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On 18th of May 2022, the German-Moroccan Centre of Excellence for Agriculture (CECAMA) was officially handed over to the Moroccan partner - the National Office for Agricultural Extension (ONCA). From 2012 to 2021, the centre was established by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in cooperation with the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture. Trials and demonstrations were carried out on 75 ha of a cooperating farm.
German and Moroccan partners participated by providing machinery, production inputs and technical expertise. During nine years, CECAMA trained more than 11,300 participants in 306 events, including farmers, state and private advisors and technicians from associations and cooperatives.
These events covered classic production-related topics such as irrigation, fertilisation and plant protection to management topics as well as establishing a business plan. The topics on methodology and digitalisation of agricultural extension have become more important.
In the course of the project, 39 demonstration fields were established based on conventional and on no-till farming methods for oilseed, legume and cereal production, as well as mechanised potato cultivation.
The close cooperation with the project partners has contributed significantly to technology transfer between Morocco and Europe. Precision agriculture was promoted at various events and has become one of the priority projects of the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture.
During the project period, the institutional landscape of the agricultural sector in Morocco was re-organised. Two of these conversions were actively accompanied by the CECAMA:
1. the restructuring of agricultural extension through the creation of ONCA and the professional profile of the private agricultural advisor, and
2. the creation of the sectoral organisations in the form of the Fédérations Interprofessionnelles along the value chains.
For more information, please contact the responsible project manager Daniela Böhm: daniela.boehm [at] afci.de