Sarl Dunaysır Company, operating under the Turkish Dekinsan Group, has implemented an agricultural project in the city of Adrar, located in the Great Sahara Desert of Algeria.

Sarl Dunaysır Company will produce barley, alfalfa and lentils, especially wheat, within the scope of the agricultural project implemented on an area of 4 thousand hectares in the countryside of Adrar city in the south of Algeria.  Adrar Governor Behlül el-Arabi visited the project area and Türkiye's Ambassador to Algeria Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş and embassy officials also made inspections.

Hakkı Keleşoğlu, Director of Sarl Dunaysır Company, correspondent that they started the agriculture project in the desert, which they did for testing purposes last year, professionally as of the first days of 2023.

Keleşoğlu pointed out that they have cultivated 420 hectares of land and planted 60 thousand trees so far and said, "Our goal is to carry out field agriculture on 3 thousand hectares, fruit growing on 300 hectares and vegetable growing in professional greenhouses on 4 hectares."

Emphasizing that they planted barley, clover, lentils, mainly wheat, and planted various fruit trees, Keleşoğlu said, "We will also do animal husbandry in addition to agriculture. In the first stage, small cattle breeding was started, and it is aimed to buy cattle in the coming days."

Keleşoğlu pointed to the strong relations between Türkiye and Algeria and expressed his satisfaction with the visit of Governor of Adrar el-Arabi.

- Agriculture in the desert

Emphasizing the difficulty of farming in the desert, Keleşoğlu said that they have limited opportunities in the desert.

Keleşoğlu said "Agriculture in the desert is much more difficult than classical agriculture. For this, it is necessary to be patient and make an effort. Both vital and technical possibilities are limited in the desert."

Stating that their goal is to implement the industrial chain, Keleşoğlu said, "We are well organised by setting out with our technically equipped team. Among our goals is to establish integrated facilities and realise the industrial chain from processing and packaging of crops."

Keleşoğlu evaluated the privilege of farming in the desert in the south of Algeria as the low cost of energy and labour and the ease of access to underground water.

Source: Anadolu Ajansı