At this year’s SIAM Meknes 2025, the spotlight isn’t just on agriculture, it’s on the powerful stories of women-led cooperatives that are reshaping lives and communities across Morocco.
Cooperatives in Morocco face challenges such as limited funding, difficulties in marketing, and tough competition in the market. But with patience and mutual support, some have managed to grow step by step.
Samih Fatma, a member of Cooperative Soukaina, said that the cooperative was founded in 2008 in Taliouine in the Souss-Massa region—an area famous for its saffron.
“We started really small,” Fatma says. “In the beginning, we were fewer than 10 women. Now we are more than 20.”
They began by making products based on saffron, eventually growing enough to have their own saffron farm. “At first, we struggled a lot with marketing. We couldn’t go beyond our region because of competition. But over time, we gained some autonomy in production.”
Samih also mentioned how SIAM has played an important role in their development: “We’ve been coming to SIAM for 17 years. Every year, it helps us market our products. This year, we even won the award for best cooperative product. We hope to attract more members and eventually enter international markets.”
Hadda Lahrizat, from the Boufekrane area near Fès-Meknès, founded her cooperative in 2019 after a previous attempt failed.
“We used to make bread and sweets every day, but we couldn’t keep it going because members weren’t consistent. So we shifted to making dried products like garlic, onions, and spices, along with oils like almond oil. These are seasonal, so we make a large stock to use throughout the year.”
Without a headquarters, Lahrizat used her own home to run the cooperative. “This is our second time at SIAM. We’re still a small project with five permanent members and some seasonal ones. For me and the others, the cooperative is a way to fight unemployment and make use of our local resources. At SIAM, people from Europe and Asia come to our booth, read our packaging, and ask questions. That kind of interest keeps us coming back.”
Aziza Ismaili, president of Ikhlas Kanfouda cooperative, from Jrada talked about how her cooperative started. She and other women were part of an association where they worked in the field but didn’t benefit from it.
“So in 2017, we decided to form our own cooperative to make couscous. We wanted to use our skills and make a profit from them,” she says.
Ismaili said that her cooperative started with 10 women, and it’s been growing since. When she first started, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which made things difficult for the members.
“Now our biggest problem is marketing and the need for more capital to expand,” Ismaili said.
“This is our third time at SIAM. We also participated in the agriculture fair in France in 2023. SIAM is very important for us. Just yesterday, a CEO from a company in Temara placed a bulk order for couscous. I hope we can keep growing the cooperative and turn it into a full company,” Ismaili said hopefully.
SIAM offers these these women a yearly opportunity to show how their how their cooperatives take advantage of local resources to build something meaningful.
While they still face challenges, especially in reaching wider markets, platforms like SIAM give them the visibility and support they need to keep moving forward.
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