Historic Grain Harvest in Cezayir Created a Harvester Shortage

Cezayir faced an extraordinarily large grain harvest this year, but this bountiful situation brought an unexpected crisis with it. While the demand for harvest machines in the country increased unpredictably, the combine harvester shortage caused serious problems in the fields. Farmers state that unharvested crops face the risk of being destroyed due to threats such as wind, animal pests, and fire. Producers trying to make their voices heard on social media made an urgent call for help to reveal the scale of the situation. Particularly in agricultural regions such as Tiaret and Mila, farmers were seen forming long queues with their trucks to unload their crops. This situation revealed the logistical and technical challenges brought by the record-breaking agricultural season.

The Government and the Ministry of Agriculture announced that they have taken four emergency measures to manage the crisis and compensate the farmers. As the first measure, a digital platform called hassad.dz was launched, and through this platform, farmers were able to call harvest machines. In addition, more than bin üç yüz (one thousand three hundred) machines were mobilized by the Cezayir Profesyonel Tahıl Ofisi and the Agrodrive company to alleviate the machinery shortage experienced in some vilayets across the country. The second precaution was the implementation of a flexible notification system that allows producers without a farmer card to deliver their harvests. In the third step, within the scope of the agreement between Agrodrive and PMAT, additional combine harvesters were put into service for farmers' use. Finally, to prevent potential bottlenecks in grain delivery, all storage and reception centers started operating seven days a week, excluding neither official nor religious holidays.

The scale of the machinery shortage in the field is clearly understood from the dramatic statements of local farmers. A farmer in the Tiaret vilayet stated in an interview given to Midan News that crops are spilling onto the ground and there are no machines to collect the harvest, expressing the severity of the situation. The same farmer emphasized that the harvest is left to rot in the field and that the authorities must be informed immediately. A farmer in another region, Belkhir Lakdhar, reported that he witnessed about kırk (forty) trucks waiting impatiently to unload their cargo in front of a collection center. This congestion of trucks shows that the storage and reception infrastructure is struggling to handle this massive harvest. Even the manager of the Tahıl ve Kuru Bakliyat Kooperatifi (CCLS) in the Mila vilayet had to reach out to farmers to announce that deliveries could be made from seven in the morning to seven in the evening.

The biggest factor behind this massive grain production was the highly favorable weather conditions experienced during this winter season. The increase in rainfall during the autumn season allowed farmers to extend their sowing period and plant in larger areas. Subsequently, the continuing rains in the spring positively affected the growth and development of the planted grains, causing the harvest amounts to literally explode. The supply of certified seed demand by cooperatives, the ability to rent sowing machines, and the sale of plant protection products on credit were among other important factors that increased production. The restructuring of debts of farmers affected by previous droughts by banks and the provision of seasonal loans provided significant relief to the agricultural sector. All these supporting elements came together to pave the way for a production level rarely seen in the agricultural history of Cezayir.

Despite this positive agricultural picture, important lessons for the future have been learned regarding infrastructure and equipment management. In previous years, farmers had to endure waiting times of up to two days in front of cooperative centers to deliver their harvests. The program carried out to solve this problem, which included the construction of üç yüz elli (three hundred and fifty) new collection centers, was largely successful. In line with the instructions of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Agrodrive company had announced that it purchased 331 new combine harvesters and 1800 tractors to secure the 2025-2026 harvest season. However, the current harvest exceeding expectations by far revealed that even this massive investment was not enough to meet the demand. The agricultural sector of Cezayir has reached a significant milestone in the goal of ensuring global food security and reducing dependence on foreign sources in grain production.