After signing the free trade agreement with the United States in 2004-2005, Morocco attracted foreign investors to exploit part of its agricultural land. A boon seized by many Spanish companies, thus contributing to the development of the kingdom’s primary sector.
“The Moroccan model of agriculture that triumphed and in which it is now strong is a copy of the semi-desert part of southern Spain and also shares its problems. The Souss valley area, where most crops are concentrated, follows the Almeria model. Large greenhouses in the middle of the desert and near the sea, where tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, etc. are grown. “, explains Tomás García Azcárate, researcher at IEGD-CSIC and agricultural economist.
On Google Maps, the resemblance between the Souss Valley, in southwest Morocco, and El Ejido in Almeria is striking, reports El Confidencial. Since the trade agreement with the EU in 2012, Morocco has significantly increased its production of fruits and vegetables. According to ICEX data, 30 Spanish companies out of the 300 established in Morocco invest in the agricultural sector. This area, close to the port of Agadir, attracts the subsidiaries of Abengoa, CaixaBank, and Perichan, one of Mercadona’s main suppliers of fruit and vegetables.
Since the beginning of the last decade, these Spanish companies have started to encounter problems in Morocco, including strikes by Moroccan workers on plantations, demanding better working conditions, the COVID-19 crisis, and the latest, the severe drought that has hit the kingdom for three years. All these crises affect the performance of Spanish producers in Morocco, informs García Azcárate who is aware of the weight of Morocco in world exports of fruits and vegetables.
“It is obvious that Morocco competes with and harms an economy like ours, which is export-oriented and trade-friendly. But this is no different from many other sectors in which countries with lower costs try to capture markets by taking advantage of their cards. We are talking about unfair competition, but it is a criminal offense which must be proven,” he explains, specifying also that the arrival of Moroccan tomatoes on the EU market has caused the company to lose Spain its hegemony.
