When you think about Morocco, you probably think great music, tagines, yellow babouche, Islamic architecture, and wonderful streetscapes. What you probably don't think about are the products that Morocco exports. Let's just check the list: Argan oil (now being sold on French television as "the secret ingredient in the best shampoo"), roses for the French perfume industry, sardines, saffron and peppers! Wait, did I just say peppers (capsicum if you are English)?
According to the website Peppers Today ( yes it really does exist) Morocco is up there competing with the big source of peppers - Spain. According to the Moroccan Association of Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters (APEFEL), a total of 35,200 tonnes was exported in the 2006 campaign, whereas in 2007 the total tonnage was 34,400 in the period from October to May.
Moroccan companies face logistical problems: “Morocco has its own problems. The cost of transporting 14 tonnes of product from Agadir, in Morocco, to Perpignan, in southern France, is nearly EUR 4,000. Our production costs must be reduced in order to improve profitability.”
Morocco is ready to provide properly certified peppers to the European market, while the retailers are intransigent on control levels. Over 70% of the pepper harvest from Moroccan companies has been grown under biological control in this campaign. In the case of the Fusetto and sweet blocky varieties, several companies have applied IPM techniques to 100% of the harvest.
APEFEL added that the development of the crop benefits from Morocco’s climate, which is similar to that of Almería: “There are few countries apart from Israel that could consider growing in the winter period. The cost of the pepper shipments in the winter season has to come down, if a regular supply chain between Morocco, the Netherlands and the UK is to be established.”
Check out our earlier stories about: Saffron, Sardines, Argan OilTags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
2 comments:
I hope the pepper route gets established! :) Also, the fact that Peppers Today is a real website made me laugh.
This post reminded me that today in my Geography of the Middle East and North Africa class (unrrelated to the class that I'm writing the paper for), we learned from a graph that Morocco has a fair amount of "high technology exports." What types of technological exports are made from Morocco? Computer parts, televisions...? (Just out of curiosity.)
And what about melons? I love buying melons on the roadside when I am in Morocco. So sweet and perfumed and luscious on a hot day and what could be better than returning home to France and seeing the same Marrakesh melons for sale in our local supermarket. I can dream Moroccan dreams as I eat that sweet, succulent, golden flesh... mmm
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