World Bank loans Morocco $25 mln to help fight poverty
Morocco, Economics, 6/12/2003

The World Bank (WB) extended on Monday to Morocco a US$ 25 million loan to help fight poverty in the country's drought-stricken and remote rural communities.

The loan agreement comes to support the Moroccan Government's recently adopted 2020 Rural Development Strategy, the WB said.

The first component of the loan will finance activities aimed at harmonizing the Government's multiple approach to integrated rural development and improving public investment efficiency for rain-fed agriculture. The second component will finance activities that promote agricultural development, the upgrading of rural infrastructure such as roads and irrigation as well as education and skills-training for local organizations.

The six-year project falls in line with the World Bank's country assistance strategy for Morocco which aims to reduce the vulnerability of the poor in rural areas.

It supports the key objectives of equity and inclusion of local people living in rain-fed areas by providing them with income-generating opportunities as well as access to basic infrastructure and services.

The Rain-fed Agriculture Development Project (RADP) is the first phase of a larger program to improve living conditions among smallholder farmers and herders in rain-fed areas.

In Morocco, nearly half of the country's 30 million people and most of the poor live in rural areas. The agricultural sector, which employs half of the work force, remains a major component of the economy, contributing about 17 percent to the gross national product.

As a result, agricultural performance has a critical impact on the socio-economic situation of rural households.

In recent decades however, frequent droughts and erratic rainfall have caused agricultural productivity to decline, leading to a rise in rural poverty and stark disparity between urban and rural living environments.

Droughts have also triggered land erosion and other forms of environmental degradation as farmers and herders resort to short-term solutions that place pressure on natural resources.

In response to the increase in rural poverty, Morocco adopted the 2020 Rural Development Strategy - an ambitious plan that strives to eliminate rural poverty by 2020 by focusing on agricultural development, building the skills of local authorities and NGOs to oversee projects, tailoring solutions to local ecosystems and promoting decentralization by involving rural people in decision making.

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