Algeria signed a $3.5 billion deal with Qatar's largest dairy producer Baladna on Wednesday, establishing a vast cattle-breeding farm for powdered milk, a highly sought-after product in the North African country.
With an expected yield of 200,000 tonnes of powdered milk per year, the project would help meet 50 percent of national demand for the product, according to reports.
The project, which covers an area of 170,000 hectares in the Adrar province, includes a farm for growing cattle feed, "a farm for cattle and producing milk and meat, and a factory for the production of powdered milk," the Algerian agriculture ministry said in a statement.
The deal was signed in Algiers between Souad Assous, head of agricultural and land investments at the Algerian agriculture ministry, and Baladna chairman Mohamad Moutaz Al-Khayyat, the statement added.
Algeria, a country of almost 45 million, has seen several milk shortages in recent years and heavily relies on imports for powdered milk and other food products.
In 2021, imports of powdered milk reached nearly $600 million in Algeria, according to data from the National Interprofessional Milk Office.
The project, expected to be up and running in 2026, would also "supply the local market with red meat and help increase the national cattle population", the statement said.
It would also create some 5,000 directs jobs, it added.