Morocco’s phosphates cache eases Africa’s food crisis – Report

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

Morocco holds 75% of the world’s reserves of phosphate, which is used in fertilizer and the country’s exports are helping to reduce hunger in sub-Saharan Africa, a report by the Middle East Institute (MEI) stated.

Morocco’s role in maintaining food security in Africa is at risk due to skyrocketing energy prices and climate change, the report warned recently.

The threat comes as more than 264 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished as a result of poverty and conflict and after global food inflation last year hit a 10-year high.

At the same time, much of the agricultural soil in African countries is of poor quality, partly as a result of geography, environmental degradation and monoculture farming, which has further depleted its health.

Morocco holds about 75% of the world’s reserves of phosphate rock — a mineral used in fertilizer. As of 2020, Morocco and Western Sahara — disputed territory of which 80% is administered by Morocco — had reserves of around 50 billion metric tons of the rock.

Rather than just export the raw material, Morocco decided decades ago to become one of the world’s largest fertilizer producers. In 2020, its state-owned phosphate miner and fertilizer producer OCP Group had a 54% market share of fertilizer exports to Africa.

By raising its ambitions, the country has become a “gatekeeper of the world’s food supply,” according to the report’s author, Michael Tanchum, an associate senior policy fellow in the Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

OCP has set up several joint ventures with other African nations to turn phosphate into phosphorus, a key nutrient in fertilizers. Already, the firm has subsidiaries in 12 African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal.