Economic and institutional conditions for valuing Moroccan Ecoponics tomatoes both in the export and the domestic markets
Conditions économiques et institutionnelles pour la valorisation à l'exportation et sur le marché domestique des tomates produites au Maroc selon le modèle Ecoponics
Résumé
The Ecoponics project aims to improve in an economically and sustainable manner the efficiency in water and entrants use of the Mediterranean horticultural sector. This production way can be considered as a technology innovation to produce a product of high environmental quality. In order to adopt these new production systems, growers need economic incentives such as a higher price or a status of preferred supplier. Two major outlets may value Ecoponics tomatoes: the EU importers/retailers and the local supermarkets. A few large export-oriented companies, procuring tomatoes from large and medium scale growers that are already applying EU quality and safety standards, supply the first one. The second one (local supermarkets) currently procures from the traditional fresh produce industry, which features a large number of intermediaries and small scale growers, selling through wholesale markets and almost ignoring basic quality and safety standards. Our paper aims at identifying and analyzing some crucial economic and institutional conditions to be satisfied in those two supply chains to permit some valuation of the Moroccan Ecoponics tomatoes.