Algeria rescinds concessions to reclaim 24,958 hectares of unused land

The National Office of Agricultural Lands (ONTA) in Algeria canceled 2,603 land concession acts to reclaim nearly 25,000 hectares of state-owned land.

This action followed a new ten-point agricultural reform launched by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on November 8. The ONTA took these steps because owners failed to meet contractual obligations.

These violations included using the land for purposes other than its intended use, leaving the land uncultivated for over a year, renting the land illegally, or failing to pay fees for two consecutive years. Before canceling the contracts, the office sent over 74,000 formal notices to the affected parties through both judicial and administrative channels. The government intends to redistribute the recovered land to individuals who can use it productively.

The state currently manages 2.8 million hectares of agricultural land in its private domain, which is part of a total usable agricultural surface of 8.4 million hectares in Algeria. The agricultural reform also includes new instructions to create a dedicated statistics service and a new local organization plan. Additionally, the Council of Ministers issued a decision banning the practice of leaving land fallow.