Morocco emerges as a force for Regenerative Agriculture in Africa

By Michael Tanchum

Regenerative agriculture enables farmers to produce more crops with less water while helping to slow down climate change in the process. A rapidly growing global trend, the regenerative approach can improve water-use efficiency, raises crop yields, and increase carbon storage in soils. Consisting of a set of farming, grazing, and agroforestry practices that restore degraded soils by reviving the soil microbiome, regenerative agriculture through rebuilds the soil’s organic matter, safeguards its biodiversity, and improves its moisture retention.^[1] Morocco is emerging as a leading force for regenerative agriculture in Africa, the world’s driest inhabited continent by percentage of landmass after Australia.^[2] Home to the Sahara Desert, a territory over twice the total area of the European Union,^[3] as well as the Namib and Kalahari Deserts, upwards of 65% of Africa’s land is degraded, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with the rate of desertification increasing due to climate change.^[4]

In contrast to Western countries where regenerative agriculture is primarily promoted as means of combatting climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Africa’s priority is to utilize regenerative agriculture’s focus on improving soil health as a means to counteract desertification and to increase crop yields.  Africa’s imperatives for regenerative agriculture are more local and immediate – to achieve higher domestic agricultural output to enhance food security for the estimated 290 million Africans that will be facing chronic hunger by 2030.^[5] As Asian agribusiness firms like Olam Agri promote regenerative agriculture in Africa ensure their own supply chains, Morocco’s sustainable solutions for businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) represent a unique partnership opportunity to accomplish these goals.

Regenerative Agriculture Meets Climate Change

Modern conventional agriculture has become a central topic in the political debate on how to combat climate change, as food systems account for over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, with 66% of food system emissions coming from agriculture, land use and changes in land use, according to a landmark FAO report conducted in collaboration with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.^[6] Advocating for regenerative agriculture, the World Economic Forum likewise claims, “Agriculture today, including the use of heavy machinery, fertilisers, and pesticides to maximize food production, is contributing to soil degradation and loss,”^[7] citing Regeneration International’s claim that in 50 years the “world will literally no longer have enough arable topsoil to feed ourselves.”^[8] The Forum goes on to state its view of conventional agriculture’s culpability in climate change: “Intensive farming also churns up CO2 [carbon dioxide] naturally stored in soil and releases it into the atmosphere. This contributes to the global warming that is driving climate change.”^[9] Citing a report from Project Drawdown,^[10] the Forum asserts the world’s agriculture lands, ‘restored’ through regenerative agriculture, “could absorb the equivalent of between 2.6 and 13.6 gigatons of CO2 a year.”^[11]

While climate change is disproportionately affecting the soils in countries across Africa through increasing temperatures, droughts, and desertification, the agricultural sectors in these countries contribute comparatively little to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The FAO/European Commission study identifies China, Indonesia, the United States of America, Brazil, the European Union and India as the top emitters.  Africa’s agricultural realities differ starkly in other ways as well.  Agriculture accounts for 30% of Africa's GDP and employs at least 55% of the continent’s workforce.^[12] As the continent’s food crisis demonstrates, Africa’s prosperity depends on expanding the output of its agricultural sector. In the wake of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that resulted in cereal grain supply shortages and price spikes, acute food insecurity increased by 60% in the greater East Africa region and by close to 40% in West Africa.^[13] Across the continent governments have recognised that their over-reliance on global trade and foreign aid to provide staple food items for their citizens is no longer tenable.

While African nations are willing to align themselves in international initiatives for regenerative agriculture that emphasize the reduction of greenhouse gases, their main priority is higher crop yields. Africa’s cereal grain output stands at about 30% of its estimated productivity.^[14] By comparison, the average cereal crop yields across Africa are half of India’s output.^[15] Overall, Africa’s annual agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) is almost five times lower than that of Asia.^[16] Although there is a lot of complex geological and ancient anthropology that lies at the root cause of soil degradation in Africa  the problem in its current form is mainly caused by erosion, desertification, deforestation, and poor agricultural practices. Climate change has made it worse.  The payoff from repairing the soil through regenerative agriculture, however, is substantial.  According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), reversing Africa’s land degradation through regenerative agriculture would result in $70 billion in Gross Value Added for Africa’s agricultural sector.^[17] The IUCN estimates that the carbon benefit to the atmosphere would be 4.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide, roughly equivalent to 10 times the annual emissions of coal-burning South Africa, the world’s 11^th largest emitter.^[18]

