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Kick-off meeting of the fertiledatepalm project in Meknes, Morocco

Picture of project consortia fertiledatepalm. From left to right in the back: Ghizlane Echchgadda, Abdelillah Meddich, Abdesslam Tahiri, Lotfi Fki, Paul Mäder, Aziz Larbi, Gian Nicolay, Sarah Symanczik; from left to the right in front: Ali Abidar, Rachid Bouamri, Mustapha Abdellaoui, Lahcen Ouahmane. (Picture: Sarah Symanczik, FiBL)

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From 6th to 9th September 2016, the Kick-off meeting of the fertiledatepalm project took place. The meeting started at the National School of Agriculture in Meknes and continued in the region Tafilalet, the largest oasis of the Moroccan part of the Saharan Desert.

During the first two days of the meeting, the entire project consortia met for the first time at the National School of Agriculture in Meknes, Morocco. After the official opening ceremony held by the assistant director of academic affairs, the consortia had time to intensively discuss the implementation of the project, which had its official start in August 2016.

The second part of the Kick-off meeting was dedicated to field visits in the region of Tafilalet. During one day the group visited different potential collaboration partners including the National Tissue Culture Laboratory of INRA located in Errachidia, the Regional Office of Agricultural Development of Tafilalet and three regional farmers.