Morocco is represented at this Conference, held on the sidelines of the awards ceremony for the winners of the 16th edition of the Khalifa International Date Palm Prize, by a delegation led by the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, of rural development and water and forests, Mohammed Sadiki.
The Moroccan delegation is made up in particular of officials from the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), the National Agency for the Development of Oasis Zones and the Argan Tree (ANDZOA) and the National Office for Product Safety food (ONSSA).
Organized by the general secretariat of the Khalifa International Date Palm Prize, in cooperation with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this event aims to monitor and the evaluation of the results of the integrated management project for the red palm weevil and the creation of an international body for the sustainable development of oases.
This year’s ministerial conference includes two high-level ministerial meetings, the first of which is dedicated to monitoring and evaluating the results of the integrated management of the red palm weevil project, while the second relates to preparation for the institutionalization of the Sustainable Oasis Initiative.
In a speech read on his behalf on this occasion, the Director General of the FAO, QU Dongyu, affirmed that the progress of agriculture and production has enabled the increase in the planting of the date palm, an acceleration of international trade dates and an increase in international production of this product since the mid-1960s, going from 2 million tonnes to around 9.7 million tonnes in 2021 produced by nearly 40 countries, noting that The date palm industry faces challenges such as declining productivity and product quality, in addition to post-harvest, marketing and commercialization challenges.