AfDB Supports Cereal Production In Morocco With €199m Loan

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved €199 million loan to finance Morocco’s Competitive and Resilient Cereal Development Support Programme (PADCRC).

This new operation forms part of the African Emergency Food Production Facility to help boost food security, nutrition, and resilience across Africa.

The programme will help reduce Morocco’s cereal imports, focusing on improving productivity and the resilience of cereal production to climate change. It also provides for structural reforms that will lead to more efficient and resilient production systems.

Director of the Agriculture and Agribusiness Department at the African Development Bank, Martin Fregene said: “With this new program, we share a strong ambition to strengthen the performance of the cereal sector and consolidate its climate resilience through renewed governance”.
Fregene also noted that the Bank’s support consolidates previous achievements which, over more than a decade, have enabled the agricultural sector to move from a production logic to a transformation dynamic, which creates many more jobs in rural areas.

Similarly, the Bank’s Country Manager for Morocco, Achral Hassan Tarsim said the loan will help increase cereal productivity by 50 percent, reduce cereal imports by 20 percent by 2030 and increase farmers’ incomes. “In sum, the project will value and create more jobs for rural youth and women”, he added.

The Competitive and Resilient Cereal Development Support Programme aligns with the Bank’s ‘High 5’ strategic priorities. It is also in line with Morocco’s new agricultural strategy, ‘Generation Green 2020-2030.’

The AfDB’s engagements in Morocco date back over half a century, with total commitments of more than €12 billion. The portfolio covers health, energy, water, transport, human development, agriculture, and the financial sector.