Agriculture Minister Highlights Moroccan Experience in Agricultural Development

The Moroccan minister presented, during a high-level discussion organized as part of Dakar 2 Summit, the Moroccan experience of development of agropoli, initiated under the Green Morocco Plan strategy and continued under the Génération Green 2020-2030 strategy.

Focusing on the creation of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SIPZs), the round-table discussion aims to present best practices in terms of operational models of SIPZs, to discuss the key elements for an optimal ecosystem and to draw lessons from the different experiences.

The creation of SIPZs responds to the need to increase investment in the intangible and physical infrastructure necessary for market access in order to concentrate investment in rural areas with high potential.

SIPZs aim to increase the efficiency and capacity of food production by adding value to agriculture, creating jobs through investment in agribusiness and promoting local, regional and international trade. They are expected to reduce food insecurity and reduce dependence on imported food and fertilizer in Africa.

Sadiki said that the State has planned the establishment of 7 agropoli at the main production basins, namely Meknes, the Oriental, Tadla, Souss, Haouz, Gharb and Loukkos.

The objective of these structuring projects is to strengthen the competitiveness of companies in the agri-food sector and increase investment in the sector, in order to provide an appropriate framework for the integration of the entire value chain of the agri-food sector and increase its productivity for the purposes of resilience and sustainability of the national food system.

These platforms will accelerate the development of downstream value chains and the valorization of agricultural products, which should increase the added value of production chains by an average of 3 to 5 times.

These projects of Public-Private Partnership present a complete offer of value integrating an agro-industrial park to accommodate the activities of transformation and support, logistic platforms and services, and this by putting at the disposal of the investors lots of land to realize their projects.

Sadiki is among the members of the delegation led by Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch who represented Morocco at the Dakar 2 Summit.