Morocco: Agricultural Label Prices
18 August 2015
Read by 3526 persons
They are sweet to the palate or flatter the nostrils... Two hundred local products are given preferential treatment. For the greater good of the regional economy.
Clementines from Berkane, apples from Midelt, Beni Guil lamb, goat cheese from Chefchaouen, Argan oil from Essaouira or saffron from Taliouine... Once confined to local and traditional use, local products are now the subject of a national distribution strategy, which aims to make them a lever for economic and social development for the regions of the country. In recent years, some of these local specialties have even gained international recognition.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are more than 200 local agri-food products in Morocco, but they contribute barely 1% of the country's GDP (compared to 14% in France). "This shows our full potential," enthuses Najib Mikou, director general of Maroc Taswiq, the public institution responsible for the marketing of these products.
The strategy for promoting local products is starting to yield results.
An integral part of the Green Morocco Plan (GMP) launched in 2008 by Aziz Akhannouch, the Minister of Agriculture, this strategy for promoting local products is starting to yield results. It has also brought visibility to small farmers, who are increasingly pooling their efforts and production by creating specialized cooperatives. "From independence [in 1956] to 2007, only 4,000 cooperatives had been created, while between 2007 and 2014, 10,000 were recorded," underlines Najib Mikou. "Twice as many in seven years as in fifty years!"
Example in Ait Baâmrane, in Souss (South). This region, one of the poorest in the kingdom, has an invaluable asset: the prickly pear, from the cactus, from which the "miraculous" seed oil is extracted and used in Europe by major cosmetics brands. Until now unexploited, this small agricultural treasure, labeled protected geographical indication (PGI), is now at the center of the development of Ait Baâmrane, where it supports more than 6,600 producers. "We have 50,000 hectares and produce 400,000 tons of figs, a yield of 8 t/ha," explains a local official. But the GMP has set much more ambitious objectives. "By 2020, we plan to improve the yield to 10 t/ha and reach an annual production of more than 600,000 t. We are also aiming to create 1.3 million working days, an increase of 73% compared to the year the GMP was launched," explains Lahcen Jaby, head of the partnership and support for development division of the regional agriculture directorate of the Souss-Massa-Drâa region.
Groups and labeling
This development should first benefit local farmers and cooperatives, who, to enhance their prickly pears, joined together in 2011 within an economic interest group (EIG): Sobbar Ait Baâmrane. Objective: considerably increase the added value of the sector by increasing it from 350 million dirhams (approximately 32 million euros) per year to 616 million dirhams by 2020.
This method used for the cactus is more or less the same for other local products. More than twenty of them have obtained the protected designation of origin (PDO) or PGI label, which allows them to benefit from state support.
"Each region has its own products and its own business card. This specificity of Morocco can serve as a locomotive for local development. But the question of marketing remains to be solved, as it is the poor relation of the system, because cooperatives do not necessarily have access to distribution channels or export channels," notes a cooperative manager.
A vast project
A vast project undertaken by the State, relying on Maroc Taswiq, to block the road to networks of intermediaries, who, for the moment, are the main beneficiaries of these riches from the soil and produced by small hands. "At the beginning, we thought that by producing more and better we would solve the problems of these localities, but we discovered that this growth benefited the vampires of intermediation more than the producers. Our mission is precisely to bypass this circuit to ensure that the work of small producers is better remunerated," explains Najib Mikou, convinced that local products can lead to a "rural industrial revolution" and become one of the "Moroccan world trades" (MWT), as defined in the National Pact for Emergence. That is to say, a sector where the country has significant competitive advantages, which provides substantial revenue and employment, such as the automotive, aeronautics or offshoring industries.
Talaouine, the land of Saffron
Not far from Ouarzazate, the rural town of Taliouine houses a real treasure, nicknamed red gold: saffron. Patiently harvested for five centuries, the delicate crocus flowers are at the origin of the most expensive spice in the world. It takes an enormous quantity to extract a few grams of this precious condiment from their pistils (about 150 flowers for 1 gram of dry saffron). A work that the women of Taliouine carry out with art and meticulousness.
Used in gastronomy, saffron, exported everywhere, is snapped up at a golden price. Its price can reach 30,000 euros per kg on world markets. However, local populations do not benefit from this dividend, since it is almost entirely absorbed by the chain of wholesalers and intermediaries that abound in the region.
To remedy this, Morocco (the fourth largest producer in the world, with 3 tons/year) launched a major program in 2010 to enhance the sector and integrate farmers into the value creation chain by expanding the production area, equipping it with sophisticated irrigation systems and protecting the product (with the creation of a protected designation of origin, PDO). In 2011, Mohammed VI also created a Saffron House in Taliouine, equipped with a research and development (R&D) laboratory, a training center in production and marketing techniques, and a Saffron Exchange for price setting and market regulation. Objective: create 600 jobs, increase the yield per hectare from 2.5 kg to 6.5 kg and, above all, increase the average income per hectare of workers in the sector from 18,932 to 97,495 dirhams (from approximately 1,750 to 9,000 euros) by 2020.
Mehdi Michbal.
