IFAD in the Kingdom of Morocco

Since 1979, IFAD has financed eleven rural development projects in Morocco, for a total of US$194.1 million.

The first generation of projects, implemented over the period from 1979 to 1986, focused mainly on increasing rainfed and irrigated agricultural production on a nationwide basis, and on developing opportunities for short-term and medium-term credit for poor farmers.

The second generation of projects focused mainly on marginal areas and included activities such as soil and water conservation, upgrading rural roads and infrastructure — particularly water supply — and institution-building and institutional support.

Third-generation projects have the objective of socio-economic development in poor regions where rainfed agriculture is the main source of income. Design and implementation focus on active participation of poor rural people in rural investment projects, and on accountability for implementing and maintaining planned activities to ensure their sustainability.

IFAD programmes and projects in Morocco will continue to focus on three zones that have a high incidence of poverty but also have a development potential. They are mountainous zones, rangelands with poor productivity, and rainfed agricultural zones in the arid south. The latest country programme gives priority to mountainous zones.

In the poorest areas, IFAD’s target groups include poor smallholder farmers and landless farmers, small-scale livestock farmers, rural women and unemployed young people.

IFAD strategy in Morocco

The organization’s recent Country Strategic Opportunities Paper (COSOP) for Morocco, approved in December 2008, outlines IFAD’s strategic objectives, which have the aim of improving the incomes and living conditions of poor rural people. The objectives of IFAD’s strategy in Morocco are to:

• increase the participation of rural communities in the development process, building up the organizational and management capacities of rural people and their grass-roots organizations
• promote access of poor rural people, especially women and young people, to appropriate and sustainable financial services, particularly microfinance services that are tailored to their needs
• promote access to water and improved agricultural techniques, by giving poor people access to irrigation schemes and drinking water supplies and rural tracks in isolated zones

IFAD has built strong partnerships with the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and with various public agencies, research institutions, professional associations and microcredit associations. IFAD programmes and projects are also developing broad partnerships with local-level development associations, agricultural waters users’ associations, women’s associations and microfinance cooperatives.

Country strategic opportunities programme (2008)

Source: IFAD

Livestock and Pasture Development Project in the Eastern Region
Documents

2003

• Morocco: Managing the 'commons'

2002

• Rapport d'évaluation intermédiaire
• Accord conclusif

1995

• Summary Mid-Term Evaluation Report

1990

Report and Recommendation of the President to the Executive Board on a Proposed Loan to the Kingdom of Morocco for the Livestock and Pasture Development Project in the Eastern Region

Other documents

Detailed project description

Source: IFAD

Rural Development Project for Touarirt-Taforalt
Documents

2002

Final evaluation (french only)

1996

Recommendation of the President to the Executive Board on a Proposed Loan to the Kingdom of Morocco for the Rural Development Project for Touarirt-Taforalt

Source: IFAD

Rural poverty in the Kingdom of Morocco

Poverty is essentially a rural phenomenon in the Kingdom of Morocco. About 4 million people in the country live below the national poverty line, and 3 million of them are in rural areas. During the decade from 1994 to 2004 there was a significant increase in the incidence of poverty in some of the poorest provinces. And although there has been progress in the country’s standing in the human development index, the gap between urban and rural areas remains a large one.

Some 75 per cent of rural poor people depend on agriculture for a livelihood. Yet many of them have access to only a limited amount of non-irrigated arable land, which has a poor agricultural potential. Because farmers often do not have formal title to land, it is difficult for them to obtain credit to start activities that diversify their sources of income.

The incidence and distribution of poverty vary considerably among regions in relation to the quality and availability of natural resources. Mountainous zones, where soil is susceptible to erosion, are among the poorest areas.

Where are the country’s poor people?
The distribution of poverty in Morocco varies greatly from one region to the next. The coastal areas, for instance, are generally better off and less affected by poverty. In contrast, the country’s mountain areas, steppes and arid south are home to most of the poorest Moroccans, as are the many poor fishing communities scattered along the coast.

Who are they?

The most vulnerable groups include smallholders, people engaged in artisanal fishing, landless people, rural wage earners, unemployed young people and women in all categories.

Why are they poor?
Difficult geographical conditions and deteriorating infrastructure affect rural poverty. Among the causes of poverty are factors that hinder agricultural development, such as land tenure factors, frequent climatic fluctuations, poor soil and water resources and degradation of natural resources, poor access to credit, farmers’ lack of organization, and their illiteracy and low levels of training. Also contributing to poverty are scant diversification of agricultural activities and insufficient access not only to financial services but also to basic social services and infrastructure, particularly in the mountainous zones and semi-arid plains and uplands. Another factor is the weakness of community organizations, which lack the necessary training and support to take charge of their own development.

