The Moroccan watermelon season continues with successive harvest cycles. After the premature end of the Zagora season, the Taroudant season in central Morocco is coming to an end, clearing the way for the start of harvests in Kariat Ba Mhamed in the north of the country. “This season has been exceptional, strongly influenced by the climate factor,” reports Essaid El Khounchafi, CEO of Atlas Green Generations.
The exporter says, “The watermelon sector in Morocco has seen a significant improvement in terms of quality and volume this season compared to last season. However, it has been disrupted by recurring climatic events. It started in Zagora with a hailstorm at a decisive moment, just as the season was getting started. Then, last weekend, Kariat Ba Mhamed experienced an intense heatwave, with temperatures reaching 45°C. Curiously, everything goes well during the fruit’s development, but then climatic accidents end up disrupting the harvest.”
Despite production issues, the sector is still performing well compared to previous seasons. El Khounchafi explains, “These problems are not so severe as to compromise the campaign. Looking at the current cycle in Kariat Ba Mhamed, the heatwave will reduce the proportion of exportable crops from 80% to 50%, but there has been a significant improvement in terms of volume, with 8.5 million plants grown on 2,500 hectares in this region alone.”
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Another positive point for the sector this season is the progress made against the spread of the MWMV virus, FreshPlaza informs. The exporter says, “It turns out that the virus spread was linked to the quality of the plants. Replacing the source of the plants solved the problem for early growers in Taroudant. Unfortunately, this was confirmed by the spread of the virus in late production in the same region among growers who made a poor choice regarding the origin of their plants.”
“All in all, if we look at the export volume as a final indicator of the season’s results, we can see that all packing stations across the country are active and busy. Packing houses in our region alone, in Berkane, have recorded a 17% increase in watermelon exports compared to last season, bearing in mind that we’re still halfway through the campaign. The result at the end of the campaign will undoubtedly be a grand success,” El Khounchafi adds.
“The next harvest cycles will take place in Berkane (east) and then in Larache (north). This will be the climax of the season, with peak volumes and good quality expected, of which a large proportion, up to 80%, is exportable. I remain optimistic because these two regions are enjoying good weather this year,” the exporter adds.
Competition in the European market is intensifying with the entry of Italy and Greece, according to El Khounchafi: “Demand is stable in Western Europe, the Nordic countries, and Eastern Europe. Yet competition is becoming increasingly tough with the arrival last week of large volumes of high-quality watermelons from Greece and Italy, which has reduced our average prices from $0.95 to $0.8 per kilo. However, we’re confident that this will not affect Moroccan export volumes.”
“At Atlas Green Generation, we supply three different geographical markets with a brand dedicated to each market: FazoFresh for the German and Scandinavian markets, Fraicheur de Berkane in France, and Ayla for the Eastern European markets, especially Poland. We specialize in supplying supermarkets and are preparing to harvest our own watermelon production in the Berkane region,” El Khounchafi concludes.
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