Law No. 13.21 on the legal use of cannabis has entered into force since its publication in the official bulletin. Its application, which should wait until the next agricultural season, raises many questions among farmers, especially since the regulatory texts have not yet seen the light of day.
Aiming to improve the socio-economic situation of the population of the Rif, in particular in the original areas such as Ketama, Beni Seddat and Beni Khaled as well as the regions newly invested by this culture in particular Taounat, Ouazzane and Laarache, etc., this law risks to create unexpected problems and for good reason. The lack of communication from political actors and the existence of a lot of confusion and ambiguities which risks creating reluctance on the part of farmers.
Interested in this regard, the president of the Ligue des monts du Rif, Mohammed Aabbout, explained that “the regulatory texts should fix the geographical area concerned, extend the prerogatives of cooperatives, organize the relationship between the farmer and the cooperative and the relationship of the latter with society ”.
These texts must also organize the production chain between the producer fellah, the cooperative which makes the aggregation and the company which makes the industrial transformation, he explains.
The obligation to join a cooperative
According to him, it is compulsory for any fellah who wants to join the project to be part of a cooperative.
An obligation that comes up against the lack of clarity of the legal status of land. “We have a lot of problems like that of land, we demanded the regularization of this situation, because most of the fellahs do not have property titles and therefore cannot be part of a cooperative, because they must have land. in its possession ”, explains the associative actor.
“There are collective lands (Joumouâ) and lands belonging to the Waters and Forests (State or Makhzen domains) up to nearly 80%”. Suffice to say the magnitude of this problem which has lasted for decades.
“There is an old conflict around these lands, the fellahs have been exploiting them for years and are constantly expanding their operations, but the High Commission for Water and Forests considers that these lands belong to it,” says our source, noting that “among the most important demands of the fellahs, there is that of the regularization of the situation of the land”.
Imported seeds
The other major problem concerning the implementation of the legal use of cannabis project relates to the varieties that will be cultivated.
While the fellahs, especially those in historic areas (Ketama, Beni Seddat and Beni Khaled) are keen on the Beldia variety which is their pride and which represents a pledge of prosperity for them in view of its value on the cannabis market, they will be brought back to exploit new imported varieties.
“We are going to import new seeds that companies will make available to cooperatives. These will distribute for the benefit of the fellahs according to the exploitation of each fellah, ”says Mohammed Aabbout.
According to him, the market parameters will not be the same. Jean-Baptiste Say’s famous law of supply: “each supply creates its own demand” will give way to a law dictated by companies.
“Normally, seeds will be imported according to demand. He must have a request before he can produce, ”explains Mohammed Aabbout, who has had talks with most of the parliamentary groups that took part in the debate.
“There will not be production with a supply on the market, but rather a demand which determines the supply,” he clarifies, adding that new seeds unknown to farmers will therefore be imported.
Little-known varieties
Unlike the varieties known to farmers, the hemp that will be produced contains more CBD (cannabidiol) than THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) unlike conventional varieties, he says, because CBD is much more in demand in terms of production. medication.
What leaves to fear more reluctance on the part of the farmers is that in addition to all these ambiguities, most of the fellahs do not know that they are going to cultivate a hemp other than the Kif.
“We tried to communicate with people, but most of them are not aware of what awaits them”, wishes to underline our associative actor. According to him, there has been a lot of reaction from the fellahs since the adoption of the law on the legal use of cannabis.
“It will be cannabis, but with new varieties,” he tried to qualify. About thirty new varieties could enter service.
“These have nothing to do with the six varieties that are known and used in the region such as Beldia (the original plant), to which the people of the Rif are very attached because its quality is quite special and it doesn’t is nowhere else in the world, there are also Khardala and Pakistana and genetically modified varieties such as Amnesia and Crikital 99 ”, explains the president of the Rif Mountains League.
“The fellahs do not trust other varieties, because the demand is quite important and solid for Beldia on the cannabis market”, underlines this actor who knows the region and its particularities well.
It should be noted that the varieties of therapeutic and medicinal cannabis due to enter service at the start of the next agricultural season are mainly produced by American and Israeli companies and that Israeli companies should invest in them. This may further irritate the Riffs.
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