Source: IFAD  

Geography, agriculture and the economy

The Kingdom of Morocco is located in North Africa, to the extreme west of the Maghreb. It has a population of 30.8 million (2007) and a surface area of 446,000 km2. The population growth rate dropped off sharply in the decade before the 2004 census, from 2.04 in 1994 to 1.4 per cent in 2004.

Morocco is bordered by the Mediterranean to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and by Algeria to the northwest and Mauritania to the south. Rugged, mountainous terrain characterizes the north, with the Rif range culminating in Djebel Tidirhine at 2,448 m and the Atlas Massif at an altitude of 4,165 m in Djebel Toubkal. The northern part of Morocco receives more rainfall than other zones in North Africa. The southern half of the country includes an extremely arid desert zone that is part of the Sahara Desert.

Agriculture
Approximately 12 per cent of Moroccan territory (8.6 million ha) is cultivated, 13 per cent (9 million ha) is forested and 75 per cent (53 million ha) is given over to rangeland. Only 16 per cent of the cultivated area is irrigated. Agriculture in the remaining cultivated area depends on uncertain precipitation that affects production. 

Agriculture accounts for between 13 and 16 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 40 per cent of the population. Farming systems range from subsistence farming to production of commercial crops. Since most land is not irrigated, the country's agricultural potential is far from being realized. Cereal production, for example, which occupies 68 per cent of mainly non-irrigated cultivated land, ranges between 2 and 10 million tonnes, depending on precipitation, with an average cereal production of 6 million tonnes. Other export crops, grown on irrigated land, include citrus fruits, tomatoes, potatoes and eating olives.

Fishing, which provides 400,000 jobs, alone accounts for half of all food export revenues.

Economy
The services sector is the country's most highly developed economic activity, contributing more than half of GDP. Within that sector, trade and tourism are major activities. Despite expansion of the manufacturing sector and rapid industrialization, current economic growth is highly dependent on fluctuations in agricultural output and swings in food and energy prices.

Globalization, recently signed free trade agreements and the dynamics of trade liberalization offer major opportunities for economic growth. Foreign investments increased fourfold between 1990 and 2006, the rate of domestic investments is growing steadily and new prospects for social development have been opened up by the National Human Development Initiative.

Source: IFAD

Rural poverty approaches, policies and strategies in the Kingdom of Morocco

The goal of Morocco's long-term 2020 strategy for rural development is to correct regional and local imbalances and develop and optimize natural resources. Its objectives are to:

• increase agricultural production
• increase opportunities for agricultural employment and income
• create and diversify employment in off-farm and non-farm activities
• halt environmental degradation
• improve education and professional training for rural women and men
• improve services related to the quality of life and well-being
• correct regional and local imbalances in infrastructure and regional development

The approach gives preference to grass-roots initiatives and to participation and accountability of rural communities and local partnerships.

The country’s new Green Morocco Strategy will implement an agricultural policy that has as its aims:

• a competitive upgrading of the agricultural sector in terms of modernization, integration into the world market and creation of wealth for the whole value chain
• an approach that takes into account the whole sector and its sociological and territorial components, giving priority to human development
• optimization and sustainable management of natural resources
• definition of the support policies needed for sustainable growth

The National Human Development Initiative is part of Morocco’s national poverty reduction strategy. The initiative is a participatory community development programme that targets 430 of the poorest rural communities and encourages them to express their needs during the formulation of local human development activities.

Read more:

• 50 ans de développement humain & perspectives 2025
• Prospective Maroc 2030
• Stratégie de développement agricole

 Source: IFAD

Rural Development Project in the Mountain Zones of Errachidia Province
Documents

2007

• President’s report - Proposed loan and grant to the Kingdom of Morocco for the Rural Development Project in the Mountain Zones of Errachidia Province

Source: IFAD

More statistical sources

• FAO: aperçus nutritionnels par pays

• FAO compendium of food and agriculture
• FAO country pasture/forage resource profiles
• FAO fishery country profile
• FAO forestry country profile

• FAO statistics

• Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS: epidemiological fact sheets on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections

• United Nations Children's Fund

• United Nations Development Programme

• United Nations Population Fund

• United Nations Statistics Division
• World Bank country at a glance
• World Bank data and statistics
• World Bank health, nutrition, population data
• World Bank Morocco
• World Bank summary gender profile

• World Health Organization

• World Trade Organization

More financial sources

• Financial position in the IMF
• Transactions with the IMF

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