers are illiterate, navigating the paperwork is a challenge, as is dealing with banks, which can also require extensive form-filling.

But improvements in other sectors, such as fruit and vegetables, show farming is far from a lost cause.Since 2001 vegetable, wine and date output has grown and provided new jobs. In April, the government indicated the time had come to give a boost to cereals output, announcing it would buy some local wheat at prices close to those in the international markets.

Implementation, however, has been patchy."Speech is one thing, and reality is another thing. To be included in the government plan, you must own a large surface area. The problem is that 80 percent of wheat lands are less than five hectares," agriculture analyst Lyes Kahouadji said. Farmers must own at least 10 hectares to be considered for the price support, he added.

Messaoud Benouari, chairman of the Setif chamber of agriculture, said, "Nothing has come yet from the capital Algiers. How and when will this decision be enforced? We don't know."

IOL

Algeria expects increased wheat harvest

Algeria, one of the main state grain importers in North Africa, does not need more wheat import for what remains of the 2007/08 commercial period because it has "considerable stocks" and is expecting better harvest, its agriculture minister said on April 11.

"Algeria's cereals stocks are considerable and it expects a higher domestic harvest of cereals this year. It would return to imports only for the need to diversify grain seeds," Said Barakat was quoted by the Algerian official news agency APS as telling parliament during a debate on farming.

He gave no figures on the levels of wheat stocks or the expected cereals crop but he said the government would offer higher prices for wheat farmers for the upcoming season to buy domestic wheat. "The government has decided to buy cereals from local farmers at prices which would be close to the prices in the international market," he added.

Traders say Algeria has stepped up imports of milling wheat since July last year, importing around 4.0 million tonnes that included 150,00 tonnes of soft wheat bought early this month.

Algeria increased its subsidies and incentives, including soft loans, to farmers to boost domestic wheat crop.

Average annual cereals harvest rose from 2.1 million tonnes in the 1990s to 3.1 million tonnes for the 2000-2007 period, according to official figures.

Algeria harvested 4.3 million tonnes of cereals in 2007, which APS said accounted for half of the country's consumption needs.

Reuters

North Africa to develop drought, salt-tolerant barley

Agricultural researchers in Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia have teamed up to create drought-resistant and salt-tolerant varieties of barley better suited to the North African region.

The project, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre and overseen by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) North Africa Biosciences Network, will see thirty scientists from five organisations spending the next two years developing the barley varieties.

Barley is traditionally used as animal feed in much of North Africa, but lack of alternative food sources is leading to human consumption.

Algeria's National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAA), Egypt's National Research Centre and Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute, and Tunisia's Centre of Biotechnology and National Institute of Agriculture Research will be involved in the project.

The researchers met in Borj Essedria in southern Tunisia in February to discuss genetic techniques — including genetic modification — that could be used to increase barley's nutritional quality, as well as make it drought- and saltwater-tolerant.

"We want to develop two varieties of barley in each country, making a total of six varieties expected to be resistant to drought and high salinity," says Hussein Irikti, coordinator of scientific activities and research for INRAA, which is overseeing Algeria's role in the project. "If we succeed in achieving the goal, we will launch another programme bigger and broader than this," he adds.

Irikti says they are focusing on barley because it is "exceptional, very adaptable to different climates, resisting drought and high temperature compared to other cereals — in addition to containing vitamins that are not found in other grains. It is a strategic challenge for North Africa, which suffers from drought and high degree of salinity."

Skander Mekersi, deputy director of INRAA, said researchers would share skills and equipment, adding that INRAA has invested equipment worth US$20,000 into the project.

SciDev.net

Worries over low rainfall in Algeria

The low rainfall recorded in Algeria this winter is causing people to fear the worst. With February likely to be another dry month, the spectre of drought hangs ominously over the country. Experts say that if there is no rain over the coming weeks, the growing season could be in jeopardy.

The national meteorological office (ONM) confirms that Algeria is facing a critical water situation. Between September 1st and November 20th, wilayas in the centre of the country saw only half of the usual rainfall. The situation is even worse in the western regions of the country, where only 29 mm was recorded during the same period, compared with the usual 71 mm.

"If it rains in one or two weeks, the situation can still be rescued, but otherwise drought control measures will have to be put in place," said an official from the agriculture ministry.

Another official was more optimistic. During a recent visit to the Mitidja plain region, known for its orchards and farmland, Water Resources Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said, "It’s true: we’re at a lower level than would be the average situation, but there’s no need to worry because Algeria’s reservoirs are still 48.28% full, when at the same time last year they stood at 48.8%. And we have sufficient reserves to cope with this situation."

Since the water in the reservoirs is for drinking, not farming, the success of the agricultural sector depends entirely on the quantity of rainfall received during the growing season. To make up for this year’s considerable shortfall and safeguard harvests in the Mitidja, the minister has ordered that waste water be treated for crop irrigation purposes.

Sellal also announced plans to use water from the Oued Djer to irrigate 24,000 hectares on the Mitidja plain. Once an overflow dam and pumping station are built, water can be collected for agriculture instead of flowing out into the sea.

This solution will be rolled out to other farming regions across the country. It could bring new hope to farmers who fear their harvests will be utterly compromised.

In related news, Africa’s largest desalination plant was opened on February 24th in Algiers by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The $250m El Hamma Seawater Desalination Plant was developed by Algerian Energy in partnership with GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company. The plant will provide enough water for as many as 2 million residents in the Algiers area.

The Algerian government plans to construct 14 water desalination stations before 2011 to reduce water shortages and meet future demand, El Khabar reported.

Magharebia