Morocco’s Legal Cannabis Industry Booms, Cultivated Area Grows Tenfold

Thanks to the 2021 law, Morocco has authorized the legal cultivation of cannabis in three rural provinces: Al-Hoceima, Chefchaouen and Taounate. A way for the kingdom to fight drug trafficking in the Rif and boost the economic development of this poor region located in the northeast of the kingdom. And visibly, the fruits seem to hold the promise of the flowers. From 300 hectares in 2023, the sown areas have reached 3,000 hectares this year, reports RTBF.

The legal cultivation of cannabis should allow farmers to earn more money and live decently. "Traditionally, peasant drug dealers selling resin to traffickers only obtained 4% of the turnover generated by the illegal industry," the Moroccan weekly Telquel reported in 2021. With the law on the legal use of cannabis, the government hopes to increase this rate to 12% by "putting the balance of power and the bargaining power on the side of local farmers".

"The small consumers, they are not the ones who win. It’s the networks. Those who transport, who sell. So there, by moving to the formal economy, we estimate that we will go from 1 to 2 euros per kilo of remuneration to 7.50 euros per kilo for the farmer," explains Seddik Khalfi, RTBF correspondent in Morocco. The National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis-Related Activities (ANRAC) is keeping a close eye to ensure that "green gold" is used for medicine, aeronautics, food, textiles, etc. and generates revenue for the kingdom.

According to the 2016 World Drug Report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Morocco is the world’s largest producer of cannabis resin (hashish), ahead of Afghanistan, Lebanon, India and Pakistan. The kingdom produced 23,000 tons of marijuana and 800 tons of resin in 2021. More than one million people or nearly 140,000 households in the northern regions of Al-Hoceima, Chefchaouen and Ouazzane live off this activity, according to the Transnational Institute of Policy Studies (TNI).

The production of legal cannabis is expected to generate more than $50 billion (€46.2 billion) in Morocco by 2028, according to the American investment fund Insight Partners. In other words, it should generate between 4.2 and 6.3 billion dirhams (about 400 to 600 million euros) per year within four years, estimates the Moroccan Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry and Innovation (FMIIP). With 3,300 licensed farmers, seven times more than a year ago, and a first harvest of 296 tons in 2023, Morocco is still facing climatic challenges (drought) in the production of legal cannabis.