Since the beginning of 2024, the Moroccan Agency for the Regulation of Activities Related to Cannabis (ANRAC) has issued 3,029 authorizations under Law 13-21 concerning the lawful uses of cannabis, compared to 721 authorizations in 2023.
According to ANRAC data, 2,837 authorizations were granted to 2,659 farmers for cannabis cultivation and production activities, compared to 430 authorizations in 2023. Additionally, 192 authorizations were issued to 98 operators, compared to 291 authorizations for 138 operators in 2023.
The 192 authorizations are divided as follows: 60 for processing activities, 49 for marketing, 39 for exportation, 24 for seed importation, 18 for transportation, 1 for seed exportation, and 1 for the creation and operation of nurseries.
The Agency noted that the 98 operators benefiting from these authorizations include 23 cooperatives, 51 companies, and 24 individuals.
Since the beginning of the year, ANRAC has certified 7.3 million cannabis seeds based on 26 import authorizations granted by the National Office of Food Safety (ONSSA) for an area of 1,164 hectares, benefiting 100 production cooperatives comprising 1,520 farmers.
Furthermore, since early 2024, the Agency has authorized the use of 1,634 quintals of local cannabis seeds, the Beldia variety, based on 106 usage authorizations granted by ONSSA for an area of 1,916 hectares, benefiting 106 production cooperatives comprising 1,816 farmers.
The use of the Beldia variety was authorized in 2024 on an area of 1,916 hectares for production cooperatives, based on the initial results of a study conducted with the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) on the characterization of the local Moroccan variety; Beldia.
Additionally, ANRAC, in consultation with ONSSA, has established a protocol with specific conditions to regulate the use of this variety in compliance with regulatory provisions.
These conditions include a formal request made by the president of the production cooperative, comprising only farmers authorized by ANRAC, to ONSSA and ANRAC for the use of Beldia cannabis seeds, and the cooperative's commitment to maintaining a traceability record of the Beldia cannabis seeds.
The conditions also require the operator involved in the production sale contract to purchase the entire production from the authorized farmers in the concerned production cooperative who have cultivated the Beldia variety. The operator must also commit to submitting a contract with a pharmaceutical industry to ANRAC, ensuring that the entire plant extracts with a THC content equal to or greater than 1% will be sold, in accordance with Law 13-21 on the lawful uses of cannabis.
The operator must also commit to destroying all plant extracts with a THC content equal to or greater than 1% after the industrial processing operation, leaving only extracts with a THC content below 1%, in case the concerned pharmaceutical industry fails to honor the contract to purchase the Beldia cannabis production.
Similarly, the operator is required to present to ANRAC the analysis results conducted by a laboratory recognized by ANRAC, proving that the THC content of the production at the end of the processing phase from the Beldia variety subject to the cooperative’s request is below 1%, according to the Agency.
