His Excellency, Mr Mohammed Sadiki, Minister of Agriculture,and Water and Forests of Morocco, accompanied by the Governor of the Province of Khémisset, Director of INRA-Morocco, professionals, elected officials, as well as a large delegation of Ministry officials, visited Marchouch Experimental station of INRA and ICARDA, Morocco, on April 11, 2023. During his visit to the camelina fields, the Minister was briefed about camelina as a new potential oil seed crop for Morocco and conservation agriculture and showed camelina field trials at Marchouch experimental station of ICARDA and INRA, planted as a part of 4CEMED (supported by EU H2020 and PRIMA foundation) and CARINA (supported by EU H2020). He was fascinated by camelina, especially for its adaptation to prevailing drought condition during current cropping season 2022-2023 in Morocco. He showed keen interest in camelina as a potential new oil seed crop for Morocco and provided his good feedback. His visit would help in popularizing this new crop and in taking this crop to farmers. Disseminating the information on camelina, crop diversification, crop rotations and conservation agriculture to the key policy makers like the Minister of Agriculture would help in co-creating a set of policy recommendations to facilitate the acceptance of camelina at all levels, also for primary producers as envisaged under both projects..
Morocco is currently importing 98% of the raw materials needed in the manufacture of edible oils and being among the top 10 importers of edible oil in the world (Edible Oils in Morocco (marketresearch.com). Generation Green 2020-2030 plan envisages to achieve 1 million ha of field crops under conservation agriculture and increase area under oil seeds to cover 10% of the local market needs by 2030 (Oilseeds development in Morocco in the current international context | OCL – Oilseeds and fats, Crops and Lipids (ocl-journal.org)). Both CARINA and 4CEMED projects activities are in line with Moroccan Generation Green 2020-2030 plan and contributes towards achieving the plan’s objectives.
Photograph legend: His Excellency, Mr Mohammed Sadiki, Minister of Agriculture of Morocco, along with visited camelina fields at ICARDA and INRA along with the Governor of the Province of Khémisset, Director of INRA-Morocco, professionals, elected officials, as well as a large delegation of Ministry officials.
Photo credit/source : The Ministry of Agriculture, Kingdom of Morocco (Province de Khémisset : visite de la station de recherche de Marchouch de l’INRA et de l’ICARDA | Ministère de l’agriculture)