ODAS Saharan farmland — portfolios and perimeters

What ODAS does

The Office for the Development of Industrial Agriculture on Saharan Land was set up by executive decree no. 20-265 of 22 September 2020. It receives land in the South, divides it into perimeters and grants it under concession to investors who grow strategic crops there. It runs a single window (guichet unique) and a technical expertise and evaluation committee.

ODAS does not open its land continuously. It publishes land portfolios, each made of a few perimeters in a few wilayas, each with its fact sheet and online form for as long as the call lasts. When the call closes, the sheets and forms disappear from its website. This page therefore keeps the list of the latest portfolio and the record of earlier ones.

Filing conditions

The ODAS conditions page, checked on 23/10/2026, sets out the following:

• a project in cereals (maize included), oilseeds, sugar crops or fodder, geared towards processing;
• an integrated project;
• an area requested of at least 250 ha, consistent with the business plan and the financing capacity;
• financial capacity shown by recent bank statements;
• a processing fee of 23,800 DA including tax, paid to BADR bank. A file without the transfer order is not examined.

The account number is on the ODAS conditions page. Take it from there, never from a copy going round.

The 250 ha threshold changes what the file is about. At that size, the bank and the committee look at the same things: the water that can be drawn, the cost of drilling and centre pivots, the development timetable and the financing plan. The business plan has to hold those four together.

From filing to the concession deed

ODAS describes eight steps:

1. choosing a perimeter from the portfolio list;
2. applying online on that perimeter's form, with the file attached;
3. review by the technical expertise and evaluation committee, then notice of the decision;
4. visit to the plot and signature of the acceptance report;
5. certificate of eligibility for the concession, issued by the Office;
6. setting up on site: the plot is marked out;
7. signature of the specifications, and start of works;
8. concession deed drawn up through the single window and notified by the Office.

What the figures say

The lists ODAS publishes give a sense of how selective it is. In the 4th portfolio, 96 files were accepted out of 1,382 applications. In the 5th, 76 out of 811. In the 6th, 23 out of 330. Fewer than one file in ten gets through.

The same perimeters come back from one portfolio to the next. ODAS speaks of “recovered” or “cleared” perimeters: plots taken back and put on offer again. In February 2023 the ministry said, according to the press, that 40% of beneficiaries had not developed their land. The “already allocated” line on the cards above counts the allocations found for each perimeter in the published lists. It says nothing about what became of them: ask ODAS before applying.

Beyond 10,000 ha: projects of strategic character

Outside the portfolios, there is a procedure for very large projects. Executive decree no. 24-55 of 23 January 2024, amending executive decree no. 21-432 (articles 13 and 14), exempts large areas intended for projects the Minister of Agriculture classifies as “of strategic character” from the call for applications. The request then goes to ODAS in the South, or to ONTA elsewhere.

According to the ODAS page on this procedure, the reference area is at least 10,000 ha, or 2,000 ha for seed multiplication. The sectors covered are listed below.

• cereals;
• fodder;
• oilseeds;
• sugar beet;
• milk;
• meat;
• cotton;
• seed multiplication.

The file goes to the ministry first for classification, then to ODAS, with a 20,000 DA fee.

Read next

• Farm and livestock projects in Algeria: study, bank, land
• ONTA agricultural land — open calls
• Calculator — value of an agricultural concession right
• Transferring an agricultural concession in Algeria: procedure, taxes
• Why feasibility studies get rejected in Algeria