Jeuneafrique.com
Published on August 17, 2015.
Posted online on August 18, 2015.
Clementines from Berkane, apples from Midelt, Beni Guil lamb, goat cheese from Chefchaouen, Argan oil from Essaouira or saffron from Taliouine... Once confined to local and traditional use, local products are now the subject of a national distribution strategy, which aims to make them a lever for economic and social development for the regions of the country. In recent years, some of these local specialties have even gained international recognition.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are more than 200 local agri-food products in Morocco, but they contribute barely 1% of the country's GDP (compared to 14% in France). "This shows our full potential," enthuses Najib Mikou, director general of Maroc Taswiq, the public institution responsible for the marketing of these products.
The strategy for promoting local products is starting to yield results.
An integral part of the Green Morocco Plan (GMP) launched in 2008 by Aziz Akhannouch, the Minister of Agriculture, this strategy for promoting local products is starting to yield results. It has also brought visibility to small farmers, who are increasingly pooling their efforts and production by creating specialized cooperatives. "From independence [in 1956] to 2007, only 4,000 cooperatives had been created, while between 2007 and 2014, 10,000 were recorded," underlines Najib Mikou. "Twice as many in seven years as in fifty years!"
Example in Ait Baâmrane, in Souss (South). This region, one of the poorest in the kingdom, has an invaluable asset: the prickly pear, from the cactus, from which the "miraculous" seed oil is extracted and used in Europe by major cosmetics brands. Until now unexploited, this small agricultural treasure, labeled protected geographical indication (PGI), is now at the center of the development of Ait Baâmrane, where it supports more than 6,600 producers. "We have 50,000 hectares and produce 400,000 tons of figs, a yield of 8 t/ha," explains a local official. But the GMP has set much more ambitious objectives. "By 2020, we plan to improve the yield to 10 t/ha and reach an annual production of more than 600,000 t. We are also aiming to create 1.3 million working days, an increase of 73% compared to the year the GMP was launched," explains Lahcen Jaby, head of the partnership and support for development division of the regional agriculture directorate of the Souss-Massa-Drâa region.
Groups and labeling
This development should first benefit local farmers and cooperatives, who, to enhance their prickly pears, joined together in 2011 within an economic interest group (EIG): Sobbar Ait Baâmrane. Objective: considerably increase the added value of the sector by increasing it from 350 million dirhams (approximately 32 million euros) per year to 616 million dirhams by 2020.
This method used for the cactus is more or less the same for other local products. More than twenty of them have obtained the protected designation of origin (PDO) or PGI label, which allows them to benefit from state support.
"Each region has its own products and its own business card. This specificity of Morocco can serve as a locomotive for local development. But the question of marketing remains to be solved, as it is the poor relation of the system, because cooperatives do not necessarily have access to distribution channels or export channels," notes a cooperative manager.
A vast project
A vast project undertaken by the State, relying on Maroc Taswiq, to block the road to networks of intermediaries, who, for the moment, are the main beneficiaries of these riches from the soil and produced by small hands. "At the beginning, we thought that by producing more and better we would solve the problems of these localities, but we discovered that this growth benefited the vampires of intermediation more than the producers. Our mission is precisely to bypass this circuit to ensure that the work of small producers is better remunerated," explains Najib Mikou, convinced that local products can lead to a "rural industrial revolution" and become one of the "Moroccan world trades" (MWT), as defined in the National Pact for Emergence. That is to say, a sector where the country has significant competitive advantages, which provides substantial revenue and employment, such as the automotive, aeronautics or offshoring industries.
Talaouine, the land of Saffron
Not far from Ouarzazate, the rural town of Taliouine houses a real treasure, nicknamed red gold: saffron. Patiently harvested for five centuries, the delicate crocus flowers are at the origin of the most expensive spice in the world. It takes an enormous quantity to extract a few grams of this precious condiment from their pistils (about 150 flowers for 1 gram of dry saffron). A work that the women of Taliouine carry out with art and meticulousness.
Used in gastronomy, saffron, exported everywhere, is snapped up at a golden price. Its price can reach 30,000 euros per kg on world markets. However, local populations do not benefit from this dividend, since it is almost entirely absorbed by the chain of wholesalers and intermediaries that abound in the region.
To remedy this, Morocco (the fourth largest producer in the world, with 3 tons/year) launched a major program in 2010 to enhance the sector and integrate farmers into the value creation chain by expanding the production area, equipping it with sophisticated irrigation systems and protecting the product (with the creation of a protected designation of origin, PDO). In 2011, Mohammed VI also created a Saffron House in Taliouine, equipped with a research and development (R&D) laboratory, a training center in production and marketing techniques, and a Saffron Exchange for price setting and market regulation. Objective: create 600 jobs, increase the yield per hectare from 2.5 kg to 6.5 kg and, above all, increase the average income per hectare of workers in the sector from 18,932 to 97,495 dirhams (from approximately 1,750 to 9,000 euros) by 2020.
Mehdi Michbal.
Jeuneafrique.com
Published on August 17, 2015.
Posted online on August 18, 2015.
