King Calls for Agricultural Development to Consolidate Rural Middle Class

Morocco is taking measures to develop agriculture as one of the levers of consolidating the rural middle class, creating revenue-generating activities, and promoting youth employment.

King Mohammed VI called, in a speech marking the opening of the Parliament’s fall session on October 12, for building up on the achievements in the agriculture sector to create more jobs benefiting the youth.

A week later, the King stressed, when receiving Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch at the Royal Palace in Marrakech, the need to broaden the scope of agricultural investment to all categories, while promoting the emergence of an agricultural middle class and making more accessible agricultural land to productive investment, a statement of the Royal cabinet said.

Such a move will be materialized through gradually providing an additional one million hectares of collective land to the beneficiaries, as outlined in the Royal Speech delivered at the parliament’s opening, the statement added.

The Sovereign also reaffirmed the importance of integrating employment, reducing disparities and continuing the fight against poverty and rural exodus at the heart of the priorities of the agricultural development strategy.

To that end, the King instructed the Minister of Agriculture to elaborate and submit a strategic and comprehensive approach on the development of the sector, the statement said.

In his speech at the Parliament, King Mohammed VI laid down a road map for the emergence of a rural middle class citing the fragmentation of the land as a factor impacting productivity.

He therefore urged the government to come up with innovative solutions to promote agricultural cooperatives and groupings and promote access to land.

“Farming should serve as a powerful lever for improved economic and social conditions,” he said.