Morocco Reports First Legal Cannabis Harvest
According to Morocco’s Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Activités relatives au Cannabis (ANRAC), the nation’s first legal cannabis crop totaled 294 metric tons.
The legal harvest is part of a new government program in Morocco that was launched to give cannabis farmers in the North African nation a path to join the regulated industry. Historically, Morocco is one of the world’s largest sources of unregulated cannabis, with Moroccan cannabis being particularly popular in Europe.
Morocco first adopted its current medical cannabis policy in 2021. The measure authorized the legal production of cannabis for medical, cosmetic, and industrial uses, as well as tasked a national agency to oversee the launch and operation of the industry.
In March 2022, Morocco’s government selected three provinces where medical cannabis would eventually be legally cultivated for domestic and export purposes. Roughly three months later, the nation’s national cannabis regulatory agency, ANRAC, met for the first time. In October 2022, Morocco issued its first cannabis production permits.
The recent harvest is the culmination of years of effort on the part of Morocco’s emerging industry, regulators, and elected officials. It will take a while before Morocco’s legal industry supplants its unregulated industry, however, the 294 metric ton harvest is still a major milestone. Per excerpts from Reuters:
The harvest was made by 32 cooperatives that brought together 430 farmers covering 277 hectares in the northern Rif mountain areas of Al Houceima, Taounat and Chefchaouen, ANRAC said in an email to Reuters.
This year, the regulator is examining applications by 1,500 farmers who organised themselves into 130 cooperatives, ANRAC said.
Nearly a million people live in areas of northern Morocco where cannabis is the main economic activity. It has been publicly grown and smoked there for generations, mixed with tobacco in traditional long-stemmed pipes with clay bowls.
The value of Morocco’s medical cannabis market was valued at USD 24.90 million in 2022 according to Grand View Research. The nation’s medical cannabis market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.0% from 2023 to 2030.
Cannabis industry data company BDSA projects that the legal global cannabis industry will be worth $55 billion by 2027.