Artisans say the handicraft industry needs raw material and tourists to succeed.
By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 29/04/10
Algerian artisans are calling on the government and fellow craftsmen to work together to help the industry recover from years of depressed business.
Something as simple as easier access to clay could help the Algerian handicrafts sector see economic gains, artisans said.
"Although clay is available in Algeria, there is no specialist plant to process it in a way that meets the needs of craftsmen," said Samir, who sells crafts in Adekar, near Bejaia. "Generally, clay is imported from Spain and Italy, which pushes up the prices of craft products."
Only one tonne of clay per year is consumed by the Algerian sector, whereas Moroccan artisans use one tonne of clay per month, Samir said. This statistic alone shows the stagnation of the industry, he said.
The National Society for Traditional Craft Industries (SNAT) once took responsibility for securing raw materials for craftsmen, but the group was disbanded in 1987.
Attracting more tourists would also improve handicraft sales, artisans said. Handicrafts vendors depend on purchases by foreign visitors to remain financially viable. The bulk of Samir's sales come from Algerians living abroad who return to pick up traditional products, he said.
"In the summer, we get a lot of expatriates here, keen to have a souvenir of Algeria they can keep or give away to foreign friends," Samir said.
But tourism revenues have fallen due to spates of terrorist activity and have not recovered from pre-conflict levels.
The Algerian government is doing its best to bolster the handicrafts workers' trade, Handicrafts and SME Minister Mustapha Benbda told Algerian daily El Watan in January.
"The craft sector is going through a progressive consolidation and building phase," Benbada said.
"The first measure we introduced was to provide workers with the premises they needed: craft centers, galleries, display and sales areas, access to working premises for 23,000 craftsmen," he said.
A national fund for traditional arts and crafts, supported by the treasury, has been in existence since 2003, Benbada said.
7,000 new artisans registered with the ministry in 2009, while the number of handicraft-themed SMEs rose 8.36% from 2008. Of the 17,000 newly registered SMEs, 28% of these are in the traditional crafts industry. The minister credited the new trend of privatization with the increase in SMEs.
Some traditional crafts artisans, however, have been forced to look beyond their industry for economic sustenance.
Sabrina Bouchenafa runs Terre d'Orient, a cottage industry specializing in the production of ceramics and pottery, but had to take on odd jobs for many years to make ends meet.
The unwillingness of fellow artisans to band together and tackle the problems of raw materials and stagnated tourism is a major problem, Bouchenafa said, adding that her industry faces "collapse" unless a solution is found.
But artisans will always find ways to survive in a challenging economy, she said.
"The only alternative we could find, given the absence of tourists, was to go directly to the foreign embassies in Algeria, which have become the only source of demand for craft products," she said.
Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/29/feature-02.
By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 29/04/10
Algerian artisans are calling on the government and fellow craftsmen to work together to help the industry recover from years of depressed business.
Something as simple as easier access to clay could help the Algerian handicrafts sector see economic gains, artisans said.
"Although clay is available in Algeria, there is no specialist plant to process it in a way that meets the needs of craftsmen," said Samir, who sells crafts in Adekar, near Bejaia. "Generally, clay is imported from Spain and Italy, which pushes up the prices of craft products."
Only one tonne of clay per year is consumed by the Algerian sector, whereas Moroccan artisans use one tonne of clay per month, Samir said. This statistic alone shows the stagnation of the industry, he said.
The National Society for Traditional Craft Industries (SNAT) once took responsibility for securing raw materials for craftsmen, but the group was disbanded in 1987.
Attracting more tourists would also improve handicraft sales, artisans said. Handicrafts vendors depend on purchases by foreign visitors to remain financially viable. The bulk of Samir's sales come from Algerians living abroad who return to pick up traditional products, he said.
"In the summer, we get a lot of expatriates here, keen to have a souvenir of Algeria they can keep or give away to foreign friends," Samir said.
But tourism revenues have fallen due to spates of terrorist activity and have not recovered from pre-conflict levels.
The Algerian government is doing its best to bolster the handicrafts workers' trade, Handicrafts and SME Minister Mustapha Benbda told Algerian daily El Watan in January.
"The craft sector is going through a progressive consolidation and building phase," Benbada said.
"The first measure we introduced was to provide workers with the premises they needed: craft centers, galleries, display and sales areas, access to working premises for 23,000 craftsmen," he said.
A national fund for traditional arts and crafts, supported by the treasury, has been in existence since 2003, Benbada said.
7,000 new artisans registered with the ministry in 2009, while the number of handicraft-themed SMEs rose 8.36% from 2008. Of the 17,000 newly registered SMEs, 28% of these are in the traditional crafts industry. The minister credited the new trend of privatization with the increase in SMEs.
Some traditional crafts artisans, however, have been forced to look beyond their industry for economic sustenance.
Sabrina Bouchenafa runs Terre d'Orient, a cottage industry specializing in the production of ceramics and pottery, but had to take on odd jobs for many years to make ends meet.
The unwillingness of fellow artisans to band together and tackle the problems of raw materials and stagnated tourism is a major problem, Bouchenafa said, adding that her industry faces "collapse" unless a solution is found.
But artisans will always find ways to survive in a challenging economy, she said.
"The only alternative we could find, given the absence of tourists, was to go directly to the foreign embassies in Algeria, which have become the only source of demand for craft products," she said.
Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/29/feature-02.
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