The first edition of the Laâyoune Agricultural Fair ended on Sunday, 25 December. Organised from 22 to 25 December by the regional directorate of agriculture in partnership with the elected councils of the region and the provinces of Tarfaya and Boujdour, the Laâyoune Agricultural Fair aimed to highlight the region's potential through meetings and exchanges between the various operators in the agricultural sectors at the regional level. Among the objectives set by the organisers of this event is the promotion of solidarity-based agriculture in the region through the exhibition of different animal breeds (dromedaries, cattle, small ruminants and poultry) and agricultural products, notably camel milk and its derivatives, as well as various local products.

Over an area of 500 m2, 40 stands allowed participants to exhibit their products. Another space brought together specimens of dromedaries, dairy cows, goats, and sheep grazing peacefully next to cages for chickens or rabbits. To complete the picture, two beautiful mares stood in an enclosure designed for the occasion.

While the exhibitors, with women being more numerous than men, tried to convince visitors of the quality of their products, conferences led by professors from the Hassan II Institute of Agriculture in Rabat were held at the congress palace.

These conferences were followed by debates on the problems encountered by breeders in the region. This meeting resulted in recommendations from the speakers and grievances from the farmers.

Among the recommendations are those made by Professor Noureddine Ben Kerroum who, during his lecture, spoke of the dromedary as the "locomotive of the desert". The vital role it has always played in communities in arid and semi-arid zones. These recommendations aim to guide breeders towards practices allowing them to improve the quality and quantity of their production and to diversify camel milk and meat derivatives through their conservation and processing.

He insisted that to obtain such results, it is essential to modernise livestock farming. This implies, he explained, the valorisation of products and the diversification of breeds through the selection of stallions.

Mr Ben Kerroum stressed the importance of this wealth, which must be exploited in a modern way and to which full attention must be given by adopting the Green Morocco Plan as an adequate and incentive framework to organise and improve the camel sector while preserving traditional practices. It should be noted that a specific plan for dromedary breeding is included in this plan. He insisted on the need to pay full attention to the hygienic quality of food products derived from the dromedary.

Among the points highlighted by the speaker was that relating to investments. These investments, which until now have been solely the work of the State, must be opened to the private sector, he stressed.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, Libé met Madame Fatiha Lakri, a participant representing the Association of Friends of Akhneifiss National Park. This association brings together dozens of women who raise goats and produce local butter. It provides fodder and veterinary assistance to these women and buys their production, which it then markets.

Ms Lakri is pleased with this exhibition, which she says has allowed them to sell a large part of their production and to establish contacts with potential buyers of their products, which are essentially local.

Call for the development of livestock farming

Participants in a symposium held on Sunday in Laâyoune on "the current situation and prospects for the development of the agricultural sector in the Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra region" called for the creation of a veterinary analysis and research laboratory with a view to providing health supervision in the sheep and poultry farming sectors.

They also stressed the need to set up a concentrated fertiliser production unit and camel milk collection centres, the introduction of modern techniques in terms of nursing, and the simplification of procedures.

For the poultry sector, the speakers notably raised the issue of land, which hinders the construction of new poultry meat production units, and the simplification of procedures for obtaining loans.