With the first plan coming to completion, the Moroccan government is currently working on the development of its next 10-year national organic action plan, for the period 2021 -2030.
Morocco is completing its first national organic action plan, for the period 2011-2020. This plan materialized into a “contrat-program”, a cooperation contract signed between the government and the organic sector umbrella organization FIMABIO.
The plan on one hand included supporting activities to strengthen the capacities of the organic operators, and on the other, strengthening the national organic research and development programs.
Morocco wants to increase its organic produce in the next decade with the national organic action plan © Fabian
Status of Organic Agriculture in Morocco
Much as organic agriculture experienced sustained growth in Morocco in the period 2011-2020, sector growth has nevertheless been less than predicted. Morocco’s organic sector is still relatively under-developed when compared to its regional competitors. To address this, efforts have to be made to increase the effectiveness and impact of the next 10-year organic plan.
To make this a reality, we are providing international technical advice to the Moroccan government for the development of the next national organic strategy and action plan, through DIAF, a German-Moroccan cooperation project implemented by the consultancy firm AFC together with IFOAM – Organics International.
Here, IFOAM – Organics International is working on an “organic agriculture component”. This aims at increasing the capacity of the Moroccan government to promote and control the organic sector through appropriate regulatory, institutional, and market frameworks.
An assortment of vegetables being organically grown. Mixed cropping is an organic weed suppressant method © Joelle
Building a Foundation to Promote Organic
One of the ways this was done was through carrying out a national organic strategic training. This training took place on March 3 and 4, 2020, to help national organic stakeholders, including the private sector and government actors, to develop and understand ideas for the upcoming strategy.
The training provided information on topics such as organic guarantee systems, regulations and support policies worldwide, the international organic market and market access constraints, as well as possible strategies to develop national organic sectors. During the training, participants discussed the bottlenecks to national sector growth and the desirables strategic areas of work. Priority action points were discussed as vital information to keep in mind when formulating a future national organic action plan.
Olives is one of the most produced organic foods in Morocco © Joelle
This training was organized by the DIAF project, with Joelle Katto-Andrighetto from IFOAM – Organics International, as the main trainer and facilitator. It was attended by 39 participants and the training enabled the sharing of knowledge, information, and opinions.
“These trainings are relevant for the formulation of strategic priorities for the next phase of organic development in Morocco, in the overall context of the new Moroccan national agricultural development strategy, the “Green Morocco” plan.”, explained Katto-Andrighetto.
The DIAF project will continue until at least end 2022 and so will IFOAM – Organics International’s involvement in providing regular technical advice on organic policy and sector development strategies to Morocco.
The DIAF project (Agricultural and Forestry Moroccan-German Technical Dialogue)
This is a project developed jointly by the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests, and the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) for the period 2019-2022. The implementation of the project is done by the German consultancy firm AFC (Agriculture and Finance Consultants), in partnership with IFOAM-Organics International and FiBL.
