More than 900 million baguettes of bread are thrown into the trash every year in Algeria, prompting authorities to launch an awareness campaign on the eve of the fasting month.
The figure was announced on Monday by Algeria's Minister of Trade and Export Promotion, who insisted on the need for a tireless fight against food waste.
“We waste more than 900 million baguettes every year, equivalent to $320 million,” Minister Tayeb Zitouni, who wants to launch “a big fight” against waste, told local media.
In the month of Ramadan, around 100 million baguettes are wasted, said the minister, recalling that, according to the state agency APS, the product is subsidized at 8.5 dinars per baguette.
“These wasted products are imported in hard currency and subsidized by the state,” recalled the government member, who seems powerless in the face of this waste, while the authorities were once considering abolishing the systematic subsidization of certain basic products.
In Algeria, which has a population of almost 45 million, bread consumption increases exponentially in the month of Ramadan, so that in addition to well-stocked bakeries, bread is also sold at makeshift stalls on the sidewalks.