Earlier this year, Morocco sent samples of its Baldiya strain to labs in South Africa and Switzerland ahead of its drive Down Under.
With positive feedback on quality and consistency, Morocco has now exported its first consignment of Baldiya (pictured growing above) to Australia.
State media report this marks a turning point for the Kingdom in its quest to become an international legal cannabis powerhouse. There is talk the country is entering a “green golden age” with eye-watering returns of as much as 20 000 Euro (R247 318) per hectare.
The drive into the export arena coincides with a rapid cannabis formalisation phase; authorities have been ramping up efforts to regulate as many illicit growers as possible in line with government attempts to stamp out a sprawling black market and uplift the socio-economic conditions of farmers in the main northern cannabis growing Rif area.
Over the years, Morocco has steadily been reducing the footprint of the illicit trade, from a high of 130 000 hectares recorded in 2003 to an estimated 27 000 hectares in 2023, according to disputed official estimates.
Some observers reckon the illicit cultivation sector is still very large and poses an enormous challenge to government attempts to transition thousands of traditional farmers to legal cultivation.
However, the royal pardon in 2024 to rehabilitate around 4 800 people convicted, prosecuted or wanted for illegal cultivation and to allow them to transition to legal cultivation is reportedly bearing fruit by enabling the cooperation and formalisation of illegal growers.
The royal pardon followed the enactment of a 2021 legislative protocol known as Law 13-21 in 2022 which created the National Agency for the Regulation of Activities relating to Cannabis (ANRAC), tasked with issuing licences and rolling out authorised cultivation. Legal cultivation increased to 700 hectares in 2024 from less than 300 hectares in 2023, according to official statistics. Reuters reports that this year’s legal crop is 5 800 ha in extent.
The new law is also designed to maintain strict health and traceability standards, thereby increasing the export potential while clamping down on illegal activities at home.
With expectations high that the Australia shipment could open doors to other international markets, the next logical step for Morocco would be to focus efforts on developing its relationship with the lucrative and growing European market, anticipated to top $6.75-billion (R119.25-billion) in 2025.
The country began dabbling in Europe last year with its first legal cannabis shipment going to Switzerland, According to a report from French media, the country
exported a quintal of resin with a THC content of less than 1% in the second quarter of 2024.
Given that the local Beldiya strain is highly sought-after for its potent therapeutic compounds, authorities’ projections to penetrate multiple international markets are therefore realistic and some would say achievable.
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