Morocco’s presence in the international salon for agriculture, which was organized by France last February, was not just for participation. The invitation was among several previous steps by Paris to dissolve political ice with the Kingdom.
However, the call to the salon, which also included an exceptional honor for the Kingdom, in a precedent is the first in the history of the exhibition, at the same time does not hide another crisis on the road that began to interact due to the hectic competition in production and agricultural marketing.
Morocco is the first provider of the European Union with vegetables and grain, especially the export of tomatoes to France, but within the European circles, criticism of the Kingdom for its dependence on thousands of cheap labor from immigrants coming from sub -Saharan Africa, which makes its products exempt from customs duties more competitive in the markets. These criticisms come amid Moroccan efforts to settle the position of immigrants.
Customs partnership and exemptions
The European Union is the main partner of Morocco, as the volume of trade exchange of commodities reached 43 billion euros in 2021 (including 18 billion euros from Moroccan exports directed to the European blocs), according to a research paper for the European External Labor Authority, one of the union’s diplomatic work institutions.
In the rest of the authority’s statements, a decrease related to the outbreak of Corona was observed in 2020, but the trade improved by 23% in 2021 compared to the previous year and about 10% compared to the pre -crisis level.
The European Union is the main importer from Morocco and the first market for its exports (about 60% of the Kingdom’s exports), and more than half of the foreign direct investment in Morocco comes from the European Union.
In order to further pay the economic partnership, the two sides signed in 2010, an agreement to liberalize the trade exchange in the agricultural sector that entered into force in 2012.
This agreement provides for mutual exemptions for customs duties that include a large number of agricultural and fish products, including manufactured products (canned goods, frozen foods, cheese, etc.).
However, tomatoes – which grow throughout the year on Moroccan farms – remain the main agricultural product imported from Morocco, as the volume of European imports has doubled twice in a decade, in terms of that it is not produced in the winter of European farmers.
The French market alone accommodates more than 400,000 tons annually of Moroccan tomatoes, which are popular among French consumers, according to the French newspaper Lacrawi.
This mutation allowed Morocco to become the third largest source of tomatoes in the world, as its exports of this production in the 2022-2023 season reached a record of about 716 thousand tons, according to the “East Froot” platform specialized in the fruit and vegetable markets.
However, the Kingdom of Morocco is working to diversify its customer list, and has succeeded in increasing the number of countries importing agricultural commodities to the level of weakness within 5 years, including China, Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and South Korea.
Are Moroccan tomatoes targeted?
Moroccan tomatoes have gained a high competitive advantage, which contributed to the low cost of production as a result of the availability of cheap working hands in rural areas, including large numbers and expatriates from sub -Saharan Africa.
Today’s fare is estimated at about 8.5 euros, equivalent to about 255 euros per month, which is almost corresponding to the minimum guaranteed wages determined by the Moroccan government in the agricultural sector, knowing that the government approved 5% of the wage increase began to be activated early this month, but the wage remains far from the minimum wage in France and estimated at about 1400 euros a month.
This led to the anger of the French farmers, because of what they considered a “unfair competition”, amid criticism targeting the trade agreement in the agricultural sector signed between Rabat and the European bloc countries.
Among the reasons for the widespread protests of European farmers in 2024 were the competitions of imports of agricultural products coming mainly from Morocco and Ukraine. These protests have caused the exposure of Moroccan tomato shipments on the roads to repeated damage and damage in European cities, especially by the angry French and Spanish farmers.
In order to avoid such possible conflicts, the European Union and Morocco in 2010 concluded an agreement to establish a mechanism for the settlement of commercial disputes, as well as in 2012, and aims mainly to reach, as much as possible, to an acceptable solution to the two parties in the event of conflicts over the implementation of the terms of the exchange agreement and the flow of agricultural goods exempt from customs duties.
