Algeria - Context and Land Governance

^{At the entrance to the Sahara, photograph by Dan Sloan (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)}

In addition to its emblematic stretches of sand, this desert has an unknown and unsuspected diversity of landscapes. The Algerian Sahara is also home to vast stony plains, oases, irrigated farming areas and even towns. Algeria's land regimes have undergone many changes over the years. After the country gained its independence from France in 1962, the Algerian government carried out a land reform to nationalise and redistribute the land of the European colonists and large Algerian landowners. The state granted peasants use rights over the land thus placed in its domain. The state also encouraged collective production on self-managed estates and agricultural cooperatives. Considering the unsatisfactory returns from this agricultural model, the government initiated greater access to land for the private sector starting in the 1980s. Algeria has enjoyed prosperous economic development due to the exploitation of its oil and gas resources since the colonial period, which contributed an average of 19% of gross domestic product (GDP) between 2016 and 2021.¹

In 2023, Algeria also became the leading exporter of liquefied natural gas in Africa.² With a human development index of 0.745 in 2022, the country falls into the "high human development" category.³ However, social inequalities remain significant. 

Algeria's agricultural area covers 18.5% of the country, i.e. 44 million hectares out of 238 million. This area is largely made up of pastureland (32.75 million hectares) and, to a lesser extent, cultivated land (8.56 million hectares).⁴ If we do the maths, only 3.6% of Algeria's vast territory is occupied by annual crops, perennial plantations or fallow land. 

In Algeria, as in the other Maghreb countries, access to land necessarily depends on control over water, which is based on age-old technologies developed in the oases, but also on more recent processes (boreholes, irrigation pivots, drip irrigation, rural electrification). Since the 1980s, these modern technologies, which draw water from the water table, have enabled agriculture to develop in desert and steppe areas. However, this intensive agricultural model is leading to the over-exploitation of water resources, causing them to rise to the surface and sometimes drying up aquifers.⁵

Historical backdrop

The territory of Algeria passed from Roman control to that of the Arabs, then the Ottoman Empire and the French. Algeria's rich history continues to shape the ways in which land is accessed.

Pre-colonial history 

Prior to the Roman period, pastoralism was the most important agricultural activity, alongside the production of barley, wheat, vines and olives. The indigenous peoples, the Imazighen (sing. Amazigh),⁶ practised livestock farming on vast territories held and managed jointly in the steppes and high plains of northern Algeria (known as arch).⁷ In 146 BC, the Romans began colonizing the kingdom of Numidia, which governed the north of present-day Algeria. Towns and agriculture, particularly cereal farming, developed. 

The Arabs began the conquest of North Africa in the 7th century, introducing various forms of ownership such as wakf (or habous) property, which is imprescriptible and inalienable property donated to pious foundations. Family and tribal ownership of land (known as melk in Arabic) developed in peri-urban plains, mountain areas and oases. 

In 1515, the Algerians turned to the Barbarossa brothers, Turkish privateers, to repel the Spanish threat in the maritime cities. Northern Algeria became a province of the Ottoman Empire, a period known as the Regency of Alger, which lasted from 1515 to 1830. It was during this period that the beylik estate developed, comprising the property of the regency as well as land belonging to the Turkish rulers personally. This estate, covering around 4 million hectares, included rich farmland that was cultivated by tenant farmers (khemmas) for the benefit of the high dignitaries.⁸ 

The French conquest of Algeria began in 1830. France gradually extended its sphere of influence over Algerian territory until it controlled the Sahara in 1902. The colonial administration built up its private domain from the assets of the former Ottoman power (the beylik domain), properties confiscated from religious foundations (the habous), forest massifs, pastoral land and land considered vacant because it had no title. 

The colonial administration undertook to register the land to facilitate access to private property and attract Europeans for farming. It also seized the land of populations who revolted against its authority. The European settlers established in Algeria gradually monopolized the most fertile land, while the land available to the indigenous populations was already limited by the country's geography and climate.⁹

 From the mid-1950s onwards, agriculture focused on cash crops, particularly vineyards, was no longer able to feed the population. Growing inequalities between small farmers and large landowners, the fragmentation of land due to population growth and the reduction in the size of livestock herds all led to extreme poverty. The agrarian crisis exacerbated demands for independence.¹⁰ 

War broke out in 1954 between France and the National Liberation Front (FLN). France refused to let go of Algeria, a settlement that was home to a million Europeans, supplied metropolitan France with agricultural produce and had significant oil and gas potential¹¹. Between 1954 and 1962, the French army relocated around 3.5 million people from their villages to more than 2,000 relocation camps. These military operations aimed to prevent independence fighters from hiding in the villages where they could receive moral and logistical support. Farmers uprooted from their homelands lost their means of subsistence. The assistance provided by the colonial administration was insufficient, and the relocation camps were marked by malnutrition, poverty and high infant mortality rates. These forced displacements led to the destructuring of Algerian society and exacerbated the crisis in traditional agriculture. In the villages of origin, dwellings were destroyed, fields abandoned, and livestock decimated. As it was virtually impossible to return to the pre-war situation, the camps were transformed into permanent villages after independence.¹² 

Postcolonial history 

Algeria won the war and declared independence in 1962. Land governance in post-colonial Algeria was punctuated by changes in the ruling regime. Different phases can be distinguished (the fourth phase being dealt with in the following section). 

