A comprehensive report by Nanyang Technological University’s NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies highlights Morocco’s emergence as a leading force in regenerative agriculture across Africa. The study presents new opportunities for Asian agribusiness firms to contribute to strengthening African food security.
Published on January 20 and authored by Professor Michael Tanchum, the report details how Morocco’s innovative approach to regenerative agriculture addresses critical challenges in African food security while combating desertification and the effects of climate change.
“Africa’s imperatives for regenerative agriculture are more local and immediate – to achieve higher domestic agricultural output to enhance food security for the estimated 290 million Africans who will face chronic hunger by 2030,” the report states, emphasizing the urgency of the situation, highlights EastFruit.
The research highlights Morocco’s successful transformation of its agricultural sector. “By 2020, the kingdom’s ten-year initiative, the Green Morocco Plan (Plan Maroc Vert), had increased the value of agricultural exports by 117% to approximately $3.5 billion and created 342,000 new jobs,” the study notes.
Regenerative agriculture enables farmers to produce more crops with less water while mitigating climate change. As a rapidly growing global trend, this approach improves water-use efficiency, raises crop yields, and enhances carbon storage in soils. It encompasses farming, grazing, and agroforestry practices that restore degraded soils by reviving the soil microbiome. Through rebuilding soil organic matter, it safeguards biodiversity and improves moisture retention.
Read also: Are fruits and vegetables from Morocco really that special and different?
Morocco is emerging as a leader in regenerative agriculture in Africa, the world’s driest inhabited continent by landmass percentage after Australia. Home to the Sahara Desert, which covers more than twice the total area of the European Union, as well as the Namib and Kalahari Deserts, over 65% of Africa’s land is degraded, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with desertification increasing due to climate change.
Unlike Western countries, where regenerative agriculture is primarily promoted to combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Africa’s priority is to leverage regenerative agriculture to improve soil health, counteract desertification, and increase crop yields.
As Asian agribusiness firms like Olam Agri promote regenerative agriculture in Africa to secure their supply chains, Morocco’s sustainable solutions for businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa present a unique partnership opportunity to achieve these goals.
Africa’s Transformative Partnerships with Asian Agribusinesses
The report also explores the role of Asian agribusinesses in African agriculture, particularly highlighting Singapore-based Olam Agri’s initiatives.
“With over thirty years of experience in agri-food production in Africa, Singapore-headquartered Olam Agri operates in ten sub-Saharan African countries,” the study notes. The company has launched “the world’s largest certified regenerative agriculture program in the cotton supply chain” in Côte d’Ivoire.
Professor Tanchum concludes that the partnership between African farmers and Asian agricultural firms has become “an economic as well as ecological imperative.” The report suggests that Morocco’s sustainability solutions for businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa offer “an effective pathway to promote African-Asian cooperation in regenerative agriculture for mutual benefit.”
The study argues that Africa’s approach to regenerative agriculture differs from Western models by focusing on soil health improvement to counteract desertification and boost crop yields rather than solely reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This approach is particularly crucial given that “Africa’s cereal grain output stands at about 30% of its estimated productivity,” and “the average cereal crop yields across Africa are half of India’s output.”
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, reversing Africa’s land degradation through regenerative agriculture could generate “$70 billion in Gross Value Added for Africa’s agricultural sector” and provide a “carbon benefit of 4.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.”
The study underscores that the adoption of regenerative agriculture in both Africa and Asia “has become a matter of increasing urgency to ensure food security” in both regions. Morocco’s model offers a proven pathway for successful implementation.
The drive to combat desertification, expand available farmland, and increase water-use efficiency—all geared toward higher agricultural output and improved domestic food security—will make regenerative agriculture a permanent feature in Morocco and across Africa. The ability to monetize carbon credits for practices, technologies, and products that result in carbon sequestration means that African nations will experiment with various approaches until each country discovers its optimal strategy.
Now is the time for Asian agribusinesses in Africa to gain a first-mover advantage through cooperation with Morocco’s regenerative agriculture solutions affiliated with OCP. Successful technologies developed in Africa could also be adapted for agricultural operations in Asia and vice versa.
The global momentum for regenerative agriculture is accelerating. For many regions in Africa and Asia, its adoption is an urgent necessity to ensure food security. Win-win cooperation between African farmers and Asian agricultural firms operating in Africa has become both an economic and ecological imperative. Partnering with Morocco’s sustainability solutions businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa presents an effective pathway to foster African-Asian collaboration in regenerative agriculture for mutual benefit.
With Morocco emerging as a leader in regenerative agriculture and a key player in global fresh and frozen produce, there are valuable opportunities for collaboration between Moroccan fruit and vegetable producers and Singaporean importers, retailers, and businesses.
This partnership offers the potential to strengthen supply chains and address the growing demand for high-quality, sustainable produce in Southeast Asia.
Additionally, in April 2025, the FAO/EBRD-led project, in partnership with FoodEx Morocco, will organize a trade mission to connect Moroccan exporters with Southeast Asia—one of the fastest-growing regions for fruit and vegetable imports. To get involved, please follow the registration process via this link.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
