Nurturing Nurseries

The first, a demonstration farm and collaborative research in Egypt (see "Seeds of Peace" Shalom Magazine 1992-3 and "Agricultural Cooperation Between Israel and Egypt " in 1996-2), was the outgrowth of cooperation between San Diego State University Foundation (SDSUF) in California, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and the Egyptian government. Collaboration in Morocco has been nurtured by the private sector: The program was established under the joint auspices of the SDSUF-based Fred J. Hansen Institute for World Peace and Driss Lahlou, Moroccan businessman and agriculturalists, owner of "Maghreb Agriculture," and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.

The state-of-the-art nursery, established in August 1993 on Lahlou's 40-hectare farm in Azemour, is supported by $5 million of seed money from USAID-MERC (United States Agency for International Development-Middle East Regional Cooperation) Program funded by the United States Agency for International Development. Funding was targeted to fuel cooperation between Arabs and Israelis.

The project is administered by the San Diego State University Foundation, and USA scientists from the University of California at Davis assist the program with valuable advise. However, Israelis provide most of the technical assistance to run the project - the on-site experts, the agrotechnological infrastructure, and other agricultural inputs such as seed and agrochemicals.

Professor Dov Pasternak, Chairman of the Technical Committee of AMARIS and Head of the Institute for Agricultural Applied Biology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, explains the main thrust of the project: A commercial-scale nursery was established based on advanced methods of propagation popular in Israel - transplants. Millions of seeds are sown in special growth media in individualized trays with automated equipment, and germinated and nurtured to optimal size under computer-controlled hothouse conditions.

Nissim Sroussi, the on-site Israeli technical advisor in Morocco, noted the advantages: "This method ensures 100% acclimatization by preventing shock in transplanting - an advance which is translated into uniform development, maximum yield and export-quality fruit."

"I have been the only Israeli on-site. The farm is run by Moroccan staff - the nursery manager and a group of permanent and seasonal workers. I believe the nursery has made a real revolution here. Farmers had been used to sowing directly on the field or preparing a seedbed and transplanting naked seedlings to fields. With this method of transplants they see that every single plant takes root and gives outstanding results."

The nursery supplies 4.5 million seedlings a year to local farmers, and a second nursery in Agadir provides several million more. At times the staff has found it difficult to keep up with demand from large farmers in Azemour and smaller farmers in Agadir.

The nursery also demonstrates other advanced agrotechnologies - such as utilization of dwarfing hormones that allow farmers to extend the life of conventional seedbeds by artificially reducing the growth rate of sprouts. Also, the AMARIS nursery is testing in experimental plots the feasibility of growing a host of export product - including asparagus as an early spring crop - with saline water, as in Israel.

In April of 1996, over 300 farmers, large-scale agriculturalists, exporters scientists and students attended a Horticulture Seminar held at the Hassan II Institute for Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine in Agadir, organized by Maghreb Agriculture and sponsored by the project. The seminar, one of the highlights of the five-year project now approaching its end, focused on new marketing opportunities, nursery production, alternative products and post-harvest biology and their corresponding technologies. "Driss Lahlou insisted that the 'Israeli connection' of the seminar be made public, in an interview in one of Morocco's newspapers," revealed Sroussi.

"During this last year of the project we worked in two new areas," he added:

• A forest tree nursery - "Following a request from the Moroccan Forestry Authority we produced, in the nurseries in Azemour and Agadir close to 1.5 million eucalyptus, acacia and casuarina (forest trees very common in Morocco) saplings. We also brought from Israel some 15 different species, unknown in Morocco, which we believe may be better suited to the region than the ones in use today. Our Moroccan counterparts are expected to experiment with this species and possibly utilize them in the future.

• "We trained a team and provided a framework for transplanted vegetable seedlings (mainly tomatoes and melons) - this system is utilized to bypass the problems of soil diseases which are difficult and expensive to eradicate, even with the help of strong and dangerous chemicals, the use of some of which is already forbidden in the US and Europe. This new system allows seeding without previously disinfecting the soil (with methyl bromide, an extremely dangerous poison that pollutes the air and hurts the ozone layer). This way we save a lot of money and safeguard the environment at the same time.

Much of the agrotechnology introduced and new areas under cultivation are destined to enhance and intensify Moroccan's trend toward export-oriented agriculture - ultimately competing with Israeli agricultural exports on European markets. Is there an irony here?

