Recently, the US Federal Agency for Food and Drugs (FDA) has put in place on its dedicated portal, under the heading: “Water Activity / Formulation Control Method“, a procedure to facilitate, at the same time accelerate, the recordings for the export of food products, particularly African, to the American market from which they were practically excluded before.
To better appreciate the colossal importance of this masterful opening of the US market in our direction, we will go back a bit to remind you how the export operations are towards the EU market, with France as a gateway privileged entry, as far as we are concerned in Morocco and French-speaking Africa, and compare this way of doing things, European now, with what is now the norm for the access of our operators to the US market. The reasoning will be simplified to extend the understanding also to the uninitiated reader.
In the aftermath of World War II, metropolitan France no longer had the financial means and no longer, following its humiliating occupation by Germany, the Aura to prolong the colonization of much of our continent. So she played the watch and worked twice as hard to replace armed colonialism with an economic enslavement on her “former colonies”, which is cheaper and less flagrant. Being recognized as an agricultural power, France naturally seeks to perpetuate its monopoly on this type of wealth of the African continent, the French-speaking zone in the first place. At the forefront of these countries is of course Morocco, from which we will draw some lessons to illustrate the Machiavellianism of the doctrine of “help and assistance” that the metropolis argues with our African leaders.
Under the guise of setting up instruments to boost the export of Morocco, France has created the organization that has taken the current name of Autonomous Establishment of Coordination and Control of Exports (EACCE). In other words, we recognize the Moroccans the freedom to manufacture and trade at will on their home market, but the task is for the EACCE to ensure that what is exported to France, and can be redistributed later in Europe and beyond, must be controlled and validated by this state interface, according to French standards it goes without saying. Given the workings that the Colonial Administration has set up for the Moroccan Administration (subordinate), this gives it many levers to intervene to “defend” the so called “mixed-interests” of the “Franco-Moroccan” couple beginning by draping the EACCE of the credibility which is lent to him for his services in favor of the metropolis. At the same time, the work of this body is closely monitored so that it does not deviate from the path that was previously traced to it, that is, to encourage “deserving” operators (faithful to French standards) and to discreetly discourage all those who have the desire to export elsewhere than in Europe (my archives). It follows that our export of agricultural and agri-food products go mainly in France, part of the merchandise is then re-exported to other places including the US market. And the important part of the surplus value goes to the French intermediaries obviously. In this regard, after the change in US regulations, operated following the World Trade Center attack in September 2001, allowing the FDA to post the Processor’s name instead (as the case was before) the name of second-hand supplier, several French intermediaries have seen their profitable business, relating to their windfall economy, laid bare without their will (my archives).
We are in our Mediterranean region victims of a paradox. On the one hand, the area is known worldwide for a highly valued diet and specialists use it to highlight the high-profile features that characterize our region in the form of correct average longevity, low obesity, reduced number of cardiovascular diseases etc. But, on the commercial aspect we have, on this side of the Mediterranean, a lot of trouble valuing this wealth in the globalized market. The reason, in my opinion, is that the intermediaries mentioned above, and their mentors, have painted a bleak picture of our quality control systems. They then took advantage of this bad propaganda, which they are at the origin, to establish themselves as a hub of the African raw materials trade at our expense. We have been reduced, for centuries now, and it continues, to sell them our bulk products for peanuts. Under these conditions, by agreeing to expand US market access to products shaped for our local markets, the FDA is making a great gesture of generosity to us and at the same time trusting in our own skills. Indeed, once an African operator registers its product on the dedicated interface of the FDA, the program immediately notifies the approval on its “Process” composed, according to the FDA jargon, of the “FCE” (Food Canning Establishment) relating to the location of the company and the “SID” (Submission Identifier) specific to each product. This FCE / SID code represents the key that allows a foreign company as well as an American one to offer its product according to the rules on the American market and which the customers need to order. Alternatively, these elements can be given to the EACCE to, inter alia, expedite the work of these officials and save time and money (my archives).
Thus, by accepting that the African operators, who normally work on the national agri-food sector as far as Morocco is concerned, register their products themselves directly on the FDA interface, without agent or intermediary, the FDA puts balm at heart of African operators by trusting them and at the same time make them understand that from now on they can trade directly with the American buyers for a better selling price than what is being offered to them by speculators mentioned above.
Looking more closely, this administrative flexibility towards us by the FDA is likely to strengthen the free trade agreement concluded in 2006 between Morocco and the US and remained until now without effect on our bilateral trade in the agro-industrial field. But the Americans, in giving us an opportunity to promote our export to the US market, must logically expect reciprocal treatment; that is to say, sell a little more their products here. And this is where the rub is because the Moroccan market, like that of all of West Africa, is saturated with European products mostly French. This is due in large part to our very lax habits about French and / or European regulations. In this regard, it is worth recalling that the recent US-EU friction on customs duties has had the merit of revealing dissensions hitherto well hidden within the EU. If the Germans are to seek a compromise with the US, the French are categorically opposed. This comes, according to German explanations, from the French visceral fear that the agreement with the Americans comes to include the component of the agricultural products which would be the death knell for the French agro-alimentary hegemony in Europe and in Africa. A forceful battle is in perspective.
In any case, the US and the EU are used to finding solutions to the imbroglios that oppose them. Let’s try ourselves, here in Africa, to take advantage of the promising and sincere American offer that the FDA makes available to us for the benefit of our SMEs and agri-food cooperatives.
