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Join on Telegram Doha – A comprehensive report by Nanyang Technological University’s NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies reveals Morocco’s emergence as a leading force in regenerative agriculture across Africa, presenting new opportunities for Asian agribusiness firms to participate in strengthening African food security.
The study, published on January 20 and authored by Professor Michael Tanchum, details how Morocco’s innovative approach to regenerative agriculture is addressing critical challenges in African food security while combating desertification and climate change effects.
“Africa’s imperatives for regenerative agriculture are more local and immediate – to achieve higher domestic agricultural output to enhance food security for the estimated 290 million Africans that will be facing chronic hunger by 2030,” the report states, pointing out the urgency of the situation.
The research emphasizes Morocco’s successful transformation of its agricultural sector. “By 2020, the kingdom’s ten-year initiative, the Green Morocco Plan (Plan Maroc Vert), had managed to increase the value of agricultural exports by 117% to roughly $3.5 billion and created 342,000 new jobs,” notes the study.
OCP Group’s significant role
A key player in this transformation is OCP, which the report describes as “the world’s largest producer of phosphate products and the world’s fourth largest fertiliser exporter.”
The study reveals that OCP’s revenues reached $9 billion in 2023, demonstrating the scale of Morocco’s agricultural industry.
It notably documents a significant achievement in the implementation of no-till farming, a fundamental practice of regenerative agriculture.
Through the Al Moutmir program, operating across 23 Moroccan provinces, “over 4,000 farmers and put over 32,710 hectares – mostly cereals and pulses – under no-till cultivation,” says the report.
The program has demonstrated remarkable results, with “an average crop yield increase of 30% for no till over conventional till – and at lower cost.”
The study details Morocco’s continental reach through OCP Africa, which operates in 16 African countries.
The organization’s Agribooster program has shown impressive results: “Operating in West Africa’s four largest economies — Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal — the Agribooster programme benefitted 630,000 farmers during its first five years, resulting in a 48% rise in Nigeria’s corn yield, a 63% jump in Senegal’s millet yield.”
Africa’s transformative partnerships with Asian agribusinesses
The report also discusses the role of Asian agribusinesses in African agriculture, particularly highlighting Singapore-based Olam Agri’s initiatives.
“With over thirty years’ experience of agri-food production in Africa Singapore-headquartered Olam Agri maintains agri-food production operations in ten sub-Saharan African countries,” the study notes.
The company has launched “the world’s largest certified regenerative agriculture programme in the cotton supply chain” in Côte d’Ivoire.
Professor Tanchum concludes that the partnership between African farmers and Asian agricultural firms has become “an economic as well as ecological imperative.”
The report suggests that Morocco’s sustainability solutions businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa offer “an effective pathway to promote African-Asian cooperation in regenerative agriculture for mutual benefit.”
Regenerative agriculture in Africa differs from Western approaches, argues the report, noting that the African way focuses primarily on improving soil health to counteract desertification and increase crop yields, rather than solely focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This approach is particularly crucial given that “Africa’s cereal grain output stands at about 30% of its estimated productivity” and “the average cereal crop yields across Africa are half of India’s output.”
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature cited in the report, reversing Africa’s land degradation through regenerative agriculture could result in “$70 billion in Gross Value Added for Africa’s agricultural sector” and provide “carbon benefit to the atmosphere would be 4.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide.”
The main focal point of the study is that regenerative agriculture adoption in both Africa and Asia “has become a matter of increasing urgency to ensure food security” in both regions, with Morocco’s model offering a proven pathway for successful implementation.
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