Opération café (Operation coffee)

Written by DSH Intern: Ayman Taleb

Dar Si Hmad (DSH) officially started “l’opération café” in August 2018. This operation is about a partnership with restaurants and coffee shops in order to collect their organic waste. The main objective of DSH is to create a compost for its project of Agdal farm. This operation is raising awareness to the need to sort out waste.

The farm situated in Ait Baamrane was put at the disposal of the Association by the beneficiaries of the famous fog project on the mount Boutmezguida. In the region of Sidi Ifni, this farm will become a didactic nursery presenting the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices, the valuation of the old farming practices of the Al Andalus, and the capitalization of the knowledge and the local customs.

Moreover, the creation of worthy economic opportunities (processed and raw products with high added value) makes it possible to mitigate the rural migration. Finally, training in irrigation techniques will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the low-cost use of water.

The first challenge of this farm project is the regeneration of soils. Indeed, the desertification due to the aridity of the region gets worse year after year with the decrease of organic matter rates. Opération café (operation coffee) is a direct answer to the effects of soil degradation. By collecting mainly coffee waste, sugar canes, and other fruits wastes, it will be possible to compost the organic matter to give life and revive the soil.

The preparatory phase of the operation consisted of creating a new dedicated logo (label). In this way, any other individual or legal entity who needs to collect organic matter for its soil regeneration project can become a distributor of this logo. Several agroecological project holders already collect organic waste from their partners.

The logo above is directly part of raising awareness of waste management that is considered as an important pillar of the Green Morocco Plan (Plan Maroc Vert). As a partner in this project, the restaurant and coffee shop owner declares to be aware and conscious of the evolution 99-12 law, where there’s the national charter of the environment and sustainable development. The restaurant owner is proactive in preparing her / his staff for the need of sorting out waste and seeks to reduce its volume.

The second phase began in the middle of August with the distribution of the bins that are dedicated to collect coffee grounds. These bins relate information and contain the logo of the coffee operation.

The third phase will consist of the regular production of compost in Agdal farm which we will continue writing about in future posts.

Lack of information, the resistance to the change or the management of space are the first walls to be broken by restaurants and coffee managers. Here we greet the first five restaurants that have agreed to be part of this Challenge.

If you want to encourage this campaign and be a changemaker just by drinking coffee, you can visit our first partners which are:

- Pizzatino: located in Avenue Al Mouqawama

Pizzatino Staff with our intern Ayman Taleb (manager of operation cafe)

- Rituels: Located In front of Lobnan mosque, Agadir.

Moulay Youssef, the barista is very enthusiastic about the operation café

- La Fontaine: Located in Avenue Hassan II, Agadir.

Manager of La Fontaine with Ayman

- Orange: Located in 8 Rue des Orangers, Agadir.

Our intern Ayman at Orange Cafe

- La Cossa Vanille: Intersection avenue El Mouqwama and Rue de Marrakech,Agadir.

Our director Jamila Bargach and Intern ayman
at Restaurant Cafe La Cossa Vanille

The coffee operation is a win-win project aimed at inspiring each actor to become aware of the environmental crisis. This publication is a call to the restaurants and coffee shop owners of Agadir to join this pilot project.

We are very optimistic about the rest of this project and we will keep you updated on our future partnership and progress.