The cultivation of potatoes is a major part of the agricultural industry of Algeria. The country was the 17th-largest producer of potatoes in the world in 2018. Production is centred on two regions: the Mediterranean coast and the desert around El Oued. Growing conditions in the coast are broadly conventional in earth furrows while at El Oued centre pivot irrigation predominates, with the potatoes grown in sand. Only an insignificant minority of the crop is factory-processed.