Agriculture is a cornerstone of Morocco's economy and society. Before the implementation in 2020 of the Generation Green Plan (2020-2030), the Green Morocco Plan PMV (2008-2020), launched by the former Minister of Agriculture who later became Prime Minister of Morocco Aziz Akhannouch, had already provided Morocco with a comprehensive and ambitious agricultural development strategy.

The objective of the Green Morocco Plan was to make Morocco an export-oriented agricultural power. Through modernization of the sector and increased investment, agriculture was established as a pillar of the Kingdom's socio-economic development.

From now on, the objective of socio-economic development is coupled with an objective of sustainability and climate resilience for the agricultural sector, explicitly stated in the Generation Green Plan.

With the objective of evaluating these public policies, the article will be structured as follows:

I - Summary of the dual strategy of the Green Morocco Plan

II - The economic performance of the Green Morocco Plan

III- Economic performance threatened by extractivist mining of water resources

IV - Performance in food sovereignty

V - The social performance of the Green Morocco Plan

VI - Generation Green, a corrected Green Morocco Plan?

I - Summary of the dual strategy of the green morocco plan

 

Source: Official figures from the ADA - Agricultural Development Agency

II - the economic performance of the green Morocco plan

The Green Morocco Plan (or PMV) is considered a major strategic and economic success for Morocco. This success (or at least apparent success) was enabled by massive investments in the agricultural sector.

Thus, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, 2.7 million people benefited from the Green Morocco Plan with a budget of 44 billion dirhams. These investments contributed to an increase in nominal agricultural GDP from 65 billion to 125 billion dirhams between 2007 and 2020, mainly thanks to an increase in irrigated areas and yields.

 Evolution of nominal Moroccan agricultural GDP since 1998, in billions of dirhams.

Between 2008 and 2018, Morocco was among the 10 countries with the strongest agricultural growth. During this period, agriculture contributed 17% of economic growth, a rate twice higher than the previous decade. The agricultural productivity rate (wealth produced per day worked) also increased during this period, unlike the other two economic sectors which tended to stagnate more. This dynamism can be explained, among other things, by massive public-private investment of 118 billion dirhams between 2008 and 2019 and very favorable tax rates.

The Green Morocco Plan also provided a clearer framework for agricultural sectors considered strategic. This strategy involved a decrease in cereal acreage (from 5.3 million to 4.6 million hectares) and an increase in other crops, often irrigated.

Below are the changes in cultivated areas for 3 sectors presented as strategic: arboriculture, olive growing and citrus growing.

However, the strength of this economic performance also had the consequence of increasing the overall volatility of Morocco's economy. Indeed, the agricultural sector is inherently volatile : increasing or stabilizing its share in GDP exposes the Moroccan economy to more economic hazards compared to an increase in the share of secondary and tertiary sectors.