Self-management: In the summer of 1962, Algerian workers took over the farms abandoned by the European settlers who had left the country. They took charge of the harvests and set up management committees. However, these self-managed estates soon ran into difficulties linked to a lack of technical supervision, the collapse of agricultural markets, the departure of the highest skilled workers and, above all, strong legislative and bureaucratic control by the government, which limited the autonomy of the workers.¹³ 

In 1966, the government nationalized the land belonging to the settlers, meaning that "ownership of vacant movable and immovable property was devolved to the state".¹⁴ This land covered 2.3 million hectares, farmed by 170,000 peasants in self-managed estates.¹⁵ 

The agrarian revolution: The agrarian revolution aimed to abolish the ownership of non-farm workers in Algeria and reduce inequalities in the distribution of land in favour of small farmers. The agrarian revolution took place in three phases. The first phase, which began in 1972 involved the recovery and redistribution of state, communal and habous land. 

The second phase, which began in 1973, nationalized the land of large absentee landowners and limited the size of properties. In all, 28,200 Algerians lost some or the totality of their land and 1,931,146 hectares were transferred to the National Agrarian Revolution Fund (FNRA), two-thirds of which came from public land. Close to 100,000 peasants grouped together in 6,604 state-controlled cooperatives, mostly Agricultural Production Cooperatives of the Agrarian Revolution (CAPRA), were allocated 1.3 million hectares of this land.¹⁶ 

With the adoption of the Pastoral Code in 1975, the state launched the third phase of the agrarian revolution, nationalising pastoral land in steppe areas. This reform established the state as the owner of the arch lands, but recognised the ancestral and collective use rights of the tribal communities over them.

 In 1981, the state transformed the 2,000 self-managed estates into 3,400 Socialist Agricultural Estates (DAS). Some of the CAPRAs merged with these DASs. In the steppe regions, the CAPRAs were dissolved, and land use rights were allocated to individual cooperative members.¹⁷ 

Liberalisation of the land market: In the 1980s, the state called into question the two pillars that had underpinned its land and agricultural policies since 1962: "public ownership of land and the collective organisation of production." 

The reforms initially concerned public land that was uncultivated or used extensively for agro-pastoralism and rain-fed farming in arid areas. The discovery of large aquifers and the development of drilling technologies made it possible to develop this land. With Law No. 83-18 of 13 August 1983 on access to agricultural land (commonly known as the APFA law), the government aimed to encourage private individuals to access land from the state's private domain to increase cereal production. This land was made up of nationalised arch lands and Saharan areas. In exchange for a symbolic dinar, the beneficiaries were granted ownership of the land, which they developed through irrigated farming.¹⁸

 A second change came in 1987. Act No. 87-19 of 8 December 1987 abolished the DAS and redistributed the land to collective farms (EAC), individual farms (EAI) and pilot farms.¹⁹ Although the land remained the property of the state, the beneficiaries enjoyed a "right of perpetual enjoyment" over their land in exchange for a fee. They also became the owners of their means of production (agricultural equipment, buildings and animals).²⁰ EAC members, for their part, were to work the land jointly and not divide up the farm or rent out the land. ²¹ 

In 1989, the state adopted a new constitution that abolished the single-party system, introduced political pluralism and guaranteed private property. The constitution also introduced the principle of prior, fair and equitable compensation in the event of expropriation. With the promulgation of Law No. 90-25 of 18 November 1990 on land policy, the state put a definitive end to the agrarian revolution and returned nationalized land to its original owners, except for arch lands.²² 

The state subsequently adopted Executive Decree no. 97-483 of 15 December 1997 setting out the terms, conditions and charges for the concession of plots of land in the state's private domain in development areas. With this decree, the state started to develop plots of between 2 and 5 hectares with infrastructure (access tracks, boreholes, irrigation systems, greenhouses, etc.), but ceased to transfer full ownership of land that was in its private domain. Instead, the main mechanism for accessing land is the concession, which can be converted into a permanent transfer if the beneficiary manages to farm the plot.²³

Land legislation and regulations

Two laws currently govern agricultural land in the state's private domain. Law No 08-16 of 3 August 2008 on agricultural policy establishes the concession as the only method of exploiting this land, i.e. "the right to exploit agricultural land for a fixed period in return for an annual fee." This framework law does not call into question the private ownership previously obtained under the APFA law, but from now on, only private individuals who have equipped and cultivated Saharan land with their own funds will have access to it. 

^{Fields in Sétif, photograph by Dizay Yakouren (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)} 

Passed shortly afterwards in the same vein, Law no 10-03 of 15 August 2010 laying down the conditions and procedures for developing agricultural land in the state's private domain confirms this paradigm shift. Given priority access to private land, members of EACs and EAIs²⁴ are required to file an application for the conversion of their indefinite tenure rights into renewable 40-year concession rights. The law also authorizes the decollectivisation and subdivision of EACs for individual farming and allows land beneficiaries to enter into partnerships with private interests outside the agricultural world²⁵. Finally, the law provides for the National Farmland Office to organise calls for tender to grant land to "concessionary farmers" wishing to expand an existing farm or create a new one. Like the members of the EAC and EAI, these farmers have a 40-year concession with a bill of specifications.

