Algeria Country Book

Last update: March 2025

This page contains information about some of the data available in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE) for Algeria. This is not a comprehensive guide.

For information about using the filters and fields for specific domains in the FDE, see Choose a Data Domain.

Summary table

Country food security context

Statistical reporting units

Algeria usually uses administrative units as their statistical reporting units.

Administrative (admin) units are the geographical areas into which a country is divided. FEWS NET uses the following terminology: National boundary = admin 0, First sub-national division = admin 1 (e.g., states in the United States), Second sub-national division = admin 2 (e.g., counties in the United States), and so on.

Admin 1: Provinces (wilaya).  In 1980, there were a total of 31 provinces in the country.  17 new provinces were added in February 1984. 10 new provinces created in 2019 were all located in the arid south of the country, for a current total of 58 Admin 1 provinces.

Admin 2: FDW uses municipalities (baladiya or communes), of which there have been approximately 1,541 since 2002. There is also an Admin 2 entity called a daira or arrondissement, currently in use only in Algiers, the capital city.

The FDW contains reporting unit relationship tables which define three annual sets of boundaries (all Admin 1) for 1980, 1984, and 2019 for Algeria. Each describes the temporal and hierarchical relationships of statistical reporting units as of an initial effective date of 1980, until a new annual set overtakes it due to changes made in the country’s administrative structure. Taken together, they describe a genealogy of changes in Algeria’s statistical reporting units between 1980 and the present.

Crop data

Explore our crop data.

View our documentation on using the Crop Domain.

Crop estimate data sources

 The Ministère de l'Agriculture et du Développement Rural (MADR), Direction des Statistiques Agricoles et des Systèmes d'Information publishes the country’s crop statistics, which are originally developed by Ministry of Agriculture offices in most wilayas.

A small number of annual crop statistic reports (2016-2019) may be found on the MADR website.

The assistance of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in compiling the Algerian crop statistics contained in the FDW is gratefully acknowledged.

Crop reporting units

Algeria’s crop data is primarily reported at the Admin 1-level, and crop statistics for Algeria are available in the FDW covering a period running from 2001 to 2019. 

Year and season definition

The annual agricultural year (or cropping year) for Algeria runs between October and September of the next year.  A two-year notation (e.g. 2023/2024) is often used to identify a specific crop in time. When a one-year notation is used (e.g. 2024) it refers to the second year in the two-year notation, when the harvests occur.

There are two main seasons:

• Winter: Planted and harvested roughly between October 15th and July 15^th of the next year. Includes the major grain crops: wheat, barley, oats.

• Summer: Generally grown and harvested between January and August. Includes maize and sorghum. 

Potatoes, an important staple crop, are grown during three different periods (in this sequence):

1. saison: The main potato-growing season, between January and May.

2. arriere: The next most important season, between August and December.

3. primeur (or “early” in English): Grown only in a few small areas between April and July. 

Primary crops

The principal food crops grown in the country are wheat, barley, potatoes, pulses of various types, and maize and sorghum. Fodder of all types is an important crop, and production may be subsidized by the state. 

Production systems

The country’s crop production statistics provide little information on the type of production system (e.g. irrigated, rainfed, etc.) used for grain crops.  Vegetable crop statistics differentiate between greenhouse and early systems (sous serres et primeurs), but these are aggregated in the FDW crop statistics.

Crop production context

The country’s source documents provide area estimates in hectares, and production estimates in quintals.

Methodology

No information is currently available.