CAIRO - Qatar’s Baladna has signed on Wednesday a 3.5 billion dollar contract to build a powdered milk farm in the region of Adrar in the south of the country, Algeria’s agriculture ministry said.

Algeria aims to reduce its imports of powdered milk and to create jobs for its youth, and Baladna’s output will come online in 2026, according to the ministry of agriculture.

(Reporting By Lamine Chikhi)