He exports his tomatoes and imports his wheat — and he wants to teach Algeria how to “sell”

Y. Bensalem — Alger, Algérie — 2026-10-18

The neighbor's thesis, laid out. Algeria would produce roughly 32 billion dollars of agricultural value, export only a tiny share of it, import 10 billion dollars of food a year — and the bill would be paid by hydrocarbons. So Algerian agriculture would be an agriculture “on paper,” with no outlets, earning “virtually no foreign currency.”

The flaw, in one sentence: feeding is not selling. The purpose of agriculture is not to export — it is to feed. The 32 billion dollars of Algerian production feed 45 million Algerians. That is not “waste,” it is the very function of agriculture. To say that “almost all production stays on the domestic market” as if it were a failure is to confuse a country that feeds itself with a country that empties itself to export.

The sophism, next. The neighbor presents “producing for oneself” as a failure, and “producing for foreigners” — his own model — as the norm. But let us look at his model: Morocco exports tomatoes and avocados to Europe… and imports its wheat. A cash-crop agriculture, turned toward foreign markets, while its own market depends on imports. Is that “better”? No. It is a choice — and it is not ours.

The real problem, which he sidesteps. The Algerian question is not “how to export more,” it is “how to import less.” These 10 billion dollars of food imports — wheat, milk, sugar, oil, corn — that is the enemy. And the answer is not to send the harvest abroad while Algerians import: it is to produce more for the domestic market, to shrink that bill. That is exactly what Algeria is doing — self-sufficiency in durum wheat, developing milk production, extending irrigated acreage.

The truth, finally. He says: “agriculture that does not sell leaves food security dependent on hydrocarbons.” The reality is the exact opposite: Algeria is building its food sovereignty precisely to free itself from the hydrocarbon rent. Every hectare that feeds an Algerian is a currency no longer sent abroad. Feeding one's people is the first of exports — the one that is counted not in dollars, but in independence.

📚 COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY (rule n°19)

1. TSA, “Algeria: 4 billion dollars of non-hydrocarbon exports in 8 months,” October 18, 2026 — https://www.tsa-algerie.com/algerie-4-milliards-de-dollars-dexportations-hors-hydrocarbures-en-8-mois/

2. FAO / Ministry of Agriculture — figures on agricultural value added and food imports (to be confirmed before publication)

3. The original post (the target of the rebuttal) — to be referenced

⚠️ Published reservations. (1) The figures (32 B$, 200-400 M$, 10 B$) come from the commented post and must be cross-checked against official sources before publication. (2) The comparison with Morocco concerns agricultural models, not peoples. (3) The article does not deny Algeria's export deficit: it contests the conclusion that turns “not exporting” into a failure.