Illegal Palm Tree Trade Threatens Morocco’s Oasis Ecosystems

Networks of intermediaries, taking advantage of the distress of local farmers hit by years of drought, buy young palm trees at low prices to resell them at high prices in other cities of the kingdom.

Faced with the inaction of the local authorities, environmental protection associations and civil society actors have filed a complaint with the public prosecutor at the court of first instance in Zagora. They denounce a practice nevertheless clearly prohibited by law 06/01 relating to the sustainable development of palm groves and a decree of the governor of the province dating from 2004.

If the drought has undermined the resources and incomes of farmers, forcing them to sell their palm trees to survive, the presence of intermediaries and merchants in the oases has become an open secret. "They conclude deals with farmers who authorize them to uproot their palm trees to resell them in other cities," reports the daily Assabah. "They prefer to sell their palm trees rather than see them die of thirst," the newspaper specifies.