Israel's largest grower and exporter of citrus – Mehadrin – announced that for the first time it will begin growing avocados in Morocco as it attempts to meet constantly rising demand for the superfood.
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Following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020 – to which the North African kingdom was the last of the four Muslim majority and Arab countries to join – the Jewish state and Morocco have been gradually deepening relations.
Mehadrin is looking to expand production to Africa and Latin America in a bid to be able to produce the fruit year-round and also at lower costs.
"Planting the avocados in Morocco is part of a larger plan to be able to supply our European customers more easily than from Israel in terms of geography and in terms of more competitive costs," Mehadrin CEO Shaul Shelach originally told The Algemeiner online journal.
Shelach added that demand for avocados is currently outstripping supply, which he assesses will be a thing of the past when the superfood is grown more widely in both hemispheres of the globe. The current Israeli growing season is from October to March or April.
The Mehadrin CEO expects to receive the land from the Moroccan government shortly and plans to start planting there in March. Produce will first be available in two or three years and a full harvest can be expected in about five years' time.
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Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid recently visited Rabat and announced that the two countries will open full diplomatic relations – with respective embassies – in approximately two months' time.
