Pig farms bloom in Muslim Morocco thanks to tourism

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) — Shunned by most Muslim countries where pork consumption is a religious taboo, pig farming is blooming in Morocco thanks to a growing tourist industry and pragmatic breeders like 39-year-old Said Samouk.

"If there's tourism, it would be better to have pigs," said Samouk, who raises 250 pigs at his farm 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the seaside town of Agadir.

After being battered by a wave of bird flu, the Moroccan farmer launched a pig operation 20 years ago in partnership with an elderly French man.

Today, Samouk spins dreams of doubling his production within three years to help meet the demands of some 10 million tourists expected to visit Morocco in 2010 -- up from 7.5 million who flocked to the north African country in 2007....