North Africa’s population is booming. It is also an arid zone and prone to drought. Morocco bore the brunt of a rain deficit in the past year, and poor harvests are widely predicted as a result.
“Water is definitely the issue … Wheat production will be reduced by 50% this year in Morocco,” says Philippe Cattan, DuPont Crop Protection business manager for Middle East and North Africa. Wheat is the country’s largest crop, followed by olives, tomatoes, barley and a variety of other fruits and vegetables. With 40% of the population employed in agriculture, a bad year for agriculture means the entire economy suffers.
Exports from Morocco and Tunisia, particularly of fresh tomatoes, are also taking a hit as Europe’s economic crisis cuts into demand for fresh fruit and vegetables. Tomato prices are down at the same time, hurting farmers in the region, Cattan says.
撇开水资源供应和全球经济问题不谈，2 月份出现了贸易进展的迹象。欧洲议会签署了欧盟-摩洛哥农业协议，根据该协议，欧盟将立即取消目前对从摩洛哥进口的 55% 的关税。反过来，70% 欧盟农产品和渔业产品将在十年内获准免税进入摩洛哥，但有一些例外。
Challenges facing the region’s crop protection markets are far from simple.
Addressing a recent workshop organized by the National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA) and FAO in Rabat recently, CropLife Morocco head Boubker El Ouilani said Morocco first and foremost must adopt a single framework to govern pesticides. “We must take into account the reality on the ground of inadequate infrastructure, lack of harmonization and coordination.” But he warned that “setting the bar too high could cripple the entire industry.”
Algeria “has huge potential – good land, plenty of water – but they lack skills, know-how and infrastructure for agriculture,” Cattan says.
他补充说，突尼斯主要种植谷物并开始种植蔬菜和生产农作物，但该大陆最北端的国家代表的作物保护市场比摩洛哥或阿尔及利亚要小得多。
CropLife’s Said Abdella reports that Egypt – which is chiefly a pesticide importer – benefits from robust infrastructure and strong distribution and retail networks for crop protection products, but technical and commercial training is “badly needed.” According to Abdella, Egypt’s pesticide registration framework is one of the best in the region, and is modeled after those of the EPA, WHO, FAO and EU. “However, it needs more explanation and stability in order to be fully understood and observed by candidate pesticide dealers and manufacturing companies.”
Registered pesticide products are unsubsidized, and are charged a 5% customs duty and sales tax. Formed last July by new Minister of Agriculture Salah El-Sayed Youssef, Egypt’s Agricultural Pesticide Committee is charged with independently evaluating the efficacy, safety and performance of pesticides.
Threats to Egypt’s crop protection industry include “the invasion of unknown products where their sources or contents are not clear,” Abdella says, noting that Egypt also suffers from underinvestment in local industry and research and development, as well as shortages of equipment and the technical facilities and regulations to carry out quality control tests.