Agriculture of Northern Africa

Excerpts from the report Summary: Northern Africa, as used in this report, comprises basically the countries lying astride or north of a line from Rabat to Mogadiscio. More specifically, the following 11 countries are included: Algeria, Ethiopia (including Eritrea), French Somaliland, Ifni, Libya, Morocco, Somali Republic, Spanish Sahara, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Republic. Agriculture occupies such a dominant role in their economic activities that it is impracticable to disassociate it from any consideration of future development--political, social, or economic. Two-thirds of the people are classified as rural dwellers and depend upon agriculture for a livelihood; the majority of the urban dwellers are engaged in processing or trading agricultural products. Subsistence agriculture predominates and great opportunities exist for improved and more intensive farming methods. Cereal crops are most important. Fruit, mainly citrus, is important in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Cotton in the UAR and the Sudan and coffee in Ethiopia are the region's leading industrial crops. Northern Africa's livestock industry is considered far below its potential. Sheep are generally most numerous, although cattle are first in economic importance. Serious droughts often cause enormous animal losses. Within recent years, several attempts have been made to establish a market in Europe for meat products from Northern Africa.