The fruit and vegetable market at the mercy of speculators

Essaouira is no longer the city of the poor as it has been customary to describe it for twenty years. It is now one of the Moroccan cities where the cost of living is among the most expensive. Admittedly, the global economic crisis was at the origin of the slowdown in speculation in the real estate sector due to a lack of demand, but the price increase continues in the vegetable and fruit market, which is still at the mercy of three speculators who dominate the "inputs" and "outputs" of this sector, which constitutes the nerve centre of the city's food security.However, citizens, unions, political parties, civil society, and the media have not stopped for several years from sounding the alarm, calling on local officials to restore the situation and ensure a good climate of competitiveness in order to protect both the interests of small traders and citizens."Since the closure of the week…