Constantine launches cereal sowing campaign

Constantine wilaya has started its ploughing and sowing campaign in Béni Hamidene, under the supervision of wali (governor) Kamel Eddine Kerbouche, with cereal output forecast at 2,275,000 quintals.

The campaign opens the 2026-2027 season. Le Courrier d'Algérie reported the details given by Badreddine Kharchi, director of Constantine wilaya agricultural services. The forecast is based on an expected average yield of 25 quintals per hectare.

Durum wheat will cover the largest share of the land. Bread wheat, barley, oats and triticale will follow. Some land will also be used for seed production and irrigated cereals.

The 2025-2026 season provided the base for this plan. Farmers worked nearly 87,500 hectares, producing close to two million quintals, of which more than 1.7 million quintals were collected.

The R'fig credit scheme helped finance more than 1,600 farmers, for a total above 160 million dinars (DZD). Recently set up one-stop desks have handled nearly 800 new financing files for the current season.

Seeds cover 74% of the wilaya's needs so far, but fertiliser supply still needs to be strengthened. Storage capacity exceeds 2.1 million quintals, spread across 28 silos and warehouses, and the wilaya has thousands of tractors and ploughs.

Agricultural services are asking farmers to use good farming methods. These include deep ploughing, crop rotation, balanced fertilisation, and more dry legumes, vegetables and fodder crops.

The Achi Driss farm was chosen as the showcase for the launch. It covers 410 hectares of farmland, mostly for cereals, with some land kept for fodder. It employs around 30 permanent and seasonal workers and keeps nearly 100 head of livestock, most of them dairy cows.