Plants and plant products are constantly being attacked by pests such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, insects and weeds…. Despite the arsenal of controls in place, pests are a major cause of yield losses in agricultural products intended for human or animal consumption. To this end, plant protection activities aim among other things to identify the agronomic, biological and cultural components involved in issues closely related to the health of plant species.
The role of plant protection is to implement all the legal, administrative, technical and logistical means available to safeguard the health of plants and plant products, particularly those of cultivated plants. To this end, the main actions carried out within the scope of the Plant Protection Service are:
– to ensure the plant health of plants and plant products at the borders and within the territory;
– To prepare and implement legal and technical measures relating to the plant health of plants and plant products and to the control of pests of crops;
– Ensure phytosanitary surveillance of crops and good agricultural practices;
– Provide technical assistance to farmers on the development of crop pests and advice on intervention and good agricultural practices;
– Promote methods for the control of crop pests;
– Certify chemical inputs and growing media, certify and control chemical input manufacturing, import, distribution and/or retail establishments;
– Secretariat of the Committee on Pesticides for Agricultural Use;
– Carry out locust, avian and rodent control actions;
– Carry out the actions of the phytosanitary protection of the forest;
– Control equipment for the application of pesticides for agricultural use;
– Assess risks and identify risk and crisis management options and ensure their implementation;
– Participate in national and international normative activities;
To provide the secretariat for the coordination structures in relation to the plant protection fields chaired by the Department of Agriculture as well as Morocco’s liaison points with international organisations.