Rabat – Moroccans consumed an average of 17.3 kilograms of red meat per person in 2018, according to Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture and Maritime Fisheries.
Akhannouch announced the statistics on October 3 at the inauguration of the second Trade Fair for Livestock in Sidi Bennour.
In 2018, red meat production reached approximately 603,000 tons.
The 2014-2020 National Industrial Growth Plan aims to improve the national production of red meat.
Morocco’s red meat production in 2018 was just shy of the 2014-2020 program’s goal for the year, which was set at 612,000 tons.
However, production is up from 2016, when Morocco produced only 550,000 tons of red meat.
Since 2014, Morocco has significantly increased its red meat production by importing young bulls and frozen bull semen, which introduced the Charolais and Limousin beef breeds to Morocco’s red meat industry.
Morocco’s national herd is currently composed of 3.5 million cattle, 20.6 million sheep, 6.5 million goats, and 180,000 camels. The industry brings in MAD 26 million annually and accounts for 98% of the country’s red meat demand.
The 2008 Green Morocco Plan aimed to increase the annual per capita red meat consumption from 14.2 to 20 kilograms, in accordance with the nutritional standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Since then, studies have revealed links between red meat intake and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. In 2015, WHO classified processed meats as carcinogens, or substances capable of causing cancer.
However, there is still no consensus on the relationship between meat and mortality.
