The Justice and Development Party (PJD) expressed its surprise at the government’s decision to allocate a considerable sum of 10 billion dirhams to the program aimed at mitigating the effects of the rainfall deficit. These subsidies will go to large organized entities and federations, including large farmers, peasants and export agriculture.
The Lamp party believes that instead, it would have been more in line with royal guidelines to spend this sum to support farmers as part of an emergency program to deal with the consequences of the drought, by particularly in rural areas.
At the end of its ordinary meeting, the General Secretariat of the PJD recalled the points that it had already underlined in its press release of June 8, where it welcomed the emergency program of support for farmers, adopted in response to the directives of the King Mohammed VI, for an estimated amount of 10 billion dirhams.
The party warned against the framework agreement signed on June 13 between the government, agricultural organizations and professional federations, which relates to the program aimed at mitigating the impact of the lack of rainfall.
According to the PJD, this agreement does not meet the objectives and criteria of the emergency program and has many similarities, in terms of objectives and signatories, with the one previously signed between the government and the same actors on May 4, at the International Forum on Agriculture. The latter led to the conclusion of 19 contracts for the development of plant and animal sectors, representing a budget of 110 billion dirhams, including 42 billion financed by the State.
In addition, the PJD questioned the government’s statement that this new program aims to reduce the cost of production of certain essential vegetables, which has increased due to soaring commodity prices.
According to the formation led by Abdelilah Benkirane, this statement is in contradiction with the current reality, marked by high prices. She recalled) in this respect the inefficiency of the previous government program during the past agricultural campaign, called ” exceptional program to mitigate the effects of the rainfall deficit“, which had also benefited from a budget of 10 billion dirhams, but which had had little impact on the availability of agricultural and food products at affordable prices.
Recently, Morocco has experienced unprecedented levels of inflation, which led the PJD to question the government on the use of the 3.3 billion dirhams mobilized to deal with the repercussions of inflation on the power of buying citizens. This amount was part of the additional funds opened by government decree on May 18.
In conclusion, the PJD considers that these successive programs, which look alike and overlap, unfortunately show a lack of transparency with regard to their aspects and methods of financing.
Moreover, they fail to achieve the efficiency, the intended results, or to fully benefit those who need it most, he believes, noting that the government often limits itself to responding to the demands of large operators. , export-oriented farmers, thus leaving out a large part of the rural population made up of small and medium-sized farmers, who suffer more from the effects of drought and need more attention and support.
Also, the PJD emphasizes the importance of paying particular attention to this section of the rural population and implementing concrete measures to support them. In this regard, it calls on the government to review its priorities in terms of public spending and to allocate the necessary resources to meet the needs of farmers within the framework of a truly effective and equitable emergency programme.
The party also insists on the importance of transparency in the management of public funds and the need to ensure that these resources reach where they are really needed. It also calls for greater representation of rural actors in decisions related to agriculture and natural resource management, to ensure a more inclusive and balanced approach.