Professor Pasternak emphasized that Israel plays a significant role in improving fruit and vegetable production. Yet, transfer of agrotechnology from other developed countries such as Holland, Spain and France is underway independent of Israeli involvement. "If our neighbours don't get the know-how from us, they would get it from someone else," he said. Moreover, Pasternak stressed the reciprocal nature of cooperation. "Israel has much to gain in the bargain," he noted. Beyond building neighbourly relations through know-how, the Israeli presence nurtures lucrative markets for Israeli agricultural inputs - from hybrid seeds and fertilizers to plastic sheeting and irrigation systems.

Nissim Sroussi agreed: "In the past two years, for instance, Israeli hybrid tomato seeds have captured 85% of the local market. Israeli melons are popular, as well. And interest is evident in other areas - including irrigation equipment and poultry inputs - from chicks to coops.

"When people hear I'm from Israel, they see me as a one-stop informant about every aspect of Israeli agriculture. Interest is very high," added Sroussi.

Sroussi commented that some of the boons are unexpected. Israelis were surprised to discover that asparagus would thrive in an environment of high salinity. "Trial shipments were very well received in Canada. Opening up the Canadian market to Moroccan asparagus can open an new market for Israeli asparagus as well - a market of which Israelis simply have not been aware," admitted Sroussi.

Israel benefits in other ways as well - particularly in collaborative research.

While Israelis are introducing superior varieties of hybrid vegetables and new ornamentals, within the foreseeable future, two native Moroccan plants may blossom in Israel, as well - the fruit of cooperation between Israeli and Moroccan universities and agricultural research centres. The first is the Argan tree (Argania spinosa) - a wild species native of southern Morocco whose seeds are harvested to obtain a high-quality oil used as a condiment for food and in cosmetics.

"The tree - similar in size to the olive tree - is being domesticated in collaborative research between Israeli and Moroccan academicians," revealed Pasternak. The population of Argan trees in Morocco has been shrinking due to overexploitation, therefore efforts are underway to find ways to grow the tree commercially, he explained. Israelis hope to introduce the Argan tree, which is tolerant to drought, into the Negev.

The second project holds the promise of being a boon for both farmers and consumers: Truffles - a special kind of mushroom - grow underground on the roots of certain higher species - all of them forest trees like oak. Not only are they slow-growing; truffles must be rooted up - literally and figuratively with specially-trained dogs or pigs. Thus, they fetch premium prices.

"Fortunately, a truffle native to Morocco, Terfezia leonis, grows on a different host - an annual plant," disclosed Pasternak. Israeli and Moroccan academicians are collaborating on commercializing the growth of truffles. The Moroccan team is engaged in identifying host plants and select productive genotypes, while their Israeli colleagues concentrate on understanding the relationship between fungus and host.

"In Israel some progress has been made in attaching the Moroccan truffle to certain grasses - giving promise to predictions that it may eventually be possible to grow these costly round mushrooms commercially as if they were potatoes, and harvest them mechanically, as well," concluded Dov Pasternak.

The US-Israel-Morocco tie has also promoted work on developing a new branch of agriculture for both Israeli and Moroccan: the prospect of growing North American-style raspberries in an arid climate. Normally, the raspberry needs a period of chilling to flower. But, there are trials underway in Morocco to introduce a variety that grows in Southern California that does not need extensive chilling. This high-profit crop, though labor-intensive, may also be suitable to Israel as well.

There is also cooperation on domestication of a new ornamental shrub - Verticordia - a native of Australia whose flowering branches can be used as greenery in floral decorations. The plant is now being domesticated for Morocco and Israel and grows well on saline water.

Today, five years after the inauguration of the project, Nissim Sroussi is optimistic. "As we expected, new nurseries have emerged and are competing with ours. One nursery was established last year some 2 kilometres from the one in Azemour and is already producing close to 2 million seedlings a year. A second one in being established at present in Bizazout Kanitra about 60 km north of the capital Rabat. The Kanitra region is well known as the third biggest agricultural area in Morocco after Azemour and Agadir.

"Our involvement in the project in Morocco is coming to an end, and I returned to Israel and according to plan the Moroccans are expected to continue operating the farms independently. In case they need assistance they will call us, and from time to time we will visit. The two nurseries have been a growth medium not only for good will but also for excellent business contacts and a good name for Israeli agricultural inputs in a new, potentially lucrative market. The project has been a catalyst for good things for both Morocco and Israel," concluded Sroussi.