High Commissioner for Planning Calls for Change in Agricultural Policy

Rabat – The High Commissioner for Planning, Ahmed Lahlimi, stressed, Thursday in Rabat, the need to change the agricultural policy and give more importance to family farms.

Speaking at a meeting dedicated to the presentation of the exploratory economic budget for 2022 and 2023, Lahlimi said that family farms have accumulated significant know-how in managing scarcity and drought. Agricultural policy should indeed focus more on small farmers, especially in the context of drought, he recommended.

Lahlimi also noted that the national economy is still dependent on the vagaries of climate and the evolution of the agricultural sector, saying that the change must be achieved by increasing the gains of non-agricultural products.

The official pointed to the need to improve the return on investment. The investment stands at around 30% of GDP, but this is not reflected in the growth, he observed.

This can be achieved through the fight against corruption and the reduction of administrative procedures, explained Lahlimi, who commended the adoption of the framework bill forming the Investment Charter that will increase the attractiveness of the national economy.

The High Commissioner for Planning stressed the effects of the Covid-19 crisis which cost Morocco the equivalent of two and a half years of growth and three years of efforts to fight against poverty.

Faced with all these losses, Lahlimi called for national solidarity and not to overburden the state, businesses, or households.

This should be done by accelerating the pace of structural reforms provided for in the New Development Model, he suggested.