A first sub-regional seminar gathering the Algerian and Moroccan think tank and a Tunisian delegation consisting of representatives of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture was held in Morocco on 29 and 30 April 2016 in the International Agriculture Fair in Meknès.

Starting with a presentation of the existing support systems in each country, the aim of the workshop was firstly to discuss these mechanisms to suggest possible developments and recommendations to enhance the organisation of actors and marketing of agricultural products from Maghreb. The first day was dedicated to the presentation and study of these support policies to farmers. The second, meanwhile, was divided into two workshops to address on one hand the marketing of agricultural products and on the other hand the organisation of actors.

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A total of 65 people attended the seminar including the three delegations as well as Moroccan stakeholders from the agricultural and rural development sector that joined the think tanks during the first day, part of Meknes International Fair.

The participants showed great interest in the presentations done by the focal points on the national farmers’ support system, which enabled fruitful discussions on the tools and support measures for producers.

Among the recommendations made during the first half-day of workshops dedicated to the commercialisation of agricultural products, three proposals stand out:

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• Promote the development of agricultural cooperatives in order to give structure to the value chains by improving their bargaining power against intermediaries and supermarkets, and thus facilitate market access for small producers. The development of cooperatives could also help decrease the number of intermediaries. The participants also suggest to create aggregated offers of agricultural products through partnerships between cooperatives;

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• Support the creation of umbrella brands to promote the Maghreb territories and the character and quality of their agricultural products. The think tanks have also asked the ENPARD South Support Programme team to produce a note on the concept of umbrella brand and its possible implementation in the Maghreb countries;

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• Promote the diversification of activities driven by cooperatives, including their involvement in marketing through direct sales which includes reducing the number of intermediaries and to foster a fairer distribution of added value of the products and consequently to improve farmers’ living conditions.

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During the second half-day dedicated to the issue of supporting the organisation of actors, various axes of reflection have been highlighted:

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• Promote the exchange of experience between the three Maghreb countries on the issue of stakeholders’ organisations and more specifically on cooperatives. The participants demonstrated their interest in developing days of exchanges on cooperatives in North Africa to discuss and draw necessary conclusions from their national experiences;

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• Build the capacities of agricultural cooperatives especially concerning financial and administrative management, human resources and governance to empower them from the central authority;

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• Develop the profession of rural moderator to increase producer awareness to cooperatives. They could fulfill their role as a bridge between policymakers and local stakeholders to better inform them on the tools and measures implemented by the authorities in their favor and to encourage producers to organise;

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• Support the gradual empowerment of cooperatives especially from a financial perspective. Cooperatives in the Maghreb countries suffer from a lack of initiatives and projects related to their dependence on the central authorities. This is explained in part by their origins often due to a state interventionist policy but also, as mentioned above, by a lack of financial and managerial skills. The idea of ​​developing contract-programs between the Ministry and cooperatives was raised by participants.

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Several ideas merged in order to continue the discussion on the marketing of agricultural products and the organization of actors:

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1. Organisation of ”days for exchanges” between policymakers and local stakeholders from the three Maghreb countries on the issues of farmers organisations and more specifically on cooperatives ;

2. Production of two concept papers, the first one aiming to establish an overview of the support policies in favour of the organisation of stakeholders in the Maghreb countries and the second one addressing the concept of umbrella brands and introducing it in the three countries.