Algeria to erase all farm debt

The Algerian government will erase all farming debts to prime up the agriculture sector, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said yesterday.

The debt amounts to €410 million, according to the APS news agency.

"The state has decided to erase all the debt of farmers and breeders, and it is the public treasury that will buy up the debt," the agency cited Bouteflika as saying.

The move is aimed at "encouraging the agricultural sector to make a major effort to modernise its activity and to increase the diversity of its products," he said.

Bouteflika, speaking at a conference at Biskra, about 425 kilometres southeast of Algiers, also spoke about other steps the government is taking to ad- vance healthcare, education and sports.

The 72-year-old leader, first elected in 1999, is seeking re-election after parliament voted to eliminate a previous two-term limit for president.