The Moroccan Interprofessional Sugar Federation (Fimasucre) and the National Interprofessional Federation of Seeds and Plants (FNIS) recently jointly organised a National Study Day on the theme: "R&D and innovation, levers for improving the productivity of the sugar industry".

This day, which saw the participation of all the players and professionals in the sector, was an opportunity to exchange experiences, present the current balance sheet and identify the future orientations of the sugar industry. Similarly, this Day allowed, through an international benchmark, to learn about the main research, innovation, and varietal creation programmes in several European countries.

The main recommendations adopted relate to the acceleration of the Fimasucre and FNIS Research/Development programme given the importance of the varietal lever to improve the attractiveness of sugar plants, the revitalisation of the sugar industry's Research/Development technical centres to continue to play the role of locomotive for improving performance and varietal selection of sugar cane, the strengthening of consultation and exchanges with the players in the sugar industry involved in R&D and the multiplication of actions for opening up exchange and research with national and international R&D institutions.

Furthermore, the participants in this important Day were unanimous on the fact that the sugar industry is currently facing major constraints, including the impact of the upward trend in industrial fuel. To this end, an urgent revaluation of the price of sugar accompanied by visibility allowing for the realisation in the medium term of fuel/coal conversion investments is urgent and essential.

It should be noted that the sugar industry in Morocco has benefited from significant investments upstream and downstream of the sector. Cosumar has thus committed more than 5 billion dirhams which have made it possible to achieve high-performance results both on the agricultural and industrial levels. On the agricultural level, and thanks to the permanent support granted to farmers by the State, through the Agricultural Development Fund, the development actions undertaken (mechanisation, introduction of monogerm seed...) have clearly contributed to the increase in the sector's performance.

On the industrial level, the most important achievements concerned the establishment of a total effective industrial capacity of 1,650,000 tonnes of white sugar per year for an annual market of 1,250,000 tonnes, the modernisation of the packaging of finished products and the full automation of the sugar loaf manufacturing process.