NEW MEDIT N. 2/2014 Assessment of the farming transformation in a rural region of Sétif province in Algeria Amar ROUABHI*, Miloud HAFSI *, Mustapha KEBICHE** Jel Classification: Q20, R11 1. Introduction Abstract government aimed at de- The main aim of this paper is to elaborate a typology and to assess the transfor- veloping agricultural pro- The nineties or “the black mations of agricultural activities in the northern part of Sétif province in Algeria. duction and productivity, During the nineties, the country experienced a period of insecurity and terrorism, decade in Algeria”, accord- modernization of farms ing to Bozarslan (2005), which seriously disrupted the socio-economic situation of the farming system. The through substantial invest- refers to the conflict that study area is predominantly rural; it includes nine municipalities and is one of the areas affected by this scourge. After a decade of instability, normal conditions were ments and the use of appro- started in 1991 between the recovering again with the launch of a national program of agricultural aid in 2000, priate sustainable natural re- Algerian government and namely “Plan National de Développement Agricole” (PNDA). This change will im- sources (Laoubi, 2010). various Islamist groups for pact farming dynamics. The analysis of agricultural practices through nonlinear methods, namely the CATegorical Principal Components Analysis (CATPCA), Huge funds were allocated political reasons. The north- aims to assess the behavior of farmers across time, which will be used as a deci- ern part of Sétif (Algeria) by the government through sion-making tool for assessing and reorienting the government agricultural aid financial and technical aid was a victim of these politi- programs. The results showed two typologies: the first one consists of large-scale cal events. It experienced a farming combining field crops (cereals) under rainfed regime and livestock; the to farmers, where 2.3 billion hard period of terrorism and second one consists of small farms practicing intensive irrigated crops such as ar- Euros were granted during boriculture and market gardening. However, the economic performance of farms the period 2000-2005 insecurity that led to greater seems to be associated with two different criteria: the size of the farm and farming social and economic up- system as arboriculture and market gardening. (Habibi, 2008). Indeed, a- heaval affecting the rural gricultural extension is an Keywords society practicing agricul- : farming transformation, PNDA program, economic performance, Algeria. essential tool for rural de- ture in impoverished moun- velopment (Oakley and tainous areas, where many Résumé Garforth, 1985), as it facili- people had changed their L’objectif principal de cet article est de dresser une typologie et de faire une évalua- tates both the adoption and tion des transformations des activités agricoles dans la partie nord de la Wilaya de Sé- the adaptation of technolo- farming activities or had tif – Algérie. Au cours des années quatre-vingt-dix, le pays a vécu une période d’in- left their land to settle in c- sécurité et de terrorisme qui a sérieusement bouleversé la situation socioéconomique gy to local conditions (An- ities or rural villages (Bes - de l’appareil productif agricole ; la zone d’étude est majoritairement rurale, inclut neuf derson and Feder, communes et fait partie des zones touchées par ce fléau. Après une décennie d’insta- 2003).The theories that saoud, 2006). This had bilité, les conditions de vie normales sont de retour, avec le lancement d’un program- probably a huge effect on me national de subvention agricole en 2000, à savoir le Plan National de Développe- have occasionally been the farming system and the ment Agricole(PNDA). Ce changement de situation aura des impacts sur la dyna- made regarding the setting household incomes. mique des activités agricoles. L’analyse des transformations des pratiques agricoles à of economic activities al- travers des méthodes non linéaires, à savoir l’analyse en composantes principales ca- low a deeper understand- In 1999, a new law tégorielle (ACPC), vise à évaluer le comportement des agriculteurs à l’échelle tempo- granted amnesty to most Is- relle et permet de fournir un outil de prise de décision pour la réorientation et l’éva- ing of the relations and in- lamist fighters, which luation des programmes gouvernementaux d’aide agricole. Les résultats ont fait res- terdependencies that de- prompted a return to normal sortir deux typologies : la première typologie est composée de la grande exploitation termine the installation of combinant les grandes cultures pluviales (céréales) et l’élevage, la deuxième est cons- various economic activi- life. As a result, violence tituée de petites exploitations pratiquant les cultures intensives irriguées, telles que declined significantly, with l’arboriculture et le maraîchage. Cependant, la performance économique des exploi- ties in space, aiming at the the return of peaceful life in tations agricoles semble être associée à deux critères distincts, à savoir la taille de l’ex- social and economic de- the affected areas. This ploitation et l’activité agricole pratiquée telles que l’arboriculture et le maraîchage. velopment of different re- gions (Lambrianidis, means a new onset for the Mots-clés: transformations agricoles, Plan National de Développement Agricole, agricultural sector. Further- performance économique, Algérie. 