Italy to invest 400 million euros in Algerian agriculture as it become the biggest agricultural project on the African continent

Italian Bonifiche Ferraresi company and Algeria signed on Saturday, an agreement in the Algeria of the capital to launch a 400 million Euro agricultural project in the Algerian desert, the largest agricultural project on the African continent, which has not been achieved even by classical agricultural countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.

Algerian authorities have granted the Italian group a 36,000-hectare concession in the southwestern Algeria province of Timimoun to produce strategic crops — durum wheat, pulses and oilseeds such as soy.

Federico Vichinoy, CEO of the Bonifiche Ferraresi Group, told the Italian news agency, “This is a very important project”.

He explained that Italian and Algerian agriculture share the same vision, which is a vision of high-quality production, not only for durum wheat, but also for sunflower, vegetables and other Mediterranean crops.

He added, “this is a big project for the production of cereals and the rest of the agricultural material”.

The investments required for the completion of this project amount to 400 million Euros over the next few years, as the project will be implemented in partnership with the National Investment Fund, the financial arm of the Algerian government, Italian financial institutions and the Italian company, and wheat, pulses and other products produced by the company in Timimoun will be directed first and foremost to the Algerian market.

The project will enter into force starting next October, the beginning of the agricultural season, and the main results will be achieved starting in 2028, and Algerian officials say that this project is part of Algeria’s agricultural strategic vision to achieve food sufficiency.

Also, hundreds of wells will be drilled in the region to establish an advanced irrigation system integrated with rain.

Italy is interested in investing in the Algerian agricultural field to obtain durum wheat necessary for pastries, while Algeria wants to produce and export durum wheat and use the surplus to import soft wheat, and the Algerian environment helps to grow durum wheat, while countries such as Russia and the United States are distinguished by the production of soft wheat.

In a matter of years, Algeria has become an agricultural force in Africa, and this year has generated more wheat production than its Morocco-strong agricultural neighbor.

Foreign investments in Algeria used to focus on energy, gas, oil and some light industries, and recently attract investments in the agricultural sector, and Algeria provide facilities to both Türkiye and Italy in the first place in this sector, and are keen Algeria direct investments in the agricultural sector to be in line with their objectives in the agricultural revolution that they are implementing.