Morocco agrifinance demand assessment

Morocco’s agriculture sector contributes 19% of the country’s GDP and employs about 45% of the workforce (i.e. about 4 million people, including about 100,000 in agro-industry). Agriculture remains traditional with a prevalence of smallholder farmers, and the percentage of commercial lending to the agriculture sector remains low despite the existing modern banking system.

ACS was contracted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide an informative assessment of the financial services available and expected for agricultural value chain players in Morocco; the estimated demand, innovations, and likely developments in this area; and the impacts of COVID-19 on access to finance to agricultural sectors and the proposed solutions to overcome existing barriers given current mobility restrictions.

Client: International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group

  • Duration: 2021-2022

Activities

  • Conducted field surveys with 1,100 farmers, 400 agriculture worker and 600 agribusiness actors to assess the overall demand for financial services in agricultural value chains;
  • Conducted an in-depth analysis of 5 key agricultural value chains selected for the Moroccan economy;
  • Developed an overview of all climate-smart interventions that are technically appropriate and applicable to Moroccan agriculture;
  • Analyzed the impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural finance since January 2020 and potential solutions to overcome existing bottlenecks.