Tourism & Hospitality | Tuesday 7 March, 2017 10:36 am |

 

For the seventh consecutive year, Morocco will take part in the Gulfood trade show that will take place in Dubai from February 26th to March 2nd, 2017. Organized by the Food Exports Control And Coordination Organization (Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de Coordination des Exportations, EACCE), under the tutelage of the Ministry of Agriculture and Maritime Fisheries, Morocco’s participation in this global food industry event is now a constant for operators of the Moroccan maritime and agricultural sectors.

 

With an area of 604 m2 and divided into three halls, “World Food”, “Pulses, grains and cereals” and “Oils and Fats”, the Moroccan pavilion will be showcasing the wealth of the Moroccan exportable offering through a diverse range of agri-food products (olive oil, argan oil, sauces, preserved olives, condiments, canned fish, couscous and pasta, spices, aromatic plants, tea, sugar, confectionery and chocolate, fruit juice, cheese, etc…).

 

Hence, a delegation composed of more than fifty Moroccan companies will travel to Dubai to promote the Moroccan agri-food sector’s offering.

 

The GULFOOD trade show is considered as one of the most important trade shows in the food and beverage industry, constituting a key forum to meet global buyers of the agri-food industry. Spreading over a surface area of 100,000 m•, the trade show attracts more than 95,000 visitors and 5,000 exhibitors from 120 countries.

 

Morocco’s participation in this event aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Promote the “Morocco” origin and highlight the quality and the diversity of Moroccan agri-food products;

• Provide information on these products and their competitive advantages in order to strengthen their position on the international market;

• Seize the opportunity offered by the presence of key players of the industry to build new partnerships and conquer new markets;

• Emphasize the potentialities, achievements and growth forecasts of this sector

 

It should be underlined that the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) constitutes a trade platform for agri-food products in the Gulf region. This market is also considered as a re-export hub for the West African and Asian- Pacific markets.

 

1. About the Green Morocco Plan

In April 2008, the Moroccan government adopted the «Green Morocco Plan» strategy in order to jump-start the economy of the agricultural sector.

The objective of this new policy is to promote all of the territory’s agricultural potential in order to make agriculture the main growth driver of the national economy in the next 10 to 15 years.

The strategy is based around a global approach that covers all the actors based on their respective objectives.

 

Therefore, it is based on two main pillars:

 

Pillar I: An agriculture with strong added value

 

The objective of Pillar I of the Green Morocco Plan is the accelerated development of strong value-added and high productivity agriculture. This goes by the creation of proactive agricultural and agribusiness development hubs with strong added value, which fully meet market expectations.

 

This development is also intended to be achieved through the launch of a new wave of massive investments revolving around new actors with a strong management capacity, the streamlining of industrial structures and the pooling of resources around private economic interest groups and industry boards.

 

Pillar I will incorporate 400,000 farmers and generate MAD 150 billion in promising investments.

 

Pillar II: A supportive agriculture

 

The Green Morocco Plan provides for the support of small-scale agriculture in the framework of its second pillar. The key objectives are the following:

• The solidarity-based modernizing of small-scale agriculture in order to fight poverty.

• The incorporation of these axes in a strategy based on integrated rural development and the development of alternative revenue streams.

 

Between 600,000 and 800,000 farmers are concerned by this strategy. The cost of planned investments is estimated at more than MAD 15 billion. The living conditions of three million rural inhabitants are expected to be improved.

 

2. About the Halieutis Plan

Since 2009, Morocco has defined a strategy of development and competitiveness of the national fisheries sector, under the name of HALIEUTIS. This strategy aims to upgrade the sector into a real niche of development for the kingdom. It also targets enhancing Moroccan seafood exports to reach USD 3.1 billion and multiplying by three the GDP of the sector by 2020.

 

The goal is to make the fisheries sector a real engine of growth for the Moroccan Economy.

This sector vision is based on three major axis:

 

Sustainability: a resource permanently exploited for the future generations;

 

• Insure the sustainability of the resource;

• Provide economic actors with necessary visibility to invest;

• Make fishermen the first actors of responsible fisheries.

 

 

 

 

Performance: an organized and equipped sector for an optimal quality, from disembarkation to marketing, in a way to:

 

• Provide optimal conditions of quality in product processing;

• Create more transparency all along the value chain;

• Insure sales disposal on efficient markets.

 

Competitiveness: Competitive and upgraded products on lead markets, through the implementation of actions to:

 

• Insure the availability and the consistency of a good quality raw material;

• Win market shares at the national and international levels.

 

Institutional marketing strategy for the promotion of seafood products

 

Morocco is among the main international producers of seafood products, including sardines and octopus, which are key products of the kingdom.

The Moroccan offer stands out by many assets, such as:

• Sustainable fisheries;

• Species with distinctive sensory values (taste, visual side, texture);

• An assertive know-how;

• Authentic species and a continuous fishery tradition.

 

At the international level, a significant effort has been carried out within the framework of the Halieutis strategy to support the operating professionals, including the commercial promotion dedicated to seafood products – in order to maintain their presence in international markets.

However, due to the weakness of the actions of communication and promotion, the assets of the Moroccan offer remain little known.

 

It is in that sense the Department of Fisheries has defined an institutional marketing strategy to reinforce the notoriety and the branding of the Moroccan fisheries products.

 

3. About the EACCE

Created in 1986, the Food Exports Control And Coordination Organization (Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de Coordination des Exportations, EACCE), is a public body serving the agribusiness products sector intended for export.

As such, its intervention covers the sectors of fresh produce, processed vegetable products and fisheries products.

 

Missions of the EACCE:

 

The main missions of the EACCE are:

 

• The technical inspection of Moroccan agricultural and maritime food products intended for export.

 

 

• The facilitation of specialized sectoral committees for the coordination of the export of Moroccan agricultural and maritime food products.

• The promotion of Moroccan agricultural and maritime food products in foreign destination markets.

• Carrying out operational strategic intelligence in the export markets with regard to Moroccan agricultural and maritime food products

• Supporting small businesses in their export activities for the qualification and promotion of products intended for export.

In order to carry out all of these missions, the EACCE has 21 regional offices spread across the various production and export zones in order to provide locally based services to professionals from the agri-food sector. It also has 4 delegations in Europe, which are mainly in charge of checking the condition of arrival of the exported products in terms of quality and compliance, as well as of providing useful intelligence information to the export agri-food sector.

 

 

4. About “FOOD FROM MOROCCO”

 

FOOD FROM MOROCCO is the official reference directory available in Arabic, French and English for international buyers, interested in the Moroccan food products including fruits, vegetables, fisheries and processed products.

 

This tool allows users to undertake simple or guided search and ask for prices online.

www.foodformorocco.ma offers rich and comprehensive information about all Moroccan exporting compagnies that are active within the last three years.

For each referenced compagny: contacts, names and addresses, exported products, destination markets, obtained accreditations, pictures of products and brands are entirely included in this website.

 

Furthermore, the website also highlights the portential of Morocco and different economic actors in the country. It is also a window display for the sectoral plans “Green Morocco Plan” and “Halieutis” which aim at promoting agriculture products and fisheries.