Moroccan fig crops are under threat due to a lack of community-managed tree nurseries, adequate water supply, low profitability and untapped potential in value-added processing. This project aims to create a fig nursery, distribute saplings for free, create a scientific teaching garden with all regional fig varieties, train farmers in production and value-added processing techniques, and create a fig growers' association to further explore opportunities in cultivation and marketing.
Fig plantations are dying out due to negligence, and farmers are limiting new and existing crops to lands otherwise unsuitable for farming, such as mountain slopes. Farmers also lack the means to store figs and are not given incentive training and capital to dry enough of the crop to reach more profitable markets. The negligence of fig forests brought on by missed economic opportunities presents a threat to the biodiversity found in Moroccan fig crops and food and living security for people.
The project aim is to create a fig nursery, distribute saplings for free, create a scientific teaching garden with all regional fig varieties, train farmers in production and value-added processing techniques, and create a fig growers' cooperative to further explore opportunities in cultivation and marketing. The involved organizations plan to reach 35,000 beneficiaries, extend fig crops by 11,000 hectares and reach a 126 percent increase in fig production by 2020.
Through income generation systemic poverty is reduced, which contribute towards sustainable social and economic stability. Fresh and dried products will generate significant revenue and allow dividends to farmers and reinvestment in human development projects determined by the communities such as children education. At the same time Moroccan fig crop biodiversity is conserved, a highly important step in a world that daily loses biodiversity.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
