Companhia Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), a state-owned phosphate producing company in Morocco, will be able to make investments in Brazil and collaborate with the National Fertilizer Plan.

In a meeting with members of the official mission of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, the company's CEO, Mostafa Terrab, assured Minister Marcos Montes of his intention to install a phosphate processing plant in Brazil.

OCP, which is currently the largest supplier of phosphorus to Brazil, holds about 70% of the world's reserves of phosphate rock and has a 31% share of the world market for phosphate products. The company has been operating in Brazil since 2010, with seven offices.

According to Minister Marcos Montes, the future vision presented by the company finds full synergy with Brazil's goals for sustainability and global food security.

"We have this joint responsibility, both this company, which has the largest phosphate reserve in the world, as well as Brazil, which has an extension of land and strong scientific technology to produce food for the world," he said.

The meeting was also attended by the agricultural attaché of Brazil in Rabat, Nilson Guimarães.

Morocco is the world's second largest producer of phosphate fertilisers, accounting for about 17% of global production. In 2021, Brazil imported more than US$1.6 billion in fertilizers from Morocco.

Scientific partnership

In Morocco, a partnership between Embrapa and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), an important university in Morocco, was also discussed. Embrapa's president, Celso Moretti, is part of the entourage.

The two entities have several convergent strategies for the application of agricultural technologies, which point to a great potential for cooperation between countries, including the use of biosums in addition to the use of classical fertilizers.

Source: Canal Rural