 In 2011, access to private ownership of cultivated land was restricted to Saharan areas. As part of the development of steppe areas, concessions have become the only way to access public land.²⁶

Land tenure classifications

There are three main categories of land in Algeria, as defined in the 1989 Constitution: state land privately-owned property (melk) and wakf (or habous) property.

State land comprises two categories: the public domain and the private domain. The natural public domain includes forest resources and alfa lands.²⁷ The state's private domain includes agricultural land and rangelands (arch). 

^{Sheep at El Asnam, wilaya of Bouira, photography by Bouizriphotography (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)} 

Melk land includes land held individually or in joint ownership, as well as land titled in the name of the state or untitled land. Holders of melk land in unregistered areas can obtain a deed of acknowledgement of ownership or a certificate of possession. Access to melk land is by inheritance, gift or purchase. 

Wakf is an institution of Muslim law. It is a legal act that makes it impossible to appropriate movable or immovable property that is donated indefinitely to a charity. In 1973, these assets were abolished and paid into the National Agrarian Revolution Fund. The 1989 constitution reinstated them. 

Wakf land may be public or private. "Public wakf consists of property initially constituted for the benefit of charitable institutions. Private wakf refers to property that the settlor gives to his descendants or other designated persons to enjoy. On the death of the beneficiaries, the wakf is "paid to the initiative for which it was intended to according to the will of the settlor."²⁸

Land use trends

The size of farms in Algeria is characterized by contradictory trends. On the one hand, the former collective estates under state control are undergoing a process of continuous fragmentation. For example, self-managed estates fell from an average of 1,066 hectares to 730 hectares when they were transformed into DASs. These DASs were further fragmented when they were converted into collective and individual farming enterprises (with an average size of 62.23 and 9.92 hectares, respectively).²⁹ On the other hand, large concessions were created in response to various government agricultural development programs. 

Another trend is the marked increase in farming in arid zones, which is putting pressure on resources. In Algeria, 64% of irrigated land (1.4 million hectares) draws on groundwater. The water basins located on the maritime coasts are "in a situation of high or very high stress. On the other hand, the Saharan basins are under less stress.”³⁰

Land investments and acquisitions

In Algeria, private investment in agriculture continues to be supervised by the state, which devotes considerable sums to land development (in the form of boreholes, pivots, greenhouses, rural electrification, access tracks, etc.) as part of its land development (mise en valeur, MEV)[i][j][k][l] policy for Saharan and steppe land. Since 1983, the government has launched several programs to develop these lands and offer bank loans to farmers. Four types of MEVs can be distinguished according to the size of the plots granted: "small MEV (< 10 ha), medium MEV (10 to 100 ha), large MEV (100 to 1000 ha) and very large MEV (several thousand ha [...])."

Agriculture is experiencing unprecedented growth in certain wilayas of the south of the country (Biskra, El Oued, Adrar, Ouargla and Ghardaïa).³¹ Overall, however, the results are considered unsatisfactory in terms of the sums invested by the Algerian government and the areas allocated. Nationwide, of the 1.3 million hectares allocated between 1983 and 2018, only 262,264 hectares have actually been irrigated and cultivated, i.e. 20%.³² The government is currently focusing on the large MEV, given the disappointing performance of the very large MEV. There are a number of social, ecological and economic obstacles to the development of arid lands. For example, oasis farmers may refuse to allow new concessions near their palm groves. LD policies can give rise to feelings of injustice among local stakeholders when they lose their previous right to use the land allocated to them. In addition, the fields, which can easily be silted up by the Sahara, require large inputs of fertilizer because of their poor organic content. Exploiting groundwater is expensive, and consumer markets are far from production sites.³³

In addition to MEV tracts, investors can access land through partnerships with pilot farms set up as joint stock companies. These farms were originally state farms set up in 1982 on highly fertile public land. The useful agricultural area of these farms amounts to 118,574 hectares. After considering opening the door to foreign investment, the government backed down in the face of controversy. Only Algerians can obtain concessions on these pilot farms. A third mechanism for investors to access land is through partnerships with EAC and EAI farms.³⁴ 

In the case of both the MEV and the pilot farms, a number of plots have been allocated to entrepreneurs from outside the farming community, such as economic elites or elected representatives close to the administration. Also, agri-food companies active in processing or trading are increasingly involved in agricultural production over vast areas via pilot farms (e.g. Ben Amor, Groupe Lacheb, SIM, Hodna Lait, Cevi-Agro Alger, Tifra Lait, Safruit). Overall, the performance of pilot farms awarded to private partners remains less good than expected, with the state cancelling certain non-productive partnerships or bidders withdrawing.³⁵ 

Recently, the state recovered 85,000 hectares of unused land for redistribution. In addition, the Farmland National Office (ONTA) has identified 1.2 million hectares of land in the state's private domain for cultivation under concession.³⁶ The aim over the next three years is to develop 500,000 hectares of land in the southern wilayas for cereal production. In this way, the government hopes to reduce its wheat imports.³⁷ To achieve this, two partnerships were signed in 2024, one with a Qatari company for 117,000 hectares in the wilaya of Adrar,³⁸ the other with Italian investors for 36,000 hectares in the wilaya of Timimoun.³⁹

Customary land rights

In Algeria, pre-colonial land rights varied widely, combining customary, Islamic and Ottoman law. 

