Bananas imports jeopardize local produce

Moroccan banana producers warned that the massive imports of the produce risk to make the 150,000 employees of the sector lose their jobs.

"Morocco's banana sector is in serious jeopardy and the efforts made over the past 30 years to develop it risk to be a failure," the producers said in a release sent to MAP.

"The invasion of the foreign produce is favored by the lack of measures to protect the national production," they said, adding that foreign countries impose custom barriers to protect their local production.

Morocco produces 100,000 tons of bananas per year, the producers said, adding that despite this output, which largely meets the national demand, Morocco imports 3,000 tons every ten days.