The sugar industry in Morocco, which is based on the cultivation of sugar beet and sugar cane, is one of the crops impacted by climate change.
Like other avocado, date palm or summer crops such as fruit growing, watermelon, alfalfa, corn… they are water-intensive. The practice of these crops is located on the irrigated perimeters of Gharb (34%), Doukkala (28%), Tadla (22%), Loukkos (8%), and Moulouya (7%).
Also, despite the efforts of the authorities in the field, the Kingdom does not achieve self-sufficiency, being forced to import raw sugar and refine it locally to meet half of national needs. In this context, Morocco aims to increase the area cultivated with sugar plants to 73,000 hectares to produce 620,000 tonnes of white sugar by 2030, against 64,500 hectares and 560,000 tonnes on average over the last five years when the Sugar production rose by more than 26% compared to the 2003/19 period when it had already improved by 76%.
To achieve this, the State has signed a program contract with the Fédération Interprofessionnelle du Sucre which aims to improve industrial processing capacities, expand and modernize sugar distribution channels, thus allowing the creation of 150,000 additional working days. to reach 5 million by 2030 (the sector generates some 4.8 million working days each year) and thus improve the situation of farmers.
The Federation should improve production yields to 11 tons per hectare for sugar beet and 10 tons per hectare for sugar cane, by encouraging farmers to practice good agricultural practices in watered basins prepared by the State, in particular at the level of the western and Loukkos plains.
Knowing that this agriculture is strongly affected by the lack of rainfall and the availability of irrigation water, the realization of a study for the establishment of a special multi-risk insurance adapted to the sugar sector. It was also agreed to continue payments to the Solidarity Fund (supported by the State) set up by the federation to deal with the effects of natural disasters (floods, frost, etc.) and exceptional events affecting the production of sugar plants. Like other production sectors, Morocco intends to integrate farmers involved in sugar production into the social protection system within the framework of framework law No. 09.21 on social protection.
The new program contract includes work to improve operating costs per hectare, thanks to the use of modern technologies. Like rational fertilization, drip irrigation, use of solar energy and mechanization. The State will continue to support the use of seeds within the limit of 800 dirhams per unit, and support for new sugar cane crops within the limit of 6,000 dirhams per hectare. In return, the federation will increase sugar beet processing capacity from 4.4 million tonnes to 4.7 million tonnes per year by 2030, including 3,000 tonnes in the Western Basin where refining varies from 1.251 million tons to 1.5 million tons per year.
As part of the contract, specific studies will also be carried out to review the sugar distribution margin granted to wholesalers and the deposits currently set at 6%, and review the relevant regulatory texts.