Three types of land existed under pre-Islamic customary law. Melk land was owned by families who held it in joint ownership. This agricultural land is mainly found in urban or mountainous areas. Mechmel land is owned collectively by village communities. It includes public places such as roads, forests, cemeteries, pastures, public fountains and mosques. No one may appropriate these lands for private use. Arch property "is collective land over which the tribes have a perpetual right of use rather than ownership.” This land, which is mainly found in steppe areas and is used for grazing, cannot be alienated.⁴⁰ With Islamisation, new forms of rights emerged. Islamic law includes the kharâdj, which was initially a land tax levied on non-Muslims within conquered territories. However, with the conversion of indigenous groups to Islam, the state's tax revenues were drastically reduced, prompting a reform more than a thousand years ago, in 719. Henceforth, the kharâdj was no longer linked to the status of its owner, but became a form of property independent of the latter's religion. Everyone had to pay tax on kharâdj land. 

^{Hoggar, Tamanrasset National Reserve, photograph by Aboubakrhadnine (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)} 

Today, only the melk, mechmel and arch properties remain, as the kharâdj lands have disappeared. As mentioned, however, arch land is being privatized as part of the government's various agricultural development programs.⁴¹

Women's land rights

In the oasis archipelago of Grand Touat in pre-colonial Algeria, women could inherit land and enjoyed "relative autonomy in the management of their land holdings." It was frequent for women, across social strata, to appeal to the Muslim court (cadi) to claim their inheritance and safeguard their land holdings. Between 1750 and 1850, most complaints concerned women wishing to assert their right of ownership over their palm groves, fields and shares of water for irrigation. Without fundamentally challenging patriarchal norms, recourse to the courts offered women a degree of protection for their rights and material interests.⁴² 

The literature on the nature and scope of women's current land rights in Algeria is practically non-existent or too old, with the last agricultural census in Algeria dating back to 2001.⁴³

As in all African societies, customary land is generally passed down through the father's line in Algeria, even though Muslim law provides for daughters to receive half the inheritance share of sons. For example, among the indigenous Kabyles in northern Algeria, women have a right to use the land, but cannot inherit it. Marriage between cousins in the paternal line is favoured and land is only bequeathed to sons in order to maintain the land heritage within the family.⁴⁴ 

Algerian law contains no provisions to promote women's access to land. The Constitution recognizes the right to property without discrimination on the basis of gender, but the 2014 Family Code is based on Koranic inheritance law. Recently adopted laws, such as Law No. 08-16 on agricultural guidance and Law No. 10-03 of 15 August 2010 setting the terms and conditions for the use of agricultural land in the state's private domain, make no mention of women. Similarly, the government's steppe and Saharan land development policies have not set targets for allocating land to women. As a result, "the number of women beneficiaries is virtually nil and, when they do appear, they are nominees.”⁴⁵ 

Although women's access to irrigated land seems limited, they nevertheless help to maintain family farms in the context of a chronic shortage of agricultural labour. In the oasis areas in particular, the APFA programs have accentuated this shortage, as former day labourers and sharecroppers (the harratines) have been able to obtain land to cultivate themselves. Paid employment for women on large farms remains rare, except in Kabylia, where they work at the beginning and end of the agricultural season.⁴⁶

Urban tenure

As in a number of African countries, the expansion of urban areas in Algeria is taking place mainly at the expense of fertile agricultural land, in a context where the state is encouraging the construction of housing.

A vast array of laws and urban planning instruments govern the conversion of agricultural land into urban areas,⁴⁷ but these measures are proving incapable of effectively regulating urban expansion. What's more, the urban plans adopted by the authorities should in principle preserve agricultural land, but in reality, they enshrine and formalize urban expansion.⁴⁸ Once these plans have incorporated agricultural land into urban development zones, the land is often diverted from its intended use.⁴⁹ 

In addition, various executive decrees authorize the construction of housing and public infrastructure on agricultural land, even if urban development plans make no provision for it. For example, the 2003 decree⁵⁰ allows the wali (an administrative authority equivalent to the French préfet) to take over agricultural land by simple decree. Other decrees adopted in 2011 and 2012⁵¹ have also led to the declassification of agricultural plots for state housing development programs and public projects in 18 wilayas. In all, 40,000 hectares of farmland throughout the country have been downgraded for urban development.

In Algeria, most of the land on the outskirts of towns and cities is privately owned by the state. In its capacity as landowner, the state can draw on agricultural land for urban development at will, leading some to claim that it is "breaking its own laws.”⁵² Take Oran, Algeria's second most populous city after the capital Alger. Oran is also the capital of the wilaya of the same name. In this city, the sustained increase in population has resulted in a "clear increase in urbanized areas" and the "urban sprawl" of agricultural areas on the outskirts. Between 1987 and 2017, farmland was cut back by an average of 42 hectares per year.⁵³ 

The politicized dynamics of land management described above can be seen in Oran. For example, a single wilaya decree downgraded nearly 700 hectares of agricultural land and transferred it to urban development zones. What's more, land earmarked for the development of public infrastructure (technical college and green space) ended up being used to build luxury flats, with the alleged complicity of certain administrative officials.⁵⁴ By 2005, 5,872 land-related offences committed by local elected officials had already been recorded. 

