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Organic farming booming in Morocco

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Morocco has experienced a boom in organic and organic agriculture for a few years, thanks to strong local demand and especially export.

Organic farming is booming in Morocco with 10,300 hectares of organic crops in 2020 against only 4,000 in 2011. “This remains far below the potential of an agricultural country like Morocco,” Reda told AFP Tahiri, the president of the Moroccan Union of Organic Agriculture Producers, noting a timid take-off of organic production of olive, citrus and almond crops in the regions of Marrakech, Rabat or even Souss- Massa.

Morocco now intends to promote organic, considered as a “priority” through the implementation of the government Green Morocco Plan. In this perspective, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to experiment with organic farming on an area of ​​100,000 ha by 2030 and achieve a production of 900,000 tonnes per year, intended for the local market (one third). and for export (two thirds). According to the Center for Research in Applied Economics for Development, the kingdom cultivated barely 1,200 hectares in 2013, of which 81 were intended for organic farming.

In 2020, Morocco exported only 14,000 tonnes of fresh (fruits and vegetables) and processed products (citrus juice, frozen strawberries or olive oil) out of nearly 130,000 tonnes, to the European Union, Canada , Switzerland or the United States. “We must raise awareness among consumers and increase the profit margins of producers if we want to promote organic,” insists Reda Tahiri.