Agricultural Land Dynamics in the Wilaya of Skikda (Eastern Algeria). Case Study of the Rural Municipality of Kerkera

Abstract Studying agricultural land tenure in Algeria inevitably brings to mind a whole historical process in which land was the main issue, both during colonisation and in the post-independence period, when it was at the heart of political and even ideological choices. In Algeria, the land issue is becoming crucial. For a wide variety of reasons and to varying degrees, land tenure is at the heart of the debate and is a key issue in the search for a solution to the complex issue of agricultural land tenure, and this has been the case throughout all the reforms: from self-management to the concession of land in the State's private domain, not forgetting privately-owned land, state-owned property and wakfs or habous. It is therefore important to put in place legal instruments aimed at securing land and improving agricultural consistency and structures. The municipality of Kerkera, an agricultural region located in the west of the Wilaya of Skikda (eastern Algeria), is facing a twofold crisis: on the one hand, a housing crisis, with insufficient housing stock and a demand that continues to increase with population growth, and on the other, a land crisis, insofar as the available land is used for agricultural purposes and is privately owned.