Nevertheless, the rate of urban sprawl in Oran has been declining over the past two decades. This decline is largely attributable to the significant rise in the price of building land, which has encouraged the development of multi-storey buildings, as well as the implementation by the state of modalities for the acquisition of affordable collective housing.⁵⁵

^{Alger, photograph by Lazhar Neftien (CC BY-ND 2.0)} 

Another interesting fact is that the Algerian Sahara, and in particular the Lower Sahara, is experiencing strong demographic growth. Over the last fifty years or so, the Saharan population has multiplied by 5.4, increasing faster than that of Northern Algeria. This increase is fueled by a high birth rate, but also by internal migration. The region is becoming increasingly attractive as a result of government land-use planning policies and strong economic development in the agricultural, oil and commercial sectors. Demographic growth is reflected in the rampant urbanization of the Sahara: whereas in 1954 the urbanization rate was 22.2%, in 2008 70% of the Saharan population lived in urban areas. Nevertheless, the population remains unevenly distributed, with only 10.5% of the Algerian population living in 90% of the territory, with an average population density of 1.75 inhabitants per km².[56]

Timeline - milestones in land governance

1966: The independent government adopts decree no. 66-102 of 6 May 1966 transferring ownership of vacant property to the state, thereby placing under its control the movable and immovable property that had previously belonged to the colonists. 

1971: Ordinance no. 73-71 of 8 November 1971 launched the agrarian revolution, nationalizing unused land and limiting the size of landholdings. Land transferred to the FNRA was redistributed to the peasants. 

1983: Law no. 18-83 of 13 August 1983 on access to land ownership is enacted to allow access to property through land development. 

1987: With the adoption of law no. 19-87 of 8 December 1987 on the use of agricultural land in the state's private domain, the DAS were replaced by EACs and EAIs

2008: Law 08-16 of 3 August 2008 on agricultural policy is adopted, establishing the principle of the concession as the only mechanism for exploiting land in the state's private domain.

2010: Law 10-03 of 15 August 2010 setting out the terms and conditions for the use of agricultural land in the state's private domain transforms the right of perpetual enjoyment into a renewable 40-year concession for EACs and EAIs. 

Where to go next?

The author's suggestions for further reading 

If you are interested in the urbanization process in Saharan Algeria, I recommend this article. The authors explain how urban sprawl is threatening the thousand-year-old fortified towns and their palm groves (known as ksour). Focusing on the case of Ghardaïa in the M'zab Valley, they illustrate how new construction is disrupting the oasis ecosystem developed by the Mozabite Berbers. In particular, the palm groves are gradually disappearing to make way for the residential areas that the Mozabites are erecting in response to population growth.

^{Ghardaïa, photograph by Denis Chupau (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)} 

If you are more interested in the political dimensions of land, I suggest you read this article by Mohamed Naïli. The author shows how, in post-colonial Algeria, land represents a resource that the regime distributes to its allies to maintain their loyalty, whether they be peasants and former actors in the war of liberation in the early 1960s or business leaders in the 2000s.

Glossary of words of Amazigh, Arabic and Turkish origins

Amazigh: Term meaning "free man" or "noble man" by which the Berbers refer to themselves 

Arch: Collective tribal land used for grazing

Beylik: Landed estate of the Ottoman Regency 

Habous: Mortmain property belonging to religious congregations

Harratine: Sub-Saharan African inhabitant of servile status 

Kharâdj: Land tax levied on the land of non-Muslims; type of land 

Khemmas: Sharecropper paid a fifth of the harvest 

Melk: Property owned privately by one person or more (from the Arabic milk)

Wakf: Synonym for habous, a term used in Middle Eastern legislation

Wali: State representative responsible for a wilaya  

Wilaya: Administrative and territorial region

References

[1]https://www.banquemondiale.org/fr/country/algeria/overview#:~:text=La%20production%20d%27hydrocarbures%20et,budgétaires%20entre%202016%20et%202021.

[2] Euro Algérie. "L'Algérie: principal exportateur de gaz naturel liquéfié en Afrique", 30 January 2024, https://landportal.org/news/2024/08/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-principal-exportateur-de-gaz-naturel-liqu%C3%A9fi%C3%A9-en-afrique.

[3] https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/DZA.

[4] Direction des Systèmes d'Information, des Statistiques et de la Prospective, Statistique Agricole. Statistique Agricole. Superficies et productions. Série “B” 2019, (July 2021), https://madr.gov.dz/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/SERIE-B-2019.pdf. 

[5] Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridisation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb. 

[6] A glossary of words of Amazigh, Arabic and Ottoman origin used in this text is available at the end of the document.

[7] Bessaoud, Omar. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après: de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire". Insaniyat no. 100 (2023): 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le.

[8] Khalfoune, Tahar. "La "domanialisation" de la propriété foncière en Algérie : la spoliation couverte de l'habit de la légalité," Revue internationale de droit comparé 68, no 3 (2016): 745-74, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-%C2%AB-domanialisation-%C2%BB-de-la-proprie%CC%81te%CC%81-foncie%CC%80re-en-alge%CC%81rie-la-spoliation.

