Wed May 18, 2011 9:02am GMT
By Souhail Karam
RABAT (Reuters) - Thousands of Moroccan sugar beet farmers are threatening to boycott the delivery of next year's crop to Cosumar to press the country's sole sugar refiner for better terms, farmers said.
If the farmers carry through with their threat, Cosumar -- which has an annual refined sugar output of 1.2 million tonnes -- could be forced to increase the amount of raw sugar it imports, with Brazil its main supplier.
In response to questions from Reuters, Cosumar said it had already resolved the dispute over farmers' remuneration and that it was not worried about the progress of the beet processing campaign.
The grievances listed by three sugar beet farmers contacted by Reuters focused on the amount Cosumar pays for beet and the mechanisms by which the payment is calculated.
They said they wanted an increase in the price, a minimum payment regardless of the sucrose content in their beet, more transparency about the cost of inputs supplied by Cosumar, and an end to the refiner's monopoly position.
"The farmers involved in the protest are unanimous about boycotting the delivery of next year's crop if Cosumar fails to meet their demands," said Driss Ghezlaoui, a farmer from Doukkala region and one of those leading the protests.
"We basically want more transparency and fair trade. (Cosumar's) monopoly hurts farmers," he told Reuters.
He said 12,000 farmers from the Doukkala and Abda regions of central Morocco were participating in the campaign to get better terms for Cosumar, and that between them those farmers produced 1 million tonnes of sugar beet this year.
"SATISFACTORY CONDITIONS"
Cosumar is controlled by the National Investment Co. (SNI), an investment holding in which Morocco's ruling family is the biggest shareholder.
In its statement, Cosumar made no reference to any threat of a boycott. It acknowledged there had been a disagreement over renumeration with farmers in the Doukkala region -- which it said accounted for 39 percent of Morocco's beet harvest in 2010.
But it said this was the only region where there was a problem, and that the issue had now been resolved.
"As it is customary, we have held several meetings with our partners which allowed us to solve the problem," said the statement.
The beet processing campaign "is taking place under satisfactory conditions and we are not worried about its progress."
"We have managed to develop in the Doukkala region, as well as in the other regions, a climate of confidence with those agricultural partners (farmers) in order to pursue our development and restructuring targets."
Ghezlaoui, the farmer, said the company had made a concession by allowing farmers themselves to weigh their sugar beet crop. Before, the weighing -- a key factor in determining the price -- was done by Cosumar.
But he and other farmers said there were still grievances which had not been resolved.
Aboubakr Abid, a sugar beet farmer from Abda region, said farmers had held several protests and would continue until their demands are met.
"We want higher prices for our beet ... We want to help our country in meeting its sufficiency in sugar but they are not helping us."
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