Four key takeaways from Morocco's agriculture show SIAM

Spring in Meknes has always been special. For the 16th year, the Moroccan imperial city is hosting the SIAM, casting a glow on the faces of farmers—a much-needed glow after a difficult period faced by the country in one of the worst droughts in its recent history.

A key forum for fostering collaboration, the 16th Salon International de l’Agriculture au Maroc is brining together this week researchers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs under the theme, “Climate and Agriculture: For Sustainable and Resilient Production Systems.”

Spain: The Honored Guest

SIAM welcomed Spain as the guest of honor. A decision that makes sense as the country shares a similar climate, a country with a projected gross production value in its agricultural market of 44 billion dollars.

Spanish experts shared their knowledge on climate adaptation, organic farming, and efficient water use, with the presence of researchers, decision-makers, associations, and companies.

Luis Planas, Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, the Spanish pavilion was heavily present with 35 agri-food enterprises, in soil management, precision farming, and water conservation. Spanish researchers contributed to workshops, on climate adaptation and sustainable practices.

Generation Green

A keyword at SIAM 2024 was “Generation Green.” It’s about precision farming With ambitious goals of doubling production and achieving a 70% crop success rate, with modern technology from precision irrigation to resilient crop varieties, they tackled solutions to face droughts.

Water Management is a critical issue for Morocco nowadays as the country is no stranger to water scarcity, with nearly 70% less water and insufficient dams.

To tackle this, SIAM attendees explored modern water-saving methods, focusing on efficient irrigation systems and rainwater harvesting, with methods such as Drip irrigation, soil moisture sensors, and cloud-based data analytics.

The Digital Pole

This year was a special one as there was a new addition, the Digital Pole, a hub for technological solutions.

One example presented was Parcelle 4.0, a solution that uses software, and clouds for soil health. It is a digital communication platform that connects software tools directly to the fields, to monitor soil health, and predict the nutrients needed.

The pole also presented a drone solution to estimate production using artificial intelligence. Drought Prediction was also a hot topic a solution that could substitute traditional temperature sensors powered by AI to predict drought periods by analyzing historical data and patterns, this can help farmers know when to prepare for water scarcity.

A new addition at its time allowed the industry to benefit from innovation and digitalization, with the presence of Moroccan experts and international ones.

High-Level Conferences

Among several high-level conferences organized at the show, Dr. Lamiae Ghaouti took the stage, presenting recommendations that were given as part of the committee, recommendations promoting sustainable practices and eco-friendly methods, solutions like crop rotation, cover cropping, and integrated pest management.

There was also an emphasis on Innovation, from farming to biopesticides, with recommendations across different workshops, from Partnerships to Genetic innovation. Dr. Ghaouti spoke about the need to establish a long-term financing mechanism for the national agricultural research system and the need for an update in the Moroccan legal framework to consider demonic tools.

In terms of collaborations, Dr. Ghaouti emphasized the importance of partnerships and the need to align efficiency training systems to support the evolution of research and also to explore south-south partnership opportunities.