[9] Guignard, Didier. "L'État et les colons. La grande sur les terres des Algériens, XIXe -XXe siècles", L'Histoire - Collections (June 2022), https://www.lhistoire.fr/l%C3%A9tat-et-les-colons-la-grande-ru%C3%A9e-sur-les-terres. 

[10] Bessaoud, Omar. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après : de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire", Insaniyat, no 100 (2023): 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le. 

[11] Encyclopédie Larousse. Guerre d'Algérie (1954-1962), https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/guerre_d_Algérie/104808

[12] Sacriste, Fabien. "Les camps de regroupement, entreprise de destructuration du monde rural algérien", Orient XXI, 25 March (2022); Rachedi, Mabrouck. "La guerre d'Algérie, dernier tabou: les camps de regroupement", Jeune Afrique, 14 October, https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1481769/culture/la-guerre-dalgerie-dernier-tabou-les-camps-de-regroupement/.

[13] Bessaoud, Omar. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après : de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire", Insaniyat, no 100 (2023): 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le. 

[14] République algérienne. Ordonnance no 66-102 portant dévolution à l’État de la propriété des biens vacants (1966), https://landportal.org/library/resources/ordonnance-no-66-102-portant-d%C3%A9volution-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99%C3%A9tat-de-la-propri%C3%A9t%C3%A9-des-biens 

[15] Naïli, Mohamed. "La sécurisation des terres agricoles du domaine public à l'épreuve du clientélisme politique en Algérie," Confluences Méditerranée 108, no 1 (2019): 47-58, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-s%C3%A9curisation-des-terres-agricoles-du-domaine-public-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99%C3%A9preuve-du.

[16] Bessaoud, Omar "Le foncier rural en Algérie : de l'autogestion à la concession agricole (1962-2018)" (Montpellier: Pôle Foncier, 2020), https://landportal.org/library/resources/le-foncier-rural-en-alg%C3%A9rie%E2%80%AF-de-l%E2%80%99autogestion-%C3%A0-la-concession-agricole-1962-2018; Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb; Naïli, Mohamed. "La sécurisation des terres agricoles du domaine public à l'épreuve du clientélisme politique en Algérie," Confluences Méditerranée 108, no 1 (2019): 47-58, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-s%C3%A9curisation-des-terres-agricoles-du-domaine-public-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99%C3%A9preuve-du. 

[17] Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridisation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb. 

[18] Daoudi, Ali, Jean-Philippe Colin, and Khadidja Baroud. "La politique de mise en valeur des terres arides en Algérie : une lecture en termes d'équité," Cahiers Agricultures 30 (2021): 4, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-politique-de-mise-en-valeur-des-terres-arides-en-alge%CC%81rie-une-lecture-en; Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb. 

[19] Bessaoud, Omar. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après: de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire". Insaniyat no. 100 (2023): 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le. 

[20] République algérienne. Loi no 87-19 du 8 décembre 1987 déterminant le mode d'exploitation des terres agricoles du domaine national et fixant les droits et obligations des producteurs (1987), https://landportal.org/library/resources/loi-no-87-19-du-8-d%C3%A9cembre-1987.

[21] Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb.

[22] Ahmed, Ali A. "La législation foncière agricole en Algérie et les formes d'accès à la terre," in Régulation foncière et protection des terres agricoles en Méditerranée (Montpellier: CIHEAM, 2011), 35-51, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-l%C3%A9gislation-fonci%C3%A8re-agricole-en-alg%C3%A9rie-et-les-formes-dacc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre; Bessaoud, Omar " Le foncier rural en Algérie : de l'autogestion à la concession agricole (1962-2018) " (Montpellier: Pôle Foncier, 2020), https://landportal.org/library/resources/le-foncier-rural-en-alg%C3%A9rie%E2%80%AF-de-l%E2%80%99autogestion-%C3%A0-la-concession-agricole-1962-2018; Khalfoune, Tahar "La "domanialisation" de la propriété foncière en Algérie : la spoliation couverte de l'habit de la légalité", Revue internationale de droit comparé 68, no 3 (2016): 745-74, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-%C2%AB-domanialisation-%C2%BB-de-la-proprie%CC%81te%CC%81-foncie%CC%80re-en-alge%CC%81rie-la-spoliation.

[23] Bessaoud, Omar. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après : de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire." Insaniyat no. 100 (2023): 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le; Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb. 

[24] Ahmed, Ali A. "La législation foncière agricole en Algérie et les formes d'accès à la terre," in Régulation foncière et protection des terres agricoles en Méditerranée (Montpellier: CIHEAM, 2011), 35-51, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-l%C3%A9gislation-fonci%C3%A8re-agricole-en-alg%C3%A9rie-et-les-formes-dacc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre. 

[25] Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb; Bessaoud, Omar. 2023. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après: de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire. Insaniyat no. 100: 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le. 

[26] Daoudi, Ali, Jean-Philippe Colin, and Khadidja Baroud. "La politique de mise en valeur des terres arides en Algérie: une lecture en termes d'équité", Cahiers Agricultures 30 (2021): 4, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-politique-de-mise-en-valeur-des-terres-arides-en-alge%CC%81rie-une-lecture-en. 

