The Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Fisheries, Yacine Oualid, oversaw the signing ceremony of an agreement in the province of Sidi Bel Abbes between the Agricultural Equipment Marketing Company (PMAT TRADING) and AGRO DRIVE, a subsidiary of the Agrodiv Group, for the acquisition of 331 harvesters and 1,800 tractors. A statement from the Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday explained that the agreement is part of efforts to support the national fleet of equipment intended for plowing, sowing, harvesting, and threshing operations.
This agreement comes within the framework of implementing the President of the Republic’s decisions aimed at enhancing agricultural mechanization and achieving a qualitative leap in the agricultural sector. On this occasion, Yacine Oualid emphasized that the establishment of the Agrodrive branch, specialized in agricultural mechanization, and the creation of a National Council for Agricultural Mechanization to ensure maintenance and the provision of spare parts, will effectively contribute to modernizing the sector. He noted that these steps aim to expand cultivated areas, increase yield per hectare, support farmers, encourage the creation of agricultural cooperatives, and bolster national production of agricultural equipment.
On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Yacine Oualid launched a specialized training course on best practices for operating and maintaining harvesters. This course is intended for executives and workers supervising agricultural mechanization at the level of grain and pulse cooperatives, as well as the Strategic Crop Development Enterprise (DCAS). A group of trainers recruited by the vocational training and education sector also participated in this three-day session to support the agricultural sector in training a qualified workforce specialized in agricultural mechanization. Additionally, a group of vocational training institute graduates participated to gain field experience qualifying them for employment in the field of agricultural mechanization, which currently faces a significant shortage of qualified labor.
The Minister confirmed that this session, the first of its kind, is of an urgent nature as it precedes the start of the 2025-2026 harvesting and threshing campaign, which begins mid-month in the southern provinces. Similar sessions will be organized across various regions of the country to train all those responsible for mechanization in both public and private sector institutions. In this context, he highlighted the importance of training specialized labor in operating and maintaining harvesting machinery due to its role in enhancing food security by increasing production levels and preventing crop loss.
During the visit, the Minister reviewed the capabilities of national agricultural equipment production enterprises at the industrial hub in Sidi Bel Abbes. He also inspected the Algerian-Italian “Enrico Mattei” Center of Excellence for Agricultural Innovation and assessed the progress of this project, which carries a continental dimension for Africa.