Commenting on the tomato crisis and the fate of the agreement, the “Moroccan Confederation of Agriculture and Village Development” (Komadar), which represents agricultural chains at the level of production, transfer and marketing in Morocco, explained that partnership with the European Union must be fair and useful to all parties concerned.
A positive balance for the European Union
Data of the Moroccan Office for Export and Import – in contrast to the reasons for the protests of European farmers – indicates that the trade balance of exchanges in the agricultural sector was positive for the European Union.
During 2021 and 2022, Moroccan exports of agricultural products increased by 15% to the European Union and by 2% to Spain.
In the same period, European Union exports of agricultural products to Morocco increased by 75%, and Spain’s exports jumped by 20% in 2022, meaning that the trade balance of agricultural products was positive for the European Union by about 900 million euros.
The Confederation also drew attention to the notifications of the “Rapid Food and Feed Alerts” issued by the European Union in 2023, which prove – at its appreciation – a Moroccan commitment to European standards, in all its products exported to the blocs, as evidenced by his presence in third place on the list of the 15 largest exporters to the European Union, in terms of compliance with these standards.
Commenting on this, the Confederation believes that repeated attacks on Moroccan products, including tomato shipments, were not justified.
However, the crisis for the Kingdom does not stop there. The boom of tomato crops shed light on a hidden reality in production farms on the cheap labor arrivals from sub -Saharan, including thousands dreamed of crossing into the northern bank of the Mediterranean.
Immigration is a labor tank
The escalating growth over the last decade of the agricultural sector – which represents 14% of the gross domestic product in Morocco – has also rapidly increased the demand for employment in the region.
The numbers cannot be formally limited to the irregular migrants working on farms, but the French newspaper Lacrawi – in a recent report – estimated their numbers at about 10,000 agricultural workers and delegates from sub -Saharan countries.
The report indicates, for example, the spread of thousands of these workers in the rural village of “Tadart”, which is located 30 km south of Agadir, in the province of Chtouka Ait Baha, to work on farms and inside the air -conditioned houses on an area of 20,000 hectares, and in the packing and packaging of vegetable fruits.
The farms of this region mainly contribute to the production of approximately 500 thousand tons of tomatoes annually to be exported directly to the European Union through the port of Agadir.
The newspaper quotes Emmanuel Newcozigira – a specialist in immigration issues and a member of the International Aid Committee for the Protestant Church in Agadir – that “these jobs that were previously dedicated to poor Moroccan women are now occupied by immigrants mostly, as employers are preferred by workers from sub -Saharan: they are available and cheaper and have no other solution.”
The Moroccan government has repeatedly denies the existence of systematic policies to discriminate against sub -Saharan immigrants, and government spokesman Mustafa Baitas notes that Morocco has an experience in integrating migrants, pointing to numerous initiatives that transferred Morocco from a transit point to a country for stability.
In 2024, the Kingdom issued a law regulating the rights of foreign asylum seekers, in a move that was praised by the International Organization for Migration and human rights organizations.
Unlike other countries in the region, the southern desert migrants in Morocco today are employed in several other vital sectors, such as building, services and in the culture and entertainment sector, and immigrants also participate in high skills professions.
The Moroccan Economia Research Center estimates the number of workers from the southern desert in foreign -speaking appeal centers between 30 and 40% of the total workers. The French -speaking media also attracts journalists from sub -Saharan Africa to work within the editorial bodies.
Activist defender of immigration issues, Nidal Sultani, head of the “Earth Association for All”, tells Al -Jazeera Net that the settlement of the status of immigrants in the context of the law allows the benefit of the country of transit and migrants at the same time, and Morocco has taken important steps in that, even if there is a discussion on the positions of social immigrants and wages.
Despite these initiatives to settle the positions of thousands of sub -Saharan immigrants and allow the registration of their children born in the Kingdom and their attachment to schools, the road is still long to organize the complex immigration sector, with the country turning from mere transit area to a destination for many expatriates.
