No decision was taken this Friday, February 3, during the meeting that took place at the Souss-Massa Chamber of Agriculture to discuss tomato production in the region.
The various players present at this meeting decided to wait until the end of February before meeting once more, Hoping weather conditions improverevealed to Médias24 a source within the Moroccan Interprofessional Federation for the Production and Export of Fruits and Vegetables (Fifel).
If ever the situation does not improve, the authorities may have to impose quotas on producers so as to limit their exports. The producers, accustomed to the quotas imposed by the European markets, will therefore have to undergo new ones, this time from the Moroccan authorities.
“Faced with the news conveyed by the press which mentions the possibility of a limitation of the export like last year, foreign customers got alarmed and a few even flew to meet the producers. We want to explain that it only depends on the weather conditions,” said Youssef Jebha, president of the Chamber of Agriculture during this meeting.
The region, which is the first producer (90%) and exporter of tomatoes on a national scale, suffers an unusual cold snap which leads to a significant drop in the quantities produced. With the month of Ramadan approaching and faced with rising prices on the domestic market, exports might once once more be limited for guarantee the supply of the national market.
“We sell at a loss on the national marketthe farmer cannot do without export, it is he who somehow subsidizes the price on the national market”, added our source from Fifel.
This meeting was attended by representatives of producers, in addition to various public institutions such as the Regional Office for Agricultural Development (ORMVA) of Souss-Massa, Morocco Foodex, the National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA ).
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