Morocco’s Organic Agriculture Sector Struggles to Grow Amid Certification Challenges

According to L’Économiste, organic agriculture is still in its infancy, due to certain constraints. This is mainly due to the cost of certification, which represents an additional burden. As a result, the sector is struggling to develop, much to the dismay of the players. It must be noted that many players in the sector are exploiting areas without having them certified beforehand.

On the side of the supervisory ministry, a ministerial decree sets the terms for granting public support for the certification of organic agricultural products. Published in the Official Gazette, this text defines the scale of subsidies granted to the various sectors. For example, the public aid granted to the plant products sector is close to 90% of the cost of certification for farms between 0.5 and 5 hectares, with a ceiling of 10,000 DH.

As for the different types of organic agriculture covered by this text, public aid will be granted for three years to each unit. The conditions to benefit from it are well defined. The operator will have to submit an application for public support to the provincial agricultural directorate or the regional agricultural investment office of the region to which the production unit belongs.

In some cases, the operator can present a certificate of conformity, proving that the farm in question operates in accordance with the organic production method, in order to benefit from this subsidy.