Africa has 350 million smallholder farmers – larger than the population of the United States.^[19] While engaging these farmers is a formidable task, Morocco has established regenerative agriculture solutions businesses on the basis of carbon reduction and the monetization of carbon credits that are especially attuned to the needs of African agriculture.  These Moroccan sustainable solutions businesses have proven effective in promoting the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices among African farmers, elevating their incomes while repairing the soils and ensuring agricultural supply chains. This success began with Morocco’s own farmers, 71% of whose farms are less than 5 hectares.^[20] The engagement of African farmers outside of Morocco by Moroccan sustainable solutions businesses also builds upon Morocco’s highly effective agricultural extension services programmes operating in multiple countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

An African Agricultural Powerhouse with Continental Reach

Morocco is an African agricultural success story.  By 2020, the kingdom’s ten-year initiative, the Green Morocco Plan (Plan Maroc Vert), had managed to increase the value of agricultural exports by 117% to roughly $3.5 billion and created 342,000 new jobs.^[21] Morocco has become one of leading suppliers of fruits and vegetables to Europe, with the agri-food sector now accounting for about 21% of its exports by value.^[22] With agriculture accounting for 39% of Morocco’s total formal employment, Rabat's 10-year successor plan, called Green Generation 2020-2030, has prioritized the sustainability of the country's lucrative agricultural production while attempting to elevate 400,000 farming households into the middle class.^[23] To this end, Morocco has established regenerative agriculture  solutions businesses on the basis of carbon reduction and the monetization of carbon credits that are focused on assisting small farmers.

The Kingdom’s unique advantage in developing regenerative agriculture businesses is its fertiliser manufacturing giant OCP (originally, Office Chérifien des Phosphates), the world’s largest producer of phosphate products and the world’s fourth largest exporter of fertilisers.  In 2023, OCP revenues stood at $9 billion. With the sustainability of OCP’s operations being a matter of vital national interest, OCP has developed a constellation of subsidiaries and affiliated entities to develop capabilities to support its own sustainability effort as well as to make Morocco a global sustainable development solutions provider, including regenerative agriculture.^[24] 

Morocco’s thrust in regenerative agriculture has been the wide diffusion of no-till farming, a foundational practice of regenerative agriculture. Integral in supporting the government’s effort to develop no-till farming across the country is Al Moutmir, the outstanding local organisation that in charge of providing extension services to farmers.  Based at the OCP-funded, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Al Moutmir’s agronomists work collaboratively in the field with farmers in Morocco’s rural communities to provide them assistance in appropriately adopting innovative technologies and best practices to transition to sustainable agriculture.^[25]

Al Moutmir’s no-till farming offer is an agricultural production system of sowing without prior tillage to preserve the soil’s microbial life and conserve its water stocks. In the process, the no-till system significantly reduces the levels of CO₂ otherwise released during conventional tillage.  The water conservation benefits of no till farming have been scientifically identified for decades.  An FAO analysis of no-till farming of maize in Argentina, for example, found a 37% increase in the water-use efficiency under no till compared to conventional tillage.^[26] Operating across 23 of Morocco’s provinces, Al Moutmir’s programme has benefitted over 4,000 farmers and put over 32,710 hectares – mostly cereals and pulses – under no-till cultivation.^[27] The effort has benefited from Al Moutmir’s 1,000 demonstration platforms that can be tracked by all interested parties using digital applications. The platforms revealed an average crop yield increase of 30% for no till over conventional till – and at lower cost.^[28]

Building on Al Moutmir’s success, Morocco’s aspiring global sustainable solutions provider InnovX launched a carbon farming company called Tourba (Arabic for soil) that helps farmers and ranchers to adopt conservation agricultural practices like no-till, rational fertilization, and improved grazing management through the monetization of carbon credits. Under this ‘carbon farming’ framework and working in collaboration with Al Moutmir, the UM6P-headquartered Tourba has transformed farming practices across 25,000 hectares of Moroccan farmland.^[29] Operating in Nigeria and Ethiopia as well as Morocco,^[30] Tourba aims to transform 6 million hectares of farmland and degraded grassland across Africa as well as in South America through its carbon farming approach by 2030.

Tourba’s carbon farming operations in SSA is the latest manifestation of OCP’s deep engagement with African farmers that has placed Morocco at the forefront of the effort to transform African agriculture. In 2016, OCP created its OCP Africa division to contribute to the development of integrated agricultural ecosystems on the continent.^[31] With subsidiary divisions in 12 African countries and operations in four additional countries, OCP Africa focuses on empowering smallholder farmers to better and more profitably participate in agricultural value chains. In 2018, OCP Africa launched its Agribooster programme to provide African farmers with "inclusive and customized end-to-end solutions" to increase their yields, incomes, and long-term livelihoods.^[32] Beyond education and specialized training services, the programme facilitates relationships with input suppliers, financial services providers, and commodity buyers to optimize the use of seed, fertiliser and other inputs, loans and insurance, mechanics, warehousing, and offtake mechanisms. Operating in West Africa's four largest economies — Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal — the Agribooster programme benefitted 630,000 farmers during its first five years, resulting in a 48% rise in Nigeria's corn yield, a 63% jump in Senegal's millet yield, and similar yield increases across the board.^[33]

