Algerian dates are again at the heart of a controversy in Morocco. As a year ago with the approach of Ramadan, calls to boycott dates from Algeria are increasing on social networks, in a context of tensions between the two countries.
A total of 500 kilograms of dates from Algeria were destroyed after being seized at a warehouse located in the Derb Soltan district of Casablanca, indicates the Moroccan site Ya Biladi.
These dates would have entered Morocco illegally since they were not subject to checks by the authorities, adds the same source.
The importer could not provide the documents nor the authorizations to demonstrate that the quantities of dates were imported in compliance with the law.
This important seizure comes ten days before the beginning of the month of Ramadan where dates are widely consumed in Morocco as in all Muslim countries.
The circulation of dates from Algeria and Tunisia is causing a stir among professionals in the sector in Morocco, who are calling for the protection of the Moroccan product.
The flooding of the date market with products from Tunisia but especially Algeria has sparked some controversy in which political parties have become involved.
A few days ago, the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) called for “valuing the national product of dates and protecting it from unfair competition”.
Algerian dates on the menu of the Moroccan Parliament
The controversy reached the Moroccan parliament. According to the 360.ma site quoting the daily Assabah, opposition deputies have called on the Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, to close “all the exits from the import of Algerian dates”. whether done legally via Europe or illegally via smuggling.
The reason given is the presence of carcinogenic materials due to the excessive use of pesticides according to the deputies.
Deputy Addi Chagiri named “the Algerian product imported in contraband via Mali and Mauritania, through the passage of El Guerguerat and which does not respect the minimum standards of safety and health”.
The elected officials called on the Moroccan authorities to prosecute any seller of Algerian dates who conceals their origins.
A well-established campaign
The controversy over Algerian dates has obviously become a tradition in Morocco during the period just before the start of the month of Ramadan.
Last year at the same time, we witnessed the same hostile reactions towards Algerian dates in Morocco. This was also the case in April 2021 which coincided with the month of Ramadan.
In 2022, a broad campaign to boycott dates from Algeria was carried out on social networks.
The campaign resurfaced bizarrely this year on social media. A hashtag to boycott carcinogenic Algerian dates has been launched for a few days.
For what can be called the 2023 edition of the anti-Algerian date campaign in Morocco, the argument used is the presence of carcinogenic materials, in previous years it was mentioned that the dates had been grown in land that had suffered nuclear irradiations in the Sahara in Algeria while others spoke of “adulterated” products.
Far from Moroccan propaganda
In fact, Algerian dates are among the best in the world. They are exported all over the world.
According to figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Algeria produced 1.2 million tonnes of dates in 2021, which places it in fourth place among producing countries behind Egypt with 1. 7 million tonnes, Saudi Arabia and Iran with 1.5 and 1.3 million tonnes respectively.
