Morocco: Cannabis sector booming with drought-resilient seed
As much of Morocco’s countryside lays bare in its sixth consecutive year of drought, a new drought-resilient variant of the cannabis plant lifts the spirits of cannabis farmers, reported The Arab Weekly plus agencies on July 29th.
Since Morocco passed a law in 2021, farmer Abdesselam Ichou began growing cannabis legally as part of the North African country’s cultivation of medical and industrial-use cannabis in an impoverished part of the country.
To date, he is one of thousands of farmers whose area of cultivation has reached new highs and cut into the still-dominant illegal trade in Morocco, the world’s biggest cannabis resin producer, according to the United Nations.
READ: Morocco: to legalise, or not to legalise Cannabis
“I never imagined that one day I would be able to grow cannabis without the fear and anxiety of being arrested, robbed, or not being able to sell my harvest,” said Ichou.
“Today, we work in broad daylight, in a free and dignified manner,” he added, proudly showing his leafy crops in the commune of Mansoura, in the Chefchaouen region southeast of Tangiers.
Chefchaouen is one of the three provinces of Riff, a mountainous region alongside Hoceima, and Taounate where cannabis cultivation is permitted under the 2021 law for non-recreational use.
El Gueddar, who belongs to a cooperative, added that he has “a lot of hope because it can only be better than living in the precariousness of illegality.”
As Morocco has been hit by a six-year drought, many farmers are struggling to harvest crops as their land lies barren, drastically impacting the agricultural sector.
READ: Morocco: drought devastates farmers livelihoods
However, Beldia, a local drought-resilient variety of the cannabis plant will be harvested for the first time in August, with Ichou stating that it will be “a major asset for us”
In its first harvest of legal, low-potency cannabis last year, the country reported an output of 296 tonnes, according to ANRAC, Morocco’s cannabis regulating agency.
For Ichou, it was “a record harvest of almost eight tonnes on one hectare (2.5 acres)” that provided him with a steadier income than illegal cultivation, selling the crop at 80 dirhams ($8) per kilogramme to give a gross revenue of $64,000.
Mohamed El Guerroudj, head of ANRAC, stated that treating “cannabis production as a normal agricultural sector” will enable them to emerge “out of the shadows towards the light.”
The surface area of legal cannabis crops increased almost tenfold, according to the agency, going from 286 hectares in 2023 to 2,700 hectares in 2024.
But that hardly compares to the 55,000 hectares which official figures say were grown illegally in 2019.
“At first, there was a lot of apprehension,” said Said El Gueddar, 47, another legal cannabis grower, who is expecting his next harvest in October.
“But little by little it waned because ultimately legalisation is the right path to follow.”
With the new-found acceptance of growing cannabis legally, growers could eventually make a 12-per cent turnover compared to four per cent on the illegal market, according to official studies.
The Arab Weekly/Agencies.
