The identified groups will be supported in setting up the cultivation notebook with the issuance of the certificate of conformity for operators who comply with regulatory requirements and the issuance of the organic certificate. The 300 ha to be certified will therefore be added to some 540 ha already converted to production in the region. As a reminder, organic production in Morocco is governed by Law No. 39-12 and its implementing text which came into force in September 2018. According to data from Agriculture, Morocco is the second country in Africa to have adopted its own legislation on organic production, in strict compliance with international regulations.
For the control and certification of organic products, the Department of Agriculture has approved two internationally accredited control and certification bodies to date. The main species cultivated in organic production methods remain olive trees, almond trees, aromatic and medicinal plants (AMPs), citrus fruits and market garden crops.
In addition to spontaneous harvesting, 12,000 ha of cultivated areas are reserved for organic farming, for a total production of approximately 120,000 tonnes. 80% of the cultivated area is distributed between 5 main production regions: Fez-Meknes, Marrakech-Safi, Souss-Massa, Casablanca-Settat and Rabat-Salé-Kénitra. For spontaneous harvesting, the main species concerned remain the argan tree, PAM, carob, prickly pear and capers. As for exports, they reached a volume of approximately 17,000 tonnes, including 10,000 tonnes of processed products and 7,000 tonnes of fresh products. The main species exported are citrus fruits, early vegetables, frozen orange juice, frozen strawberries, olive oil and argan oil.
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