HM the King calls for striving doubly hard to achieve the ambitious goals of Morocco's Green Plan

Meknes - HM King Mohammed VI urged all those who have been involved in implementing Morocco's Green Plan to strive doubly hard to achieve its ambitious goals.
    "The clear-cut strategy underpinning Morocco's Green Plan has identified working mechanisms in various areas relating to agricultural development. We shall continue to attach particular importance to the social dimension and, to this end, seek to promote agricultural activities that are based on solidarity," the Sovereign underlined in a message to the fourth Symposium on Agriculture, read out by Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch during the event's opening ceremony on Tuesday in Meknes.

    "To achieve this objective, we have used a participatory, inclusive approach that brings together all the stakeholders concerned with the various projects and extensive reforms we have launched, particularly Morocco's Green Plan. I should like, in this regard, to commend all those who have been involved in implementing this Plan and urge them to strive doubly hard to achieve its ambitious goals," the Sovereign went on to say.

Here is the full text of the message:
Praise be to God                                         May peace and blessings be upon
The Prophet, His Kith and Kin
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to send this message to the Fourth Symposium on Agriculture, and to reiterate the special importance I attach to developing the agricultural sector, increasing productivity and promoting competitiveness. This is a strategic sector which has a decisive impact on the sustainable human and economic development we wish to achieve in our country.

Agricultural development has always been high on our agenda. This is because the agricultural sector - which has multifarious implications - concerns the day-to-day life of all segments of the population, across all regions. It also plays a key role in securing social justice and a dignified life for all. Achieving rural development, improving the conditions of farmers - especially smallholder farmers - and providing jobs for young people are key elements of the Moroccan development model, in which economic efficiency must go hand in hand with social solidarity.

I am delighted such agricultural symposia are being held at regular intervals, thus offering a platform for consultation and debate. They also provide an opportunity to take stock of accomplishments and to identify impediments in order to pinpoint the measures that need to be taken in this vital sector while applying good governance standards.

To achieve this objective, we have used a participatory, inclusive approach that brings together all the stakeholders concerned with the various projects and extensive reforms we have launched, particularly Morocco’s Green Plan. I should like, in this regard, to commend all those who have been involved in implementing this Plan and urge them to strive doubly hard to achieve its ambitious goals.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The clear-cut strategy underpinning Morocco’s Green Plan has identified working mechanisms in various areas relating to agricultural development. I shall continue to attach particular importance to the social dimension and, to this end, seek to promote agricultural activities that are based on solidarity.

To give fresh momentum to our endeavours to achieve the Green Plan’s Objectives and, at the same time, to reflect my strong desire to improve the conditions of smallholder farmers and to fight poverty and marginalization in the rural environment, I call on the government to take the following measures:

First, alleviate the debt burden of smallholder famers vis-à-vis the Crédit Agricole du Maroc and reschedule the debts owed on the basis of equitable, objective criteria that specifically take into account the losses suffered by small farmers as a result of climate change;

Second, make it possible for these farmers to obtain new loans;

Third, exempt smallholders from charges for irrigation water for the years prior to 2008, up to a maximum amount of 10,000 MAD, cancel all interest on loans and reschedule the payment of any amount in excess of the above figure up to a maximum period of seven years; These measures will apply to some 200,000 poor smallholders and will have positive effects on them and their families.

Fourth, improve the conditions of agricultural workers, namely by raising the minimum wage;

Fifth, make sure the rural community and smallholder farmers are among the main beneficiaries of medical coverage and medical assistance programs, in accordance with a rational, precise and gradual approach;

Sixth, step up efforts to ensure all school-age children in rural areas, especially girls from remote and deprived regions, attend school, and to provide the conditions and basic infrastructure required to enable girls to pursue their education;

Seventh, continue to implement programs to reduce the isolation of regions that are far-away or hard to get to, and provide the basic infrastructure and social services needed in rural areas, especially by promoting the programs of the National Initiative for Human Development.

Eighth, increase public funds earmarked for the promotion of solidarity-based agriculture in recognition of its tangible impact on the modernization of the farming sector, enhance competitiveness, improve job opportunities and fight marginalization and precariousness;

Ninth, ensure good management of support measures for smallholders who suffer not only from climate change, but also from unstable economic conditions and changing international food markets.

