The Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, government spokesman Saaïd Amzazi announced the launch of a call for research projects on the argan tree on Monday in Rabat, as well as the creation of three prizes dedicated to research on this tree which will be awarded annually.
The call for research projects, entitled “EL BEKRI”, named after the first Arab scientist who described the argan tree in 1038, aims to boost scientific research and innovation around the argan tree, explained Amzazi who spoke during the celebration of the first International Argan Day, organized by the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat.
Reflecting the commitment of the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research in favor of the promotion of research on the argan tree, this call for projects will have a budget of 10 million Dirhams, in association with the partners of the ministry, namely the Hassan II Academy of sciences and techniques, ICESCO and UNESCO, underlined Amzazi.
In addition to the launch of this call for projects, the strategy dedicated to the promotion of research on the argan tree also provides for the creation of three prizes, including a University – Cooperative Partnership Prize, which aims to promote and encourage partnership between the world of scientific research and cooperatives, particularly in terms of valuing argan products.
This prize, which will reward the best research teams that have collaborated with cooperatives in an innovation process around the argan tree, will be endowed with an amount of 100,000 dh, said the minister.
It is also a Prize for the best thesis (50,000 DH) which will aim to reward the best thesis of the year whose theme will be related to the argan tree and a Prize for the best related article. with the theme of the argan tree, indexed in an international database (Scopus or WOS), with a high factor impact.
In Morocco, the number of these publications increased from 15 in 2010 to 52 in 2020, recalled Mr. Amzazi, specifying that the value of this prize will be 25,000 DH.
In this context, the main disciplinary fields targeted are agroforestry, ecophysiology and genetic improvement of the argan tree, chemistry and biochemistry of the tree and its derived products, including Argan oil, pharmacology, cosmetology and clinical trials of derivatives, he said.
The prize also relates to the socioeconomic development of argan groves and studies in human and social sciences relating to the theme of the argan tree.
The minister indicated that his department is now more aware than ever of the potential of the argan sector, highlighting the meteoric development of the argan tree, which today brings to the national GDP an unexpected windfall of foreign currency. .
He further asserted that the greatest quality of the argan tree is being “patriotic”, as it grows exclusively on Moroccan soil.
For his part, the Minister Delegate in charge of higher education and scientific research, Driss Ouaouicha, indicated that the argan tree constitutes an authentic national heritage, highlighting its international influence.
He also discussed its benefits in the food, medicinal and cosmetic fields, calling for further promotion of research around this tree to contribute both to the objectives of sustainable development, to the improvement of productivity and to the support of empowerment. socio-economic activity of rural women active in cooperatives dedicated to the argan tree.
Speaking in turn, the Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Salim M. El Malik said that the celebration of this International Day provides an opportunity to highlight the specificities of this tree, as well as the efforts made by Morocco for the preservation and enhancement of the argan tree.
He also stressed that the argan tree as an intangible heritage plays an important role in the fight against desertification and contributes to sustainable development, noting that ICESCO will work with member countries to publicize the Kingdom’s efforts in terms of preservation and enhancement of this tree.
El Malik proposed to present the request for inscription of the argan tree on the list of the heritage of the Islamic world, assuring that ICESCO will provide its support for research on the argan tree.
The Acting Director of the UNESCO Maghreb Office, Alexender Schischlik, for his part, recalled that the argan tree has been inscribed since 2014 on the list of intangible cultural heritage of the organization, stressing the primordial environmental role that plays this tree in particular through the fight against desertification.
For his part, the president of the Mohammed V University of Rabat, Mohamed Rhachi affirmed that the university has always supported research on the argan tree, noting that the proclamation of this International Day constitutes recognition of Morocco’s efforts to protect and enhance this tree.
For his part, the dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat, Mohamed Regragui highlighted the various research and studies carried out at the level of this faculty on the argan tree. He also announced the launch next year of a Bachelor-type training entitled “local products” of which the argan tree is part.
Placed under the theme “Three decades of R&D for the sustainable development of the argan tree”, this meeting aimed, on the one hand, to celebrate World Argan Day and, on the other hand, to share the results. research and activities undertaken for 36 years by the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat, world leader in scientific publications indexed on the argan tree and its derivatives.
This meeting was marked by a tribute paid to the academic and president of the Ibn Al Baytar Association, Zoubida Charrouf, for his research on the argan tree.
The celebration ceremony of the International Argan Tree Day, in which the perpetual secretary of the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Techniques Omar Fassi Fehri, academics, researchers and diplomats took part, was marked by the planting symbolic of an argan tree in the garden of the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat.
The meeting was punctuated by the presentation of a presentation on the “economic, social and environmental impact of the development of the argan oil sector in Morocco from 1985 to the present day” and the organization of a table round with the participation of several researchers and experts.
