Overview of Moroccan Citriculture: Current Situation and Major Challenges
Morocco citrus acreage is about 81000 hectares for a production fluctuating in the range of 1.2 to 1.5 million tons per year. Citrus fruits are the largest exported agricultural commodity of the country. In the recent years, the industry has undergone several changes. It has always been in favor of production of oranges until recently when market demand has shifted to easy peelers. Yields have been quite low, often not exceeding 24 tons/ha on average. Reasons are diverse and including: aging orchards, low tree vigor due to pressure from pests and diseases, insufficient water for irrigation in the South causing suboptimal conditions for tree nutrition and growth, changes in climatic conditions towards drier and hotter years etc. Recently, the authorities along with industry actors have agreed to boost the sector by providing incentives and better conditions for investment including: long term renting out of state owned orchards and fields, use of virus-free high yielding and more adapted varieties and rootstocks, improving cultural practices such as irrigation to increase efficiency of inputs and reduce risk of negative impact on the environment and on the sustainability of the production system, introducing various techniques of biological control of pests in the field to reduce pesticide use, searching for new markets etc. Details on these changes and their relation with sustainability of the sector will be presented and discussed.
Citriculture Moroccan
El-Otmani M. A. Ait-Oubahou
Department of Horticulture, Institut Agronomique et V t rinaire Hassan II, Complexe Horticole d Agadir, BP 728,Agadir 80 000, Morocco
国际会议
11th International Citrus Congress(第11届国际柑橘大会)
武汉
英文
1488-1493
2008-10-01（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）