Irrespective of the financial cost of these measures, I should like to emphasize that my primary goal is to make smallholders an intrinsic element of the human and rural development process as well as a pillar of agricultural development in our country. I have a great deal of respect for small farmers because of the values of devotion and hard work they stand for, and their steadfast attachment to land, whatever the circumstances.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am particularly keen to promote agricultural development and give strong impetus to Morocco's Green Plan. To this end, I ask the government to focus its action on the following key areas:

First, support the national program for the conservation of irrigation water, which aims to increase the surface area of arable land where localized (mini-sprinkler) irrigation techniques are used, bringing it up to 1,358.500 acres; to this end, alternative strategies - such as sea water desalination - and the policy of building dams should be encouraged and pursued in order to promote our agriculture on a sustainable basis.

Second, ensure optimal use of our diverse and renowned local products; all stakeholders should seek to protect these local crops and products and open up new prospects for their marketing and promotion, both domestically and internationally.

Third, encourage land aggregation by establishing the legal framework required as well as appropriate incentives; provide greater support for small-scale farming given the important role it plays as the main supplier of local products and as the pillar of social and economic development in certain peripheral areas where no alternative resources are available.

Fourth, organize and support organic farming, a sector in which our country could be quite competitive. Efforts should be stepped up to lay down a suitable legal and technical framework that helps us promote and diversify our exports, improve the quality of our organic products, and preserve both the environment and biodiversity.

Fifth, provide agricultural courses and continuous training: lay down modern communication and consultation mechanisms for the benefit of stakeholders given the special importance of this aspect in developing our country's agriculture.

I therefore call on the government, the public institutions concerned and all the actors involved to adopt a new vision for training and research in the agricultural sector. I want them to back the mission of chambers of agriculture through an optimal reform of their rules of procedure, to enable farmers to benefit from counseling services, and to make these services a key element in the promotion of Morocco's Green Plan.

Sixth, enhance the Green Plan's regional dimension to respond to farmers' needs in all sub-sectors, taking into account the specific characteristics of each region, as part of our objective to enshrine advanced regionalization in the country's Constitution.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The future of our country's agriculture and food security hinges first and foremost on the commitment and hard work of our farmers and on our ability to identify niche markets. Individual and collective efforts are therefore needed to support this far-reaching national project.

We have accomplished a great deal in the agricultural sector. Important as it may be, this sense of achievement should compel us to strive harder in order to sow the seeds of a more prosperous future.

May Almighty God grant you every success.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh.

HM the King launches construction works of a dam in Agadir, worth $ 5.8 mln

Agadir - HM King Mohammed VI launched, on Friday in Agadir, the construction works of a dam on river Ghazoua, worth 45 million dirhams (about $ 5.8 mln).

- The project is part of a comprehensive program to protect the city and its port against floods.

- The new dam will be stretched over a basin of 9 square meters.

    The setting up of this important hydraulic project is part of a comprehensive program to develop Oued Souss basin and protect it against floods, manage water resources and preserve the groundwater.   

    The new dam, which will be stretched over a basin of 9 square meters with a storage capacity of 360,000 m3, will be completed in 24 months as part of a partnership between the Interior Ministry and the State Secretariat in charge of Water and Environment.

    The construction of river Ghazoua dam, located in Drarga town (10 km from Agadir), is one of the measures implemented to protect the city’s port and Marina tourist site against floods.

    The dam is one component of Oued Souss basin development program, worth over one billion dirhams.

    The program provides for the construction of several dams and dykes to contribute to artificial feeding of the groundwater.

HM the King enquires in Agadir about programme of protection against Oued Souss floods

Agadir - HM King Mohammed VI enquired, on Friday in Agadir, about the programme of protection against Oued Souss basin floods, worth 233 million dirhams ($1=7.8 Moroccan dirham).

      - The programme is part of the 1-bn Dirham comprehensive plan to develop Oued Souss basin

     - An integrated four-year programme to build many dams and erect barriers to protect against floods

    The 2011-2014 programme aims at protecting the area of the basin against floods through a series of medium- and long-term actions.

    It consists of five urgent operations worth 28 million dirhams.

    The Monarch also enguired about the comprehansive plan to develop the Oued Souss basin, worth over 1 billion dirhams, of which the programme of protection against Oued Souss basin floods is a component.

    This integrated plan consists of several projects, some of which are under way, namely the building of dams and the erection of barriers on the tributaries of Oued Souss to artificially feed the groundwater aquifer.

    Under this plan, a series of operations are programmed over 2012-2014, particualry 12 barriers on the Oued Souss tributaries, and five hill dams.