Additionally, OCP's School Lab operates across at least nine countries in both western and eastern Africa using travelling schools, mobile laboratories, and digital communications to provide over 420,000 farmers multiyear support and technological solutions.^[34] OCP further deepened relationships with its Africa partners by developing blended fertilisers for each country and constructing local blending units. Blended fertiliser allows a country to match the fertiliser nutrients specifically to local soil conditions and plant needs. The practice can be more cost effective and avoids environmental damage from excess nutrients escaping into water sources. Working with Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation Agency, OCP Africa discovered that a constraint to crop growth in Ethiopia was a soil deficiency in sulphur. Producing NPS and NPS+ fertiliser formulas calibrated for wheat, corn, and teff production in Ethiopia, OCP was able to contribute to yields that have increased by up to 37%.^[35] OCP similarly has been developing new fertiliser formulas for Ghana’s production of cassava, vegetables, and soybeans.^[36]

OCP Africa is also now involved in a new phase of engagement through joint venture investment in fertiliser manufacturing in Africa, constructing fertiliser production plants in Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia.  With its deep experience in assisting the agricultural sectors in over a dozen African countries as well as its successful regenerative agricultural solutions businesses, Morocco presents itself as an attractive partner for Asian agri-food businesses look to develop regenerative agriculture programmes for their operations in Africa.

An Asian trailblazer for African regenerative agriculture

Olam Agri stands out among Asian Agribusinesses for its pioneering efforts for regenerative agriculture in Africa. With over thirty years’ experience of agri-food production in Africa Singapore-headquartered Olam Agri maintains agri-food production operations in ten sub-Saharan African countries.^[37] Making a substantive and comprehensive commitment to ensuring the sustainability of agricultural supply chains involving their food, feed, and fibre operations. The company has adopted a “Living Landscapes” policy with regenerative agriculture as its foundation.^[38] Emblematic of that Olam Agri’s commitment is its launching of the world’s largest certified regenerative agriculture programme in the cotton supply chain.^[39] The programme began in Côte d’Ivoire, where Olam Agri sources directly from over 40,000 farming families, and a vast network of local traders.^[40] Working with the regenagri® certification programme of the Netherlands-headquartered Control Union,^[41] Olam Agri has attained regenagri® certification for over 250,000 hectares of land, 20,000 farm enterprises in Côte d’Ivoire as well as both of  the company’s ginning facilities that locally process 100,000 metric tonnes of seed cotton.^[42]

In Asia, the cultivation of cotton as well as mangoes is also occurring under regenagri® standards. The Indian branch of the NGO Solidaridad helps farmers to operate within regenagri’s framework and has placed an emphasis on bio-inputs (such as bio-repellants instead of chemical pesiticides), grazing, and crop cover, in addition to minimum till practices.^[43] Such practices can be appropriate for the same crops in Africa, while the no till practices emphasized in Morocco have wider application in Asia.

Conclusion

The drive to combat desertification, expand available farmland, and increase water-use efficiency – all geared toward higher agricultural output and improved domestic food security –  will make regenerative agriculture a permanent feature in Morocco and the rest of Africa.  The ability to monetise carbon credits for the use of practices, technologies, and products that result in carbon sequestration means that the African nations will experiment with a variety of approaches until each country discovers the optimal set of approaches to meet its goal.  Now is the time for Asian agribusiness in Africa to gain first mover advantage through cooperation with Morocco’s regenerative agriculture solutions businesses affiliated with OCP.  Successful technologies developed in Africa could also be marketed to appropriate agricultural operations in Asia, and vice versa.

The global momentum for the expansion of regenerative agriculture is accelerating.  For many regions in Africa and Asia, the adoption of regenerative agriculture is a matter of increasing urgency to ensure food security. Win-win cooperation between African farmers and Asian agricultural firms operating in Africa has become an economic as well as ecological imperative.  Partnering with Morocco’s sustainability solutions businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa presents an effective pathway to promote African-Asian cooperation in regenerative agriculture for mutual benefit.

 Professor Michael Tanchum is a research fellow with NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies, a non-resident fellow with the Middle East Institute's Economics and Energy Programme and teaches at Universidad de Navarra. You can follow him on X @michaeltanchum. The author would like to thank Maria Victoria Andarcia for her research assistance.

 

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