Morocco Boosts Agricultural Investment with $500 Million Fund for 2021

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, the budget set at 4.5 billion dirhams follows an assessment of the financial and physical achievements of the FDA for the year 2020 and the current year. It aims to continue the State’s efforts to support private investments in the agricultural sector.

The employment program for 2021 amounts to 4.5 billion dirhams, an increase of 7% compared to the 2020 program (4.2 billion dirhams).

The technical committee, the same press release specifies, examined the agricultural investments made for the 2020 fiscal year (4.2 billion dirhams) and which benefited from the financial incentives of the State. It also validated the employment program of the fund for the 2021 fiscal year.

The meeting of the sector’s technicians also validated new incentives to support the new "Generation Green 2020-2030" strategy launched in February 2020 by His Majesty The King.

The ministry also indicates that the assessment of achievements shows a continuous progression of the agricultural investments made and which have benefited from the various incentive offers of the fund, from 8.6 billion dirhams in 2019 to 9.7 billion dirhams in 2020.

This momentum will continue in 2021, with the level of projected investment expected to exceed 10 billion dirhams, marking the leverage effect generated by the FDA, reads the press release on the meeting of the Technical Committee of the Agricultural Development Fund (FDA).

The inclusiveness of the incentive system and the privileged support for small farmers through more advantageous incentive conditions has resulted in the predominance, since 2014, of the share of investments made at the level of small agricultural holdings (less than 10 ha) which have captured 58% of the incentives distributed in 2019 and 2020, explain the sector’s technicians.

The committee also welcomed the achievements made through the financial support of the FDA within the framework of the Agri-Food Industries Development Program jointly led by the Departments of Agriculture and Industry.

The FDA then committed to invest 602 million dirhams (MDH) for the creation or upgrading of 178 units for the valorization of fresh agricultural products of plant or animal origin (20% on average of the investment).

The current balance of this program-contract concerns 267 projects (81% of the objective) for a total investment of 7.5 billion dirhams (63% of the objective) benefiting from public support (FDA or FDII) of 1.27 billion dirhams (57% of the objective), specifies the FDA.

The incentives distributed through the FDA have also allowed the equipment to date of nearly 647,000 hectares in localized irrigation, thus contributing to improving the resilience of national agriculture to climate change.

For agricultural mechanization, the acquisition of 2,600 tractors on average per year over the period 2010-2020 and the improvement of the national herd through support for the production of selected sheep breeding stock, the number of which has increased from 54,000 heads in 2010 to 234,000 heads in 2020.

Chaired by the Department of Agriculture, this committee is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Administrative Reform, the Ministry of the Interior and the Crédit Agricole du Maroc.