“It’s very much possible to grow sweet potatoes in Morocco year-round. In summer, regions near Larache on the north coast of Morocco are suitable, and in the winter period, the region around Agadir is suitable for the production,” says Ton de Leeuw of AGF Fresh. This is the conclusion he came to after careful research of the options in Morocco. “The country has plenty of good soils, average annual temperatures are high enough, and irrigation is always possible. Moreover, manual labour is still affordable in Morocco.”
Sweet potatoes aren’t an unknown crop in Morocco. “For years, sweet potatoes have been grown for the local market in the Moroccan way. But potatoes grown the Moroccan way means, among other things: unknown variety, unknown origin, unknown quality of starting material. The production of sweet potatoes has good prospects when the production is more professional.”
That is therefore Ton’s plan. On Thursday, he’ll leave for Morocco, where he will draw up a production plan in cooperation with local growers. “In vitro grown plants free of viruses and bacteria of varieties much in demand in Europe are now growing in a Moroccan lab. Agreements about the production have been made with a number of grower’s cooperatives. The members of these cooperatives are generally smaller growers who still produce very naturally: a lot of manual labour and few chemicals. It’s a special way of working together, which will result in me being able to produce competitively,” Ton says. “Everything is under the control of my Moroccan team and myself.”
For more information:
AGF Fresh
Ton de Leeuw
T: +31 6 53 70 70 86
info@agf-fresh.nl
www.agf-fresh.nl