Morocco
Report Team Narrative
Moroccan growth continues
Following in the footsteps of Spain’s blueberry boom, Morocco has rapidly become a major player since its first forays into low chill blueberry production in the mid-2000s, as companies and investors from the Americas, Europe, South Africa, Israel, Australia and Morocco itself continue to increase their plantings. Many of them also have production in both Spain and Morocco, thus offering diversification benefits to retailers, especially when cold snaps in Europe prompt later Spanish seasons so Morocco can fill the gaps. In 2022 the country was also able to fill gaps at the front end of the season in light of shipping delays for South American suppliers, leading to earlier-than-usual requests from retailers. However, cold weather persisted until March, delaying some of the crop and causing a clash with the peak of Spanish supply.
In general though, growers have been enticed by the returns that are possible from Morocco before Spanish volumes start in earnest, and with young plantings in the pipeline the Moroccan production growth trend shows no signs of abating any time soon. Exports rose by 29% in 2021 year-on-year, and were up 78% over two years.
This surge looks set to continue as the Moroccan industry positions itself as a safe bet for the nearby European market amidst supply chain challenges globally, and numerous companies are planning to roll out further plantings with proprietary genetics programmes. One genetics company has declared a forecast to increase production of a particular premium blueberry series by 8,000MT in three years.
The Moroccan blueberry industry began around the northern region of Larache and Rabat, and despite the boom that’s occurring further south, these areas with open-field production continue to see growth including from raspberry and strawberry farmers who find the crop easier to cultivate. The Kingdom of Morocco is providing government land in the country’s north to investors – both domestic and foreign – to grow blueberries, and there are at least five premium variety programmes in the region.
But a key point of focus continues to be the traditionally tomato-growing area of Agadir around 700km to the south, where an industry was pioneered with substrate production of proprietary southern highbush genetics, good agronomic management and tall ‘canary greenhouse’ protection. It is a geographical expansion that has allowed the country to produce earlier with a peak window from January to April.
Agadir has not been without its problems however, with water availability chief amongst them and presenting a risk to operations every year. Agadir’s farming sector in general has been under strain from drought over several years, often necessitating a need to deploy reverse osmosis systems for irrigation as dam levels fall to critical levels. There is a large desalination plant that is already supplying the population with drinking water, but at the time of writing it is yet to be deployed for agriculture. Industry representatives are often told it will be open in the coming months, but as one producer noted, “it’s always hard to know what ‘in the coming months’ means in Morocco”.
Farms in Agadir maybe more protected than in Morocco’s north, but in the emerging growing region of Dakhla the level of protection is greater still, with a preference for flat plastic structures known as ‘Canarian greenhouses’ in what is a windy area 1,200km to the south of Agadir in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, although the geopolitical climate has shown signs of stabilising with support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the area from more developed nations such as the United States and Spain.
The Kingdom of Morocco is set to “throw everything” at the Dakhla region to make it a success, according to one industry insider, with plans to develop a port and open up 5,000ha to agricultural projects under an irrigated perimeter with desalinated water. Dakhla has mild weather and its low chill climate allows for production at least a month earlier than in Agadir, but labor access is a problem as workers need to be brought in, and harvests will take two more days to get to the European market than fruit from Agadir. Any such delay however is fairly insignificant given the prospect of production in September, in competition with Peru and South Africa that both would take longer to get to the European market.
Along with Peru, Chile and Serbia, Morocco has also been one of the leading suppliers to the Russian market in recent years, which was burgeoning prior to the break-out of war on 24 February 2022 when the country invaded Ukraine. Despite the conflict and associated sanctions, at the time of writing it was understood that some Moroccan growers continued exporting to Russia, whether it be the predominant shipping method to Europe with trucks via a ferry to Spain, or alternatively by sea or by air-freight shipments via Turkey.