Morocco’s Green Plan Creates 300K Agricultural Farms (Minister)

Meknes, 17/04/2017 (MAP) – Morocco’s Green Plan has created more than 300,000 farms, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Development, Water and Forests, Aziz Akhannouch, said on Monday.

“A significant progress has been made in Moroccan agriculture’s mechanisation by raising the ratio of tractors per 1,000 hectares, which has reached 8.03 compared to 4.9 before the Green Plan”, Akhannouch noted at the opening ceremony of the 9th Agricultural Conference, held Monday in Meknes under the theme “Agriculture and food safety through water”.

Concerning the improvement of the quality and productivity of the animal industry, which is part of the Plan’s objectives, Akhannouch reported an increasing number of the sheep flock by 4 millions (+18%) to reach 26.1 million heads and beef cattle by 1 million (+43%) to reach 3.3 million heads.

“Thanks to the first statistics of the general agricultural census, we have noted the transformation of 700,000 hectares from agricultural systems to high value added farms (fruit trees) and the exploitation of 20% of non-exploited dry lands”, the minister added.