The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday approved a loan of more than 114 million euros (M €) in favor of Morocco to finance the Support Program for the Inclusive and Sustainable Development of agricultural and rural areas (PADIDZAR).
This new climate adaptation project, which is the first results-based financing in the agricultural sector in North Africa, will help strengthen the resilience of Moroccan agriculture to the effects of climate change in order to improve living conditions. rural populations, says the AfDB in a press release. The program will deploy a more sustainable and inclusive development approach and will promote the emergence of a middle class, in particular through job creation in rural areas and support for young and female agricultural entrepreneurs, the same source specifies.
In order to strengthen the climate resilience of Moroccan agriculture, in particular for small producers, the program will support more efficient use of water resources with better use of irrigation water and introduce new soil conversion techniques. . It will also make it possible to build the capacities of actors, in particular associations of users of agricultural water and agricultural cooperatives.
Quoted by the press release, Mohamed El Azizi, AfDB Director General for North Africa, said that“A more sustainable, more resilient and more inclusive agriculture is our priority with this operation, which supports the new strategic vision of the Generation Green agricultural sector 2020-2030”.
“Our support consolidates previous achievements which, over more than a decade, have made it possible to move from a logic of production to a logic of transformation with greater added value, for the benefit of rural populations”, he added. The program will thus support the development of more efficient, more resilient and more sustainable production systems. It will work to improve ever more inclusive, more efficient and more sustainable value chains. It will also support the strengthening of institutional capacities to facilitate the implementation of reforms and the execution of investments.
“The first results-based financing in the agricultural sector in North Africa, it carries with it the even stronger requirement for inclusion, performance and sustainability”, underlined Achraf Hassan Tarsim, country manager of the Bank for Morocco. And to continue: “Improving the efficiency and climate resilience of irrigated areas, the promotion of women, support for young entrepreneurs and the training of producers will, among other things, open up the range of possibilities in this sector, in particular for small and medium-sized farms. We will thus help create new jobs to sustainably improve the living conditions of rural populations ”.
The program is aligned with the Bank’s five strategic priorities, the “High 5” in particular the achievement of the objectives. “Feed Africa” and “Improve the quality of life of African populations”. It also supports the new agricultural strategy of the Kingdom of Morocco, entitled “Generation Green 2020-2030”, and the National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program 2020-2027.
The AfDB’s commitment to Morocco, for half a century, amounts to more than ten billion euros. Funding covers the sectors of health, energy, water, transport, human development, agriculture and the financial sector.
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