Reducing
applications and
actives to satisfy
customer
requirements
The Moroccan Cherry Tomato Project
How it all started
What we aimed to achieve
The project was initiated by Thanet Earth, one of the UK’s
largest importers of cherry tomatoes from Morocco and a
Bayer global food chain partner. Thanet Earth and their
Moroccan supplier, Duroc, invited Bayer Morocco to collaborate in a Food Chain Partnership project to tackle the marketability challenges. As soon as Thanet Earth had outlined their
specific requirements, the Bayer Morocco team organized
meetings with Duroc representatives to work on the various
issues. A shared analysis led to a common understanding of
those issues and development of an action plan.
The prime objective of this Food Chain Partnership project is
to produce healthy, high-quality cherry tomatoes in a sustainable manner for export to Northern Europe. This involves
optimizing the use of agrochemicals to reduce the number
of active ingredients and spray applications without compromising on food quality or building up resistances. Another key
goal is to lower residue levels to comply with MRL legislation
and customers’ secondary requirements. Last but far from
least, the cherry tomatoes have to look and taste good and be
of the right consistency so they sell well.
Who is involved
Duroc: One of Morocco’s largest producers and exporters
of cherry tomatoes grown on more than 300 ha of land in
Southern Morocco. In the UK, Duroc has a market share of
over 40 %. As a customer-oriented company, Duroc is well
aware of the export challenges and is ready to tackle them
through production of high-quality cherry tomatoes, with
safety, sustainability and traceability ensured for all food
chain players.
Thanet Earth: Distributes fresh produce from all over the
world and is Duroc’s main customer in the UK. Here, too, top
quality is an absolute priority for a company that is very sensitive to customer requirements.
Bayer: One of Morocco’s leading crop science companies,
Bayer provides its partners with the best possible solutions
to tackle their different challenges, e.g. through advice on
spraying programs, training in safe handling, regular in-field
monitoring, advice on wastewater management, residue
analysis and project evaluation from planting to harvest.
The integrated crop solution
At various workshops, Bayer’s experts closely collaborated
with Duroc’s technicians to draw up an optimized integrated
crop solution. The crop protection program was developed to
deal with any situation – from worst- to best-case scenarios –
and confront all possible threats that could affect the quality
and safety of the produce. During the first year of the project,
a demo trial with the variety Katalina was conducted on 6 ha.
For comparison purposes, a conventional spray program was
applied to another 63 ha of land. Weekly visits to the field for
monitoring were organized by the partners’ teams in order to
adapt the crop protection program to local conditions, e.g.
pest infestations and variations in the weather. The main focus
was on monitoring with the aim of reducing the number of
active ingredients and spray applications.
The major threats targeted as a first priority were white flies,
Tuta absoluta (tomato leafminer), thrips, Oidium and mildew.
Calypso®, Decis Flux® and Flint® were the Bayer crop protection products used to treat these pests and diseases.
Training measures were organized on the safe use of agrochemicals, safe handling of empty canisters, best agricultural
practices, application techniques and wastewater management. The sustainability gains were of both an economic and
environmental nature, e.g. through optimizing the number of
sprays, installing Phytobac® for wastewater management, and
applying the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
and Integrated Crop Management (ICM) in setting up the crop
protection program. Last but not least, residue analyses were
conducted for food chain and comparison purposes.
“The expertise of the local
Bayer team helped us to improve
our crop monitoring procedures,
which led to a significant
reduction in the number of
preventive treatments.”
Duroc team member
What we achieved
Next steps
The key achievements were a reduction of 20 % in the number
of spray applications, over 35 % fewer detected cases of
mildew, and three instead of four active ingredients used.
The average yield in the project plot was 108 t/ha as against
103 t/ha in the comparative plot.
This Food Chain Partnership project is continuing for a third
year with the same objective of ensuring food quality and
safety. The total acreage is being expanded to 300 ha.
These successes were largely due to the regular monitoring of
the crop’s progress and the weekly meetings to adapt the program to any changes in the local conditions. All the partners
have benefited from a strong relationship based on trust and
collaboration. The fact that the production process has
become transparent reinforced the confidence of Duroc’s
customers in this cherry tomato producer.
“This project is helping Thanet Earth
ensure that the production of cherry
tomatoes in Morocco continues to adapt
to the needs of the UK market. It’s also
reinforcing the relationship we have with
our key partner, Duroc. We are very
pleased indeed to see that the project has
been such a success and that it’s now
moving forward with a roll-out to their
entire tomato growing area!”
Robert James, Technical Director, Thanet Earth
Amine Maataoui Belabbes
Production Manager
Duroc Groupe Delassus
Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of the
need for healthy nutrition. Food Chain Partnerships help
to supply consumers with high-quality fresh produce,
which forms the basis of a healthy diet. But such partnerships can only succeed if they involve every player in
the food chain – from the farmer and processor to the
exporter or importer and retailer. Bayer CropScience
has the global experience and cutting-edge expertise
to create a successful partnership at every level.
For more information contact:
Bayer SA
Tours Balzac
Angle rue de l’Epargne et Bv d’Anfa.
20050
Morocco
Phone:+212 5229 54800
Email: [email protected]
Bayer CropScience AG
Food Chain Management
Alfred-Nobel-Str. 50
40789 Monheim
Germany
Phone: +49 2173 38 4828
Fax:
+49 2173 38 3383
Email:[email protected]
Internet: www.foodchainpartnership.com
© 2016 by Bayer CropScience
FCP-16-1635
Duroc
Agadir
Morocco
Thanet Earth
United Kingdom