[27] Land covered mainly with esparto grass, a perennial herbaceous plant.

[28] Ahmed, Ali A. "La législation foncière agricole en Algérie et les formes d'accès à la terre," in Régulation foncière et protection des terres agricoles en Méditerranée (Montpellier: CIHEAM, 2011), 35-51, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-l%C3%A9gislation-fonci%C3%A8re-agricole-en-alg%C3%A9rie-et-les-formes-dacc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre.

[29] Bessaoud, Omar " Le foncier rural en Algérie : de l'autogestion à la concession agricole (1962-2018)" (Montpellier: Pôle Foncier, 2020), https://landportal.org/library/resources/le-foncier-rural-en-alg%C3%A9rie%E2%80%AF-de-l%E2%80%99autogestion-%C3%A0-la-concession-agricole-1962-2018. 

[30] Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb.

[31] Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb. 

[32] MADR, 2018, quoted in Kuper, Anne Chohin, Hybridation des modes d'accès à la terre et à l'eau au Maghreb : une perspective historique, (COSTEA - ACTION STRUCTURANTE FONCIER IRRIGUÉ AU MAGHREB, 2023), https://landportal.org/library/resources/hybridation-des-modes-d%E2%80%99acc%C3%A8s-%C3%A0-la-terre-et-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99eau-au-maghreb

[33] Daoudi, Ali, Jean-Philippe Colin, and Khadidja Baroud. "La politique de mise en valeur des terres arides en Algérie: une lecture en termes d'équité," Cahiers Agricultures 30 (2021): 4, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-politique-de-mise-en-valeur-des-terres-arides-en-alge%CC%81rie-une-lecture-en; Otmane, Tayeb, and Yaël Kouzmine. "Bilan spatialisé de la mise en valeur agricole au Sahara algérien," Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography (2013), https://landportal.org/library/resources/bilan-spatialis%C3%A9-de-la-mise-en-valeur-agricole-au-sahara-alg%C3%A9rien.

[34] Bessaoud, Omar. "Le foncier rural en Algérie : de l'autogestion à la concession agricole (1962-2018)" (Montpellier: Pôle Foncier, 2020), https://landportal.org/library/resources/le-foncier-rural-en-alg%C3%A9rie%E2%80%AF-de-l%E2%80%99autogestion-%C3%A0-la-concession-agricole-1962-2018.

[35] Bessaoud, Omar. "Le foncier rural en Algérie : de l'autogestion à la concession agricole (1962-2018)" (Montpellier: Pôle Foncier, 2020), https://landportal.org/library/resources/le-foncier-rural-en-alg%C3%A9rie%E2%80%AF-de-l%E2%80%99autogestion-%C3%A0-la-concession-agricole-1962-2018 ; Naïli, Mohamed. "La sécurisation des terres agricoles du domaine public à l'épreuve du clientélisme politique en Algérie," Confluences Méditerranée 108, no 1 (2019): 47-58, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-s%C3%A9curisation-des-terres-agricoles-du-domaine-public-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99%C3%A9preuve-du; Otmane, Tayeb and Yaël Kouzmine. "Bilan spatialisé de la mise en valeur agricole au Sahara algérien," Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography (2013), https://landportal.org/library/resources/bilan-spatialis%C3%A9-de-la-mise-en-valeur-agricole-au-sahara-alg%C3%A9rien. 

[36] APS. "ONTA: more than 1.2 million hectares of land to be developed by concession", (27 July 2024), https://landportal.org/news/2024/08/onta-plus-de-12-million-dhectares-de-terres-%C3%A0-mettre-en-valeur-par-la-concession. 

[37] APS. "Agriculture/Sud: vers la mise en valeur de 500.000 hectares en 2024", (2 July 2024), https://landportal.org/news/2024/08/agriculturesud-vers-la-mise-en-valeur-de-500000-hectares-en-2024. 

[38] Assocle, Stéphanas. "Le Qatar se lance dans la culture de blé en Algérie", Agence Ecofin, (28 June 2024), https://landportal.org/news/2024/08/le-qatar-se-lance-dans-la-culture-de-bl%C3%A9-en-alg%C3%A9rie. 

[39] APS. "Algérie-Italie : signature d'un accord- cadre pour la réalisation d'un projet de production de céréales et de légumineuses à Timimoun", (6 July 2024), https://landportal.org/news/2024/08/alge%CC%81rie-italie-signature-dun-accord-cadre-pour-la-re%CC%81alisation-dun-projet-de.

[40] Khalfoune, Tahar. "La "domanialisation" de la propriété foncière en Algérie : la spoliation couverte de l'habit de la légalité," Revue internationale de droit comparé 68, no 3 (2016): 745-74, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-%C2%AB-domanialisation-%C2%BB-de-la-proprie%CC%81te%CC%81-foncie%CC%80re-en-alge%CC%81rie-la-spoliation. 

[41] Bessaoud, Omar. "L'Algérie agricole et rurale 60 ans après: de la décolonisation au modèle concessionnaire". Insaniyat no. 100 (2023): 13-46, https://landportal.org/library/resources/l%E2%80%99alg%C3%A9rie-agricole-et-rurale-60-ans-apr%C3%A8s-de-la-d%C3%A9colonisation-au-mod%C3%A8le. 

