Moroccco takes up foreign marijuana hybrids

Traditional Moroccan cannabis remains highly coveted
Africa News
Thursday, October 10, 2019

morocco cannabis5Morocco’s rugged Rif Mountains have long been renowned for their cannabis but traditional varieties are being smoked out by foreign hybrids offering higher yields and greater potency. The local strain of marijuana, known as Beldiya, is coveted by afficionados but is gradually disappearing from the fields. Nowadays in Ketama, a region in the heart of the northern Rif, a strain called “Critical” is king. Major cannabis producers decide what to plant and “hybrid plants have become a market all on their own,” said Moroccan anthropologist Khalid Mouna, who has written a thesis on the economics of Ketama’s cannabis production. Critical, which Mouna said comes from the Netherlands, is the latest hybrid created in laboratories in Europe or North America to be introduced to Morocco.