"This season is shaping up to be even more complicated than last for the Moroccan agribusiness and fresh produce exports", announces Mostapha Mohattan, CEO of Fructimoor. Mostapha blames the same factors as many producers are complaining about, but assures that this difficult period will leave only the most resilient and professional exporters to emerge from the crisis.
"Decidedly, fate is taking its toll on Moroccan growers, who are still experiencing a difficult start to the 2023-2024 season", asserts Mostapha, "the reasons are known and have been reported since the summer". The multi-factorial challenges involve a significant rainfall deficit, the spread of the virus (ToBRFV) and diseases that are wreaking havoc on their tomato and bell pepper plants, an increasingly hot climate combined with repeated, early and intense heat waves with a peak of 50.04°C reached in August 2023 in the Sousse Massa region. In addition, agricultural inputs that are experiencing exponential growth that is still not abating."
The delay in launching the early vegetable season has caused prices to rise on both the local Moroccan market and export markets, says Mohattan, recalling last season and the restrictions on exports, "In this month of November, the price of tomatoes on the wholesale market is over 7 dirhams per kilo, as a direct consequence of insufficient supply. In February 2023, Morocco decided to restrict tomato exports when the price reached 9 dhs. Several exporters were caught unawares by this decision, and were forced to resell at a loss their products already packaged and ready for export on the wholesale market."
"The impact on crop yields is also being felt in the citrus sector, with the harvest showing a drop in production forecasts compared with previous seasons. The shortfall is clearly more significant when compared with the 2021-2022 season. This is a rather unsuccessful start for this early clementine," adds Mohattan.
How can we see the positive in these difficult times? Mohattan answers: "Morocco's agricultural sector has always been one of resilience and defiance in difficult circumstances. our producers are bursting with energy and imagination. in their fight against the virus, producers have not been idle, they have deployed their own initiatives to import their seeds, and have managed to achieve a production level close to last year's after only 4 weeks of delay". In terms of adapting to drought, Morocco is redoubling its efforts to increase its water storage capacity with several dam construction projects and to increase the volume of water produced by desalination plants in the province of Sousse Massa in particular. It has also played an important role in maintaining the balance of cultivated areas by allocating subsidies covering up to 40% of farmers' operating costs for tomato, onion, and potato seeds. It has to be said that we manage to adapt to the elements of nature, but the major difficulty is logistical and administrative".
It's a period that will sort out the industry's professionals, where the most resilient will stand out, adds Mohattan. "We're sparing no effort to continue supplying the market. FRUCTIMOOR's partner agricultural producers are mobilized to guarantee continuity of supply of quality products to all our customers and partners even in these difficult conditions. We capitalize on the satisfaction of our growers, who prefer to supply us because of our professionalism and our way of doing business. In such difficult production conditions, producer satisfaction becomes as important as customer satisfaction, enabling us to continue to supply the market. We're even about to open up new markets, notably in the UK and the Gulf countries".
For more information:
Mostafa Mohattan
Fructimoor
Tel : +33659752318 / +212656873543
Email: [email protected]
www.fructimoor.com