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China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
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Although Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco belong to the Maghreb region with an average annual rainfall of 100 mm, these countries are actively promoting the combination of irrigation technology and modern agricultural production.
A combination of irrigation and modern agricultural production technology has enabled them to expand acreage under crop farming with crops such as soybean, wheat, vegetables, various fruits, cotton, sugar, and maize, and which require the use of pesticides to ward off diseases and avert damage during production periods.
Egypt
Egypt, whose agrochemical industry is controlled by the country's Agriculture Pesticide Committee (APC). The country's major crops include maize, rice, and wheat that take up a large share of the pesticides applied. Other crops include soybean, cotton, sugarcane, sugar beet, and fruits, such as grapes, oranges, and vegetables, especially potatoes and other fresh produce particularly for urban consumers, who make up 43% of the country's total population.
Manufacturers interested in setting up agrochemical production plants and also importers and exporters of crop protection products in Egypt require licensing by APC, which also regulates pesticide labeling, dosage application, and distribution.
Many of the agricultural farm inputs are the products of international manufacturers, such as Nutrien, Belaruskali, OCP, Yara International, and Sasol.
Tunisia
Apart from Egypt, Tunisia is the other active agrochemicals market in North Africa, with an agricultural pesticide regulatory framework that has been in existence for 57 years. However, the regulators have been undergoing reviews and amendments to align them with latest agrochemical market trends, with major changes announced in 1992 and 1999, when the law on pesticide management was approved and promulgated respectively.
Agriculture plays a major role in Tunisia, with at least 16% of the country's workforce engaged in farming, and annual crop production contributing an average 12% to the country's economy every year.
Although Tunisia is a net importer of key food products, such as wheat, soybeans, maize, vegetables, sugar, and barley, it is known for production and export of olive oil, dates, and citrus fruits. The country, with an estimated 11.4 million people, is also an exporter of phosphates, which are used in the manufacture of fertilizer.
Tunisia, being a net importer of agrochemicals, requires that all crop protection/nutrition product importers are registered by the government after complying with the criteria set out in the "Cahier des Charges" or Specifications Book released under the Ministry of Agriculture's Order of 2003.
Morocco
In neighboring Morocco, Africa's fifthlargest economy, players in the country’s agrochemicals supply chain import an estimated 90,000 tonnes of pesticides, of which 55% are insecticides and anti-rodent products, according to the Office of National Health and Food Safety. Fungicides and herbicides form about 30% and 15% of the total imports, respectively.
Morocco's crop protection market is estimated at U.S. $127 million, 90% of which is in the hands of private companies, including Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, and BASF, which account for 70% of this share.
It is estimated that Morocco, with a population of 33 million, has 9 million hectares of arable land, with nearly 63% of it under cereal production. Cereals take up a third of Morocco’s crop protection products, leaving the rest for crops such as maize, olives, fruits, and vegetables, according to Kleffmann.
However, Morocco's agricultural sector faces challenges that could impact the overall performance of the crop protection market, such as scarcity of land and water, precarious land tenure, periodic droughts, soil erosion, poor access to credit, lack of farmers organizations, rural illiteracy, and a low level of technical training.
Despite the many challenges the North Africa crop protection market faces, the performance of individual markets, such as Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, have demonstrated the existing potential to manufacture high-quality agrochemicals and a growing market for farmed products that require farm inputs for higher yields and resistance against pests and diseases.
