Morocco is the first exporter in the world. What do you know about the cultivation and production of "adults"?

Mariam Al-Taydi-Safi

Morocco tops the list of exporters of "adult" plants and contributes about a third of global production.

According to official statistics, the Kingdom's exports of adult plants are estimated at between 12,14 and 25,<> tons, with an estimated financial value of about $ <> million annually.

Adults are spiny plants that produce small green kernels, harvested in the summer, and most of their production is destined for export.

Adult agriculture is widespread in the Safi region, which represents the most important productive areas in Morocco, with an area of cultivation estimated between five thousand and seven thousand hectares.

Mohamed Znaini, head of the Green Agricultural Association for the valorization of adults in the region of Sabt Kazoula (Safi province south of Casablanca) – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net during a field visit to adult fields – that this plant appeared in Safi in 1920, after locusts carried from southern Europe, and adopted by farmers of the region as a basic activity for them, to suit the soil of the rocky region and its hot climate to the conditions of development of the spiny plant.

Together with young people from the region, he works to value adults by casting them and packing them in bottles intended for internal consumption.

This official product in the Safi region contributes to the economic movement in the region, as families depend on it directly to pay their daily living bills.

From adult seeds, seedlings are prepared for five months, after which they are planted in the fields and rely on the irrigation system, and after one to three years it becomes a shrub that begins to produce, and it is a perennial plant, with a yield of two tons per hectare.

Adult
usesAdults are considered a food product, and there are those who classify it as a spice, enter into the preparation of many international recipes, and serve in luxury restaurants with pizza and salads.

Adults contain antioxidants, according to food experts, and have many medicinal uses. Residents of Safi and its suburbs use it as part of winter food, mixed with eggs or fish pellets.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, adults contain 3% minerals, 88% water, 3% proteins and 5% sugars, which makes them beneficial for health.

There are also current studies aimed at extracting adult oil and adult anti-eczema soap.