BUSINESS REPORTER
Morocco has pledged to help African countries boost food security as the North African giant seeks more cooperation with its sister nations.
Morocco rejoined the African Union in 2017 after a 33-year absence. The country had left the then Organisation of African Unity in 1984 after the continental bloc recognised the independence of Western Sahara.
In his address to the Second Pan-African Parliament ordinary session of its sixth Parliament, Enaam Mayara, president of the House of Councillors in the Kingdom of Morocco, said solidarity and synergy were at the heart of the doctrine of cooperation between his country and African members.
“…my country is working on investing in order to enhance continental food security by accompanying a group of African countries in building advanced agricultural strategies to strengthen food sovereignty, enhance the ability to compete in international agriculture and get the access to new markets,” Mayara said on Monday.
Africa is battling the worst food crisis with the UN estimating that about 278m people are facing hunger.
He said Morocco was also working, through the Chérifien Office of Phosphates, to develop an advanced continental value chain that will enable Africa, within years, to have fair and equitable access to sufficient quantities of fertilisers.
“My country adopts, a clear vision to implement projects that will change the agricultural appearance of the continent and enhance its food security, the most prominent of which is the work to establish an industrial platform for the production of fertilisers in Ethiopia at a cost of US$3.7bn and with a production capacity of about 2.5 million tons annually of fertilisers destined for the local and export markets in addition to opening a factory in Ghana which will be dedicated to the manufacture of fertilisers,” Mayara said, adding that a second factory in Nigeria would be dedicated for the manufacture of ammonium, used in the production of fertiliser.
He expressed Morocco’s support for “all serious parliamentary initiatives” targeted at strengthening institutional cooperation in order to face the challenges related to food security and water scarcity.
The cooperation should also be targeted at confronting the growing dangers of terrorist groups, armed movements and militias, combating the exploitation of children in armed conflicts and climate change, among others, Mayara said.
