Israeli Foodtech Companies & Moroccan UM6P Agreed on Project to Feed 10M

Building on the Abraham Accords, for the first time Israeli food-tech companies will operate in the Moroccan Sahara. 

Halman-Aldubi Technologies, four Israeli food-tech startups and a leading university in Morocco signed an agreement to promote a project aimed to provide the daily protein consumption of 10 million Moroccans, announced Halman-Aldubi Technologies last week.

Halman-Aldubi Technologies will lead the Israeli delegation in the agreement with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), owned by OCP, the largest phosphate and fertilizers company in the world.

The Four Israeli companies will bring their experience in various areas of the food-tech sector: Seakura developed a technology for growing high-protein algae; FreezeM has a hi-tech process of generating protein from insects; the SHR Group has an artificial intelligence (AI) based system for separating organic waste from non-organic waste; and Celitron focuses on producing pure protein from organic waste.

Morocco, like many countries in Africa, suffers from food insecurity, especially in the area of protein-rich foods. Morocco's King Mohammed VI has set an ambitious goal of significantly increasing the amount of edible fish farms.

However, the country is not able to provide the amount of food needed for fish farming, and is not able to import fish food from abroad in the required volumes. The new agreement comes as a solution to this problem, with the goal of producing local and sustainable food for fish.

"We are proud to lead the consortium that will implement unique Israeli food-tech technologies in one of the most challenging regions in Africa and to support the realization of the King’s vision," said Roni Halman, founder and CEO of Halman-Aldubi Technologies.

From left to right: Dr. Roni Halman, founder and CEO of Halman-Aldubi Technologies, Prof. Lamfeddal Kouisni, Director of UM6P Campus.

The company has exclusivity agreements with leading Israeli technology companies in the fields of food tech and climate, and agreements to promote projects in various countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The company recently reported another agreement it signed in Morocco with the Japanese giant conglomerate, MITSUI & Co., which operates a huge meat processing plant in Casablanca. The agreement includes recycling the organic waste produced from the plant and turning it into "protein flour" that will be transferred to Japan and sold to the food industry. This agreement will also make use of Israeli technologies. 

Israel and Morocco agreed to normalize relations in December 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords. The two countries expressed their interest to collaborate on AI, water desalination, desert technologies, food processing technologies, biotechnology, renewable energy, medical technologies and the pharmaceutical industry, smart cities, the automotive industry, information technology, and the social sciences.