New data provided by Mohamed Seddiqi, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water Resources and Forests, on the state of milk production in Morocco.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Forests, in his speech to the members of the Parliamentary Committee on Industrial Sectors today, Tuesday, February 7, touched upon the factors that caused the increase in milk prices and the measures taken by the Government supports professionals.
In this regard, my friend reported that the production of milk in 2022 was 2 billion liters, which represents a decrease of 11 percent compared to 2021, when the production of this substance was 2.25 billion liters; At the same time, the number of females that give milk reached 1.67 million heads, which is a decrease of 5 percent compared to 2021.
According to the minister, this sector includes 260,000 milk producers with less than 10 dairy cows and involved in about 2,700 cooperatives that are involved in loading all the procedures and activities related to the dairy chain, in agreement with the Interprofessional Dairy Federation. Chain; The number of milk collection points is about 1900. The sector also provides 49 million working days per year, reaches a turnover of 13 billion dirhams and an added value of about 6 billion dirhams.
Regarding the reasons that influenced the development of the dairy chain in Morocco, the Minister of Agriculture, Marine Fisheries, Rural Development, Water Resources and Forests explained that the severe lack of rainfall over the past two seasons had a negative impact on the sector.
In this regard, the government official considered a number of factors that influenced the development of the dairy chain, mainly represented by a decrease in artificial insemination rates during the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a decrease in the number of wheels produced locally, and a decrease in demand for milk due to a decrease in purchasing power. , which led the factories to reduce the amount of combined milk; In addition, the price of livestock feed has increased by 40 percent, while the price paid by pickers to livestock farmers has remained unchanged.
The Minister of Agriculture, Marine Fisheries, Rural Development, Water Resources and Forests said that the cost of feed is more than 70 percent of the cost of milk, which makes this activity unprofitable, which prompted livestock farmers to sell their livestock and send them to slaughter, which led to a decrease in share of milk production by 20 percent, after a decrease in the productivity of cows and a decrease in the number of herds. The semi-fixed price in the countryside also led to an increase in distribution in the informal sector and a reduction in factory assembly by about 30 percent.
In the same context, Siddiqi pointed out that producers during this period sent part of the collected milk to the production of dairy products due to their high price.
On the contrary, the minister reviewed the various measures taken by the government in favor of the dairy chain, referring in this regard to supporting the production of local wheels at a price of 4,000 dirhams per wheel, issuing a joint periodical of the Ministry of Agriculture and Home Affairs. a ban on the slaughter of cows with less than four teeth and a suspension of the 10% value-added tax on simple feed intended for livestock; In addition to subsidizing imports of powdered milk and butter for use in the production of dairy products.
The ministry has also worked to support the import of wheels from abroad by allocating aid of AED 3,000 for the first head of three heads, AED 5,000 for the head of the fourth to tenth imported cows, and AED 2,500 per head for the eleventh imported head. cow and more.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water Resources and Forests has been distributing compound feed for dairy cows since March 2022.
