Enabling Circular Economy Opportunities in the Agro-Food sector — SwitchMed

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Enabling Circular Economy Opportunities in the Agro-Food sector

 

 

 What did we aim at?

 

This session, organised by SCP/RAC, had the objective to capitalise on the efforts made in the agro-food sector at the country level through the development of pilot projects in Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco and to share the experiences with other countries. In particular, the projects partners revealed the main challenges they have faced and were asked about further enabling policy conditions to guarantee the scaling up of successful experiences in the region. 

 

Conclusions of the capitalization workshop of the pilot project in the date sector of Algeria were also presented.

 The session was moderated by Yara Saab, SCP/RAC Project Manager. The experiences and results that guided the session were the following:

  •     Fatima Zahra, General Manager, Biodôme (Morocco)
  •     Rani Azzi, Vineyeard Manager, Château Kefraya (Lebanon)
  •     Hammous Boussada, General Manager, Rima Dates (Algeria)
  •     Sammy Kayed, Development Manager, American University of Beirut Nature Conversation Centre (Lebanon)

 

Several cities are already embracing circular economy principles; updating and adapting policies, sharing knowledge, and encouraging innovation for more effective systems.  The  purpose  of  the session  was to  learn  from  these  examples,  identify  the  specific  challenges  of  Mediterranean cities and analyse local solutions that can be deployed throughout the region.

 

 

Let’s learn from each other!


Biodôme du Maroc - Fatima Zahra

 

The pilot project ¨Biodôme du Maroc¨ aims at building a collective biogas plant for the benefit of the agricultural cooperative Oueled Abdoun in the region of Khouribga (Morocco).

The biogas plant will allow the members of the cooperative to develop a new model of circular economy, as they will be producing biogas and organic compost from agricultural waste. The biogas will be used as an energy source and the compost will be used internally and sold to external users.

The project fits in one of the two sectorial plans (eco-construction and sustainable buildings and sustainable agriculture) of the newly developed Moroccan SCP National Action Plan under the SwitchMed framework.

 Fatima



Château Kefraya - Rani Azzi, Vineyeard Manager

 

Valorization of wine sub-products: grapevine pomace composting pilot project at Château Kefraya – Lebanon.

 

The challenges and solutions presented can be summarised as follows:

Challenges

Solutions

-       Low nutritional values in the first trial (Other than organic matter)

-       Equipment for composting (compost turner/Spreader)

-       Low resources and commitment from local authority (Municipality)

-       New trial: adding cow manure (Taken from neighbourhood farm), for a more economically viable     product

-       Shared equipment assured by Switchmed

-       Decision to press ahead with the project regardless of public engagement yet keeping municipality informed

 

In terms of Policy support needed for scaling up, a law for grapevine byproduct valorization, similar to those existing in Europe will enhance the circular economy, for more efficiency in valorizing resources.

 

kefraya

"The success stories made at Château Kefraya is a good example to follow. Our achievement should be generalized to all the sector and other industries". - Rani Azzi, Château Kefraya

 

Rima Dates -         Hammou Boussada, General Manager (Algeria)

 

The pilot project ¨Giving value to downgraded dates and co-products of date production¨ aimed at improving the valorisation of the by-products of Algerian common dates by turning downgraded dates into other valuable products: syrup, vinegar, paste and oil for cosmetics.

By processing the unsuitable dates through direct sales and by turning them into confectionery, syrup, vinegar and paste, the company can make other products that can compete with traditional chocolate bars. In addition, the date pits could be ground in order to extract the oil, which is used to make cosmetics, and the dry residues could be processed to produce fuel for local usage. The company improved its structure in order to guarantee an equitable distribution of profits along the production chain, and notably amongst the farmers and housewives involved in the processing. Hammou Boussadda, an Algerian plant biotechnological expert devoted to the dates industry is behind the project.

The project  has been deemed to successfully respond to one of the three axes (governance, energy transition and waste management) of the newly developed Algeria SCP National Action Plan under the SwitchMed framework.

 

 

WISE: Wine Innovations for Sustainable Economies in Lebanon -  Sammy Kayed

Several wineries in the Bekka Valley (Lebanon) are interested in undertaking composting of organic material from the wine production like fresh stalks and organic waste from the filtering stages, in order to obtain quality compost. The project aims at demonstrating the feasibility of composting for wineries to transform their waste into valuable high content organic matter. The project aims to respond to the newly developed Lebanese SCP National Action Plan under the SwitchMed framework in relation to the industrial sector, in particular the objective of adopting best available techniques to promote SCP in the sector.

As a consequence of this project, and in line with modern approaches to SCP which require its holistic rather than sectoral treatment, wineries are also actively engaging in exploring further opportunities to implement circular economy concepts in the wine sector, namely sound water management, valorising organic waste into other winery bi-products, eco-tourism, etc.   

 

Sammy

"Encouraging sectorial and stakeholder cooperation and healthy competition is a powerful tool to scale innovative SCP solutions�  - Sammy Kayed, American University of Beirut 

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