The 3rd phase of this Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project complements phase 1 + 2 (2012-2018) in the aim to develop and operate a Training and Information Centre (Centre de Conseil Agricole Maroco-Allemand – CECAMA) in Sidi Slimane in the North of Morocco where agricultural producers, farmers and their associations, public and private extension staff and other partners in the agricultural value chain can obtain information on modern agricultural technology and cultivation methods. The Centre is offering workshops, seminars and field days on a variety of relevant subjects, to enable participants to apply the new knowledge on their farms and thus, contribute to the development of a modern Moroccan agriculture.

The priority agricultural areas of the project are crop production (mainly cereals, forage and potatoes), farm machinery and cattle production. In addition, the project envisages a close collaboration with three existing demonstration farms to show practical application and the efficiency of new agricultural technologies.

In the third phase of the project, 1852 participant days have already been realised exceeding the target value of 1800 participant days already during the first half of 2020. Two (of the targeted 4 farms for 2020) have been consulted with regard to the cultivation of industrial potatoes and feeding rapeseed straw. Two studies to sustainable agriculture have been completed and will serve as the basis for demonstrations with regard to slurry storage and spreading as well as to cultivation methods in crop production at the beginning of the vegetation period. Training curricula have been updated and will be made available as pdf-file. Based on the great response to online training courses on marketing of agricultural products, animal production and crop production during Corona restrictions in 2020, the curricula will now additionally take online courses more into account as valuable training tools to cover introduction of basic knowledge complemented with classroom events to deepen the knowledge. Positively, online trainings enabled the participation of many more participants throughout all regions of the country.

Phase 3 of the project also works towards a long-term viable instiutional structure of the excellence centre in form of the foundation of a community of public interest (GIP) which will be able to financially support itself through membership fees and paid services with an expected coverage of 50% of the expenses in 2020, reaching 100% in 2022. The GIP is also ment to serve as a competence centre supporting other sub-saharian countries with its expertise. First contacts to Burkina Faso have already been established.

For more information see www.cecama.ma