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NONSTOP TRAVEL<br />
AART & IBRAHIM - MOROCCO<br />
5Page 51 - Morocco<br />
Page 52 - Turkey<br />
Page 53 - Spain<br />
Page 54 - Italy<br />
Page 58 - Thailand<br />
travel<br />
reports<br />
Meeting<br />
potential<br />
partners<br />
Morocco is a country full of potential<br />
and not unknown to <strong>Aartsen</strong> or Ibrahim<br />
and Aart. Yet, every new trip and<br />
meeting we take is fresh and exciting.<br />
For this trip, they had a clear goal:<br />
check in with our partners and try and<br />
develop new ones. In total, Aart and<br />
Ibrahim visited three production areas:<br />
the mandarin region of Berkane 1 , the<br />
soft fruit region of Laarache 2 and the<br />
vegetable region of Agadir 3 . They<br />
got to see our existing partners and<br />
a potential new one in Casablanca.<br />
The journey started in Berkane, where we had a tour through<br />
various packing stations and mandarin plots. In addition to<br />
clementines, we visited a potential partner that mainly produces<br />
oranges from Sidi El Kacem (central Morocco). Last June, we<br />
received a shipment of oranges, which we still had to improve<br />
the packaging technically. However, the fruit was of superior<br />
quality.<br />
From left to right:<br />
Ibrahim Essaidi,<br />
International Trader<br />
<strong>Aartsen</strong>, Mohamed<br />
Ramdani, grower<br />
clementines, Aart<br />
Bezemer, Commercial<br />
Manager <strong>Aartsen</strong><br />
Strawberry fields<br />
of Laarache<br />
From Berkane, we drove 650 km to Laarache. Laarache is<br />
known for its avocados and soft fruit. Particularly the latter<br />
has been booming in recent years. From Laarache, we drove<br />
to Casablanca to meet with partners and one potential partner<br />
who is an expert in stone fruit (which we’re hoping for). We’ll<br />
start working together next season.<br />
From Casablanca, we continued the voyage to Agadir. We visited<br />
another potential partner who exports clementines. We saw the<br />
packing station and Agadir clementines ripen earlier than Berkane,<br />
so they were already in production; fascinating to visit. This<br />
season we’ll already be adding "small" clementines to our range.<br />
Our second to last stop was Maisadour, originally a French<br />
company specializing in corn and also known for its red lettuce,<br />
peppers and zucchini. During the spring, we’ll make a small start<br />
with importing corn from them. Our last stop on our whirlwind<br />
tour was Pepperworld: a grower of pointed peppers, which was a<br />
swift and straightforward deal to also start working together.<br />
MOROCCO<br />
2<br />
Ibrahim Essaidi checking<br />
some mandarins at grower<br />
Agadir<br />
1<br />
Conclusion<br />
We have had a wonderful and positive visit, and our goals are<br />
absolutely reached with six new potential partners with whom<br />
we will start slowly working.<br />
3<br />
AMBITION | 51
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