Morocco Aims to Expand Argan Tree Plantations by 50,000 Hectares to Meet Global Demand

By 2030, it is planned to plant 50,000 ha of argan trees in Morocco, said the Moroccan Minister of Agriculture, Aziz Akhannouch.

The minister said that in addition to the 10,000 ha of argan trees developed in 2018 in Morocco, several structuring projects will be launched in order to reach a cumulative objective of 400,000 ha as part of the "Green Generation" strategy launched by King Mohammed VI. The argan program launched in 2018 covered the planting of 10,000 hectares of argan trees for a total cost of $49 million, for the benefit of 26,000 beneficiaries.

And to continue the upgrading of the argan sector, the minister stressed that the Agricultural Development Fund offers financial incentives for the support of argan growing, the products of which are increasingly in demand on the market. For international markets and for the protection of this civilizational heritage, Morocco has adopted its own geographical declaration since 2010, recalls the minister who announces the creation, during this year, of the National Center for Argan.

This center, explains the minister, will be an incubator for public and private initiatives, and a platform for the development of research and documentation related to the argan grove.

More than 500 cooperatives bringing together 10,000 women have emerged, 10 times more than in 2004, notes Akhannouch, stressing that 22 nurseries have been set up for the production of approved argan tree plantations by the National Office of Food Safety Products (ONSSA).

In addition, more than 450 small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in the enhancement and export of argan have emerged, with an annual turnover currently estimated at more than one billion dirhams, he added, emphasizing the efforts of Morocco in the promotion of the argan tree as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity and an ancestral source of resilient and sustainable development.