Faced with an acute rainfall deficit of 64% compared to normal, the implementation of the exceptional program by the government, in execution of the High Royal Guidelines, is intended to be a life-saving decision capable of coming to the rescue of farmers and breeders. hit hard by this problem.
The proactive approach is the very essence of this ambitious program which provides for a series of urgent measures covering the different axes of the agricultural sector, with a view to mitigating the heavy effects of the delay in rainfall on farmers and stockbreeders.
Moreover, the audience granted by the Sovereign, last Wednesday, to the Head of Government and to the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Waters and Forests, once again testifies to the high concern HM the King continues to surround the population of the rural world and all the components of the agricultural sector and His strong involvement in favor of this key sector of the national economy.
The government was quick to announce, in a short time, the exceptional program, capitalizing on the Kingdom’s experience and expertise in terms of financial arrangements for this type of plan, in particular those of 2012 and 2016, in addition to the unequivocal mobilization and the perfect synergy and complementarity between all the stakeholders.
This large-scale program, which targets both the economic and social dimensions, has an overall financial envelope of 10 billion dirhams (MMDH), i.e. double the 2016 plan. A substantial monetary mass which will be injected in the national economic circuit and will contribute to maintaining the activity. The Hassan II Fund for economic and social development will contribute, on High Royal Instructions, an amount of 3 billion dirhams.
Hailed by the entire sector, this exceptional program aims in particular to mitigate the effects of delayed rainfall, to alleviate the impact on agricultural activity and to provide aid to the farmers and stockbreeders concerned. These are three main areas relating to the protection of animal and plant capital and the management of water scarcity, agricultural insurance and the alleviation of the financial burdens of farmers and professionals.
In detail, the first axis, at a cost of 3 billion dirhams, concerns the distribution of 7 million quintals of subsidized barley for the benefit of breeders and 400,000 tons of compound feed for the benefit of dairy cow breeders in order to attenuate the impact of the rise in livestock feed prices and the decline in fodder availability for 2.1 billion dirhams.
It is also about the vaccination and treatment of 27 million heads of sheep and goats, 200,000 heads of camels and the treatment of bees against varroa for a budget of 300 million dirhams (MDH).
The 1st axis also includes the rehabilitation of small and medium hydraulic perimeters for the maintenance of equipment and the creation of job opportunities through the development and upgrading of pipelines and Khettara for a budget of 255 MDH, the livestock watering through the development and equipment of water points, the acquisition of cisterns and tank trucks and the development of routes over an area of 10,000 hectares for a budget of 224 MDH
In addition, an envelope of 121 MDH is allocated to supplementary irrigation for the sustainability of newly planted orchards (from 2 to 5 years), developed within the framework of solidarity agriculture over an area of 55,000 hectares.
For the second axis of the program, the implementation of drought insurance for farmers will be accelerated, for a capital insured by farmers reaching 1.12 billion dirhams over an area of 1 million hectares.
And there, the Moroccan Agricultural Mutual Insurance Company (MAMDA) announced its contribution to the implementation of the said program through two key measures consisting of accelerating the pace of expertise, as of Monday, and giving priority to the affected areas. .
This was stated last Thursday by Mahmoud Oudrhiri, Deputy Director General of MAMDA-MCMA, who explained that the multi-risk climate insurance aims to cover farmers against a multitude of agricultural risks, in particular drought. , floods and issues related to major crops such as pulses, cereals and oilseeds.
Regarding the third axis, it aims to reschedule farmers’ debt, finance operations to supply the national market with wheat and livestock feed, in addition to financing innovative investments in irrigation.
At this level, the exceptional program was able to count on the mobilization of the Crédit Agricole Group of Morocco, which has provided an envelope of 6 billion dirhams to finance the supply of the national market with barley, wheat and other products.
It is clear that this program is timely and probably brings real relief to professionals in the agricultural sector, in a context where the health crisis still persists. It is undoubtedly intended as a basis for an integrated public policy in the management of the water issue and will benefit all the components and activities of the agricultural sector, the main provider of jobs in the Kingdom.
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