Fruit and vegetable producers and the Moroccan government have approved a new roadmap aimed at solving export problems encountered this year, as well as addressing challenges related to low production.
Lahoucine Aderdour, president of the Moroccan Interprofessional Federation for the Production and Exportation of Fruits and Vegetables (FIFEL), said that following several meetings between producers and the government, the last one having taken place in Agadir, an agreement was concluded regarding the working strategy and the position of the government with regard to production and producers.
In a statement to MoroccoLatestNews, Aderdour pointed out that the Federation has received promises of immediate support from the government for producers, as well as the development of a future production strategy. In addition, an agreement has been reached to carefully study certain production and supply problems related to certain products that encounter difficulties during the production phase.
Regarding the recurrence of export shutdowns in the future, Aderdour claimed that they have received assurances that it will not happen again. He pointed out that ” the export is free and will remain so, and we have received a quasi-guarantee from the state that the export will continue as normal”.
Aderdour also noted that producers and exporters have submitted some suggestions to mitigate the effects of the weather on certain products and avoid low production.
It should be mentioned that Morocco has recently taken measures to balance the internal market by prohibiting the export of certain types of vegetables, in order to guarantee the needs of the national market in the face of the increase in prices observed for most agricultural products.
Last year, the government set a ” quota » export limit not to be exceeded for several products, in particular tomatoes, with the aim of guaranteeing the supply of the local market and contributing to the fall in prices which had experienced a considerable increase. This initiative had allowed the country to position itself in third place in the world as a supplier of tomatoes, overtaking Spain for the first time.
However, professionals in the sector have highlighted the damage caused by the halt in exports and called for its resumption, believing that this measure does not constitute a solution and harms the national economy instead of contributing to lower prices.
In addition, many civil organizations have called for a temporary ban on the export of vegetables abroad due to the increase in prices, which has had an impact on all social categories, especially low-income people.