[42] Warscheid, Ismail. "An ambiguous place of recourse: women's uses of Islamic justice in the oases of Grand Touat (southern Algeria) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries," Hawwa 17, no 2-3 (2019): 281-317, https://doi.org/10.1163/15692086-12341360.

[43] Pilot operations are currently underway with a view to conducting a census in 2024. 

[44] Bouzaza, Karima. "Le statut des femmes kabyles autochtones de l'Algérie" (Master's thesis in sociology, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2009), https://archipel.uqam.ca/1974/1/M10654.pdf. 

[45] Daoudi, Ali, Jean-Philippe Colin, and Khadidja Baroud. "La politique de mise en valeur des terres arides en Algérie: une lecture en termes d'équité", Cahiers Agricultures 30 (2021): 4, https://landportal.org/library/resources/la-politique-de-mise-en-valeur-des-terres-arides-en-alge%CC%81rie-une-lecture-en. 

[46] Otmane, Tayeb and Yaël Kouzmine. "Spatialized assessment of agricultural development in the Algerian Sahara," Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography, (2013), https://landportal.org/library/resources/bilan-spatialis%C3%A9-de-la-mise-en-valeur-agricole-au-sahara-alg%C3%A9rien.

[47] The 2008 agricultural policy law punishes contravention of the principle of not using agricultural land for other purposes with imprisonment and a fine (see Ahmed Ali 2011). 

[48] Missoumi, Madina Asmaa, Mohamed Hadeid, and Dider Desponds. "Jeux d'acteurs et fragilisation de l'agriculture périurbaine dans l'agglomération d'Oran (Algérie)," Caribbean Studies, no 43-44 (2019), https://landportal.org/library/resources/jeux-d%E2%80%99acteurs-et-fragilisation-de-l%E2%80%99agriculture-p%C3%A9riurbaine-dans-l%E2%80%99agglom%C3%A9ration. 

[49] Nemouchi, Hayette and Anissa Zeghiche. "Oran: des terres agricoles sacrifiées pour un urbanisme sauvage", Belgeo, no 1 (2021), https://landportal.org/library/resources/oran-des-terres-agricoles-sacrifie%CC%81es-pour-un-urbanisme-sauvage. 

[50] République algérienne. Décret exécutif n° 03-313 du 19 Rajab 1424 correspondant au 16 septembre 2003 fixant les conditions et des modalités de reprise des terres agricoles du domaine national intégrées dans un secteur urbanisable (2003), https://landportal.org/library/resources/de%CC%81cret-exe%CC%81cutif-n%C2%B0-03-313-du-19-rajab-1424 

[51] République algérienne. Décret exécutif n° 11-237 du 9 juillet 2011 portant déclassement de parcelles de terres agricoles affectées pour la réalisation de logements publics et des équipements d’accompagnement dans certaines wilayas(2011), https://www.joradp.dz/FTP/jo-francais/2011/F2011039.pdf; République algérienne. Décret exécutif n° 12-370 du 24 octobre 2012 portant déclassement de parcelles de terre affectées pour la réalisation de projets publics de développement (2012), https://www.joradp.dz/FTP/jo-francais/2012/F2012059.PDF. 

[52] Nemouchi, Hayette and Anissa Zeghiche. "Oran: des terres agricoles sacrifiées pour un urbanisme sauvage", Belgeo, no 1 (2021), https://landportal.org/library/resources/oran-des-terres-agricoles-sacrifie%CC%81es-pour-un-urbanisme-sauvage. 

[53]Missoumi, Madina Asmaa, Mohamed Hadeid, and Dider Desponds. "Jeux d'acteurs et fragilisation de l'agriculture périurbaine dans l'agglomération d'Oran (Algérie)," Caribbean Studies, no 43-44 (2019), https://landportal.org/library/resources/jeux-d%E2%80%99acteurs-et-fragilisation-de-l%E2%80%99agriculture-p%C3%A9riurbaine-dans-l%E2%80%99agglom%C3%A9ration. 

[54] Nemouchi, Hayette and Anissa Zeghiche. "Oran: des terres agricoles sacrifiées pour un urbanisme sauvage", Belgeo, no 1 (2021), https://landportal.org/library/resources/oran-des-terres-agricoles-sacrifie%CC%81es-pour-un-urbanisme-sauvage. 

[55] Missoumi, Madina Asmaa, Mohamed Hadeid, and Dider Desponds. "Jeux d'acteurs et fragilisation de l'agriculture périurbaine dans l'agglomération d'Oran (Algérie)," Caribbean Studies, no 43-44 (2019), https://landportal.org/library/resources/jeux-d%E2%80%99acteurs-et-fragilisation-de-l%E2%80%99agriculture-p%C3%A9riurbaine-dans-l%E2%80%99agglom%C3%A9ration. 

[56] Kouzmine, Yaël and Jacques Fontaine. "Démographie et urbanisation au Sahara algérien à l’aube du XXIe siècle," Les Cahiers d'EMAM, no 30 (2018), https://landportal.org/library/resources/d%C3%A9mographie-et-urbanisation-au-sahara-alg%C3%A9rien-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99aube-du-xxie-si%C3%A8cle.