Political Economy of Mediterranean Countries

a.a. 2022/23 - ICONTACT UniBo

Professor:
Paolo Zagaglia

Student:
Zakaria Abdessadak

Title:
The agricultural policy of Morocco
Evolution and state of the art of the main economic engine
of the Sharifian Monarchy
 Index

I. Overview of the Moroccan economy

II. The critical role of Agriculture in the Moroccan economy
III.Evolution of agricultural policies and its impact on the
economy
IV. Generation Green 2020-2030
 Overview of the Moroccan economy

• Morocco's GDP in 2022 is $133.06 billion. Regarding the African economy,

Morocco ranks 5th in economic power behind South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and
Algeria.
• The Moroccan economy is growing rapidly. Over the last five years, it has recorded
an average growth rate of 6.5%
• The strong presence of the royal family in the economy (it controls the country's
largest financial group, Al Mada, which is present in the most strategic sectors of
the Moroccan economy) poses the problem of conflict of interest.
• In 2018, the three richest Moroccan billionaires held $4.5 billion, or 44 billion
dirhams. The increase in their wealth in one year represents as much as the
consumption of 375,000 of the poorest Moroccans over the same period," says a
report by the NGO Oxfam.
• Glaring inequalities are also found in the agricultural sector: the 10% of the
agricultural population owned 90% of the arable land, the remaining 10% was
owned by the 90% of the agricultural workforce.
• Currency conversion: 1 USD = 10,56 MAD (December 2022)
 The critical role of Agriculture in the Moroccan
economy
• Agriculture is a critical economic sector in Morocco. It generates around 14%
of the gross domestic product (GDP), but with significant variations (11 to
18%) depending on the year and climatic conditions.
• Agriculture remains the country’s primary provider of employment, far ahead of
other economic sectors, with 40% of the working population living in this
sector.
• Cereals, grown on 59% of the land, are the main crop grown in Morocco. The
useful agricultural area (UAA) is estimated at 8,700,000 hectares, representing
only 12.25% of the country's total area.
• Moroccan agriculture is also characterized by the duality of its farm structures.
On the one hand, there are small farms (less than 5 ha), which are in the
majority in number (70%) but cover only one-third of the UAA. On the other
hand, there are a limited number of large to very large farms, which occupy a
large part of the agricultural space.
• The agriculture sector has been strongly influenced by the Green Morocco Plan,
presented in 2008 by Aziz Akhanouch. The Moroccan agricultural policy is
geared towards exports rather than self-sufficiency, which puts great pressure
on water resources.
 Evolution of agricultural policies and its impact on the
economy
• Recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of its agricultural sector, Morocco
introduced a new agricultural development strategy in 2008, the Green Morocco
Plan (GMP).
• The GMP is based on two pillars:
1- Pillar I aims to accelerate the development of high-value-added and high-
productivity agriculture. This pillar requires many investments, among others, in
the industry related to the sector.
Pillar I should concern 400,000 farmers and lead to 150 billion dirhams
investments in around 900 projects.
2- Pillar II is geared towards supporting small farms. The objective of the GMP is to
fight against poverty in rural areas.
Pillar II should concern 600,000 to 800,000 farms, involve more than 15 billion
dirhams, and allow a concrete improvement in the living conditions of three
million rural inhabitants.
• To achieve this, several structural levers have been deployed, including
 Evolution of agricultural policies and its impact on the
economy
• Productive agricultural investment: Refocus the sector’s growth around
competitive sectors while guaranteeing solidarity support for the other sectors.
A transactional approach based on 700 to 900 concrete aggregation projects;
the implementation of these projects has led to the deployment of a significant
investment effort by the public authorities allowing a sustainable impetus to
private agricultural investments. (115 Billion MAD)
• Inclusive vision of agricultural policy: It aims to develop an approach aimed
at combating poverty by improving the incomes of small farmers, particularly
in fragile areas; Implementation of 300 to 400 projects within the framework of
regional plans, including conversion projects (mainly from cereal crops to olive
and almond trees), intensification projects (cattle and sheep breeding), as well
as diversification projects (poultry farming and sunflower).
• Aggregation: aims to bring farmers together to carry out projects covering the
entire agri-food value chain (from production to marketing of agricultural
products, including their valorisation). The basic principle of this approach lies
in the pooling of efforts and resources between the aggregator and the
aggregated in a win-win partnership between upstream production and
downstream industry.
 Limits of the GMP

• Moroccan agriculture has made considerable progress in recent years. However,

despite its undeniable assets, it is subject to structural and characteristic constraints,
which all agricultural development policies, including the Green Morocco Plan.
• Water resources: Morocco is characterized by an essentially arid to semi-arid
climate, with an average annual rainfall of less than 400 mm over more than 85% of
its surface. It is classified as a water-stressed country. Moroccan agriculture is thus
subject to a very restrictive rainfall regime, characterized by insufficient or poorly
distributed rainfall, causing water deficits that can be detrimental to crop
productivity and harvest regularity.
• Land: The issue of agricultural land remains problematic, particularly because of
the multiplicity of land statuses and institutional actors involved and the
fragmentation and indivision of farms. This makes it even more difficult to mobilize
agricultural land for investment and is, at the same time, an obstacle to access credit
for farms.
• The size of the farms remains a major constraint that translates into limitations in
investment capacity, technology adoption, and access to financing. This said, small
size also has advantages, notably a strong capacity for economic and agro-climatic
adaptation.
 Generation Green 2020-2030

• Set of plans and programs initiated by HM the King, including the plans for
developing renewable energies, the National Priority Program for Drinking Water
Supply and Irrigation 2020-2027, and the strategy for developing the forestry sector
"Forests of Morocco 2020-2030".
• The enhancement of the human element will be done through the emergence of a new
generation of the agricultural middle class by allowing 400,000 households to access
the middle class and stabilizing 690,000 in it through four pillars.
• Improvement of farmers' incomes, the generalization of agricultural insurance,
the establishment of a special framework for farmers to benefit from social
protection services, and the reduction of the difference between the legal minimum
agricultural wage (LMAG) and the legal minimum wage in other sectors (LMIG) by
2030.
• The new vision provides for the consolidation of agricultural sectors, to double
agricultural GDP to 200 to 250 billion dirhams (MMDH) by 2030 and double the
value of Moroccan exports to 50 to 60 MMDH, as well as the improvement of
distribution chains, particularly through the modernization of 12 wholesale markets
and souks, in partnership with the Ministry of the Interior and the local authorities.
 Conclusion

• It is undeniable that the "Generation Green 2020-2030" strategy brings fresh air to
the agricultural sector by focusing on the digitalization of agriculture. Nevertheless,
it is part of a complex context marked by unprecedented drought seasons,
increasingly recurrent. Indeed, the structural water stress and global warming are
all challenges and obstacles to the realization of the project, and against which a
fundamental question is required.
• It is a question of better matching the production model with a consumption model
while respecting the preservation of natural resources and social and territorial
balances. There is a need to reverse the priorities by restoring all their importance
to the crops that Moroccans have never stopped consuming, starting with cereals
and pulses, but also sugar and oil crops.
World Cup semi-finalists