Rabat — Thanks to the enlightened Vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Moroccan agriculture has upgraded in status and scale, affirmed the Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Morocco, Alexandre Anh Tai Huynh.
"Since the accession to the Throne of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, agriculture is no longer merely a response to the Kingdom's immediate food needs. It has become a long-term project that is well-articulated, financed, and monitored over time," said Anh Tai Huynh in an interview granted to MAP on the occasion of the celebration of Throne Day.
According to him, the Green Morocco Plan launched in 2008, followed by the Generation Green 2020-2030 strategy, have provided this project with a solid framework that few have managed to build with such continuity.
"What the FAO observes, fundamentally, is a change in scale. One generation of farmers has trained the next in a more stable framework, one that is better equipped and better connected to research and markets," Huynh added.
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He also noted that behind the indicators, there are women in cooperatives, young people returning to the land by choice, and agricultural engineers trained in Moroccan institutes who are then mobilized in the service of the Kingdom and well beyond. It is this human dimension that gives the sector's evolution its true meaning, he said.
In the opinion of the FAO Representative, two traits distinguish the Moroccan model on the regional and international stages.
"The first is continuity. Rare are the countries that articulate, over two decades, two successive agricultural strategies that are coherent with one another, and implement them with the same institutions and the same governance frameworks. This continuity is as much a technical asset as a political one," he explained.
The second relates to the attention paid to both scales of Moroccan agriculture: large-scale, market-oriented farming, and small-scale family farming that is deeply rooted in local territories, noted Huynh, highlighting that Pillar II of the Green Morocco Plan, and subsequently the "Generation Green" axes dedicated to the agricultural middle class, reflect this desire to involve all segments of the rural world in this dynamic.
"Added to this is the international recognition of several Moroccan sites as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, which bears witness to a living heritage and expertise recognized beyond borders," he added.
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Furthermore, Huynh noted that Morocco occupies a special place in the African geography of agricultural cooperation.
It is not only a matter of bilateral exchanges: the Kingdom spearheads structural initiatives on a continental scale, starting with the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative, launched during COP22 held in Marrakech in 2016, he stressed.
"This dynamic is profoundly changing the nature of our partnership. Morocco is no longer simply a country where the FAO deploys projects. It is also a country whose experience, institutes, and technical frameworks can benefit others," he stated.
He further noted that the FAO positions itself, within this framework, as a facilitator of triangular cooperation, embedding the partnership in a more horizontal logic, where the Kingdom is as much a contributor as a beneficiary.
"The FAO stands alongside the Kingdom in this ambition: recognizing the work of rural women, supporting young people who choose agriculture, and structuring cooperatives, because this is where the most sustainable transformation takes place," he concluded.