1992; Kostov and McEr- more, through the National lean, 2006). Agricultural Development Plan (PNDA: Plan National du In similar cases, several statistical methods were used to Développement Agricole) launched in 2000, the Algerian carry out spatial-temporal analysis, but also the usefulness of a newly developed multivariate statistical tool such as * Department of Agronomy, Faculty of SNV, Sétif University 1, Algeria. the categorical principal component analysis (CATPCA) ** Department of Geography, University of Quebec at Montreal, (Leunda et al., 2009) which was tested to assess the spatial- Canada. temporal transformations of agricultural practices in differ- 38 NEW MEDIT N. 2/2014 ent municipalities of the northern part of Sétif, from the bira, Serdj el Ghoul, Tizin’Bechar, Amoucha, Oued el black decade until now. Bered, Dehamcha, Maaouia and Beni Aziz. Covering an On this basis, changes are put into effect regarding the spa- area of 758.67 Km2 , about 11.58% of the total area of the tial distribution of economic activities, according to the new province, this region is characterized by favorable rainfall economic conditions under formulation and the various tools conditions and by the abundance of water resources acting used for their implementation (regional development incen- positively on agricultural development. However, its geo- tives, financing policies, taxation) (Barnes et al., 2007). graphical and socioeconomic conditions are very hard, with In most rural areas, the household form is already domi- rough terrain, isolation, lack of infrastructure and uncom- nant. It is for this reason that in the chosen theoretical ap- fortable roads, effects of insecurity and massive exodus that proach, the family production unit is taken as a reference u- occurred during the last decade, thus presenting major im- nit (Campagne, 1999). However, as shown by Darré (1989) pediments to the agricultural development in this area. and Deléage (2004), farm practices are negotiated within 2.2. Sampling and data analysis the group of professionals and with other partners. In the mountainous region of Sétif, the family farm is the It is through the farm study and implementation that most most dominant form (MADR, 2009), which induces com- decisions determine the success or failure of government plex socioeconomic relations governing the agricultural aid programs and agricultural development projects; hence sector. The change in farming systems can be approached the need to diagnose this organization level is paramount. as essentially a land process where farmers are the main Our investigation, carried out in 2011, focused on a sample protagonists (Ansaloni, 2006). However, Colson et al. of 125 farms spread over nine municipalities. The sampling (1998) consider that technical change in production sys- model adopted was a stratified random design (Tittonell et tems is intimately linked to the system for allocating aid. al., 2005; Blood and Birniea, 2008) which provided obser- This paper attempts (i) to build a farming typology in the vations for each stratum group with a rate of 5% for each northern part of Sétif; (ii) to highlight the main farming municipality. A face-to-face questionnaire was developed transformations occurring in the dominant activities after with the head of household, including a series of questions the hard socioeconomic conditions lived during the black describing the socio-economic environment, farming activ- decade; (iii) to assess the effect of the PNDA program on ities transformations, motivations and problems hindering the economic performance of farms and farming changes, agricultural development (Table 1). Each study focused on through the analysis of the farmer’s choice to adopt new a- socioeconomic assessment that requires a good measure- gricultural practices or to hold old ones; and finally to bring ment of this concept, which can be difficult to establish. proposals relating to technical and organizational level for There are some problems directly linked to the subjective the local development policies. nature