|
|
Morocco Agribusiness Report Q3 2009Published by: Business Monitor International Published: Jun. 29, 2009 - 37 Pages Table of Contents
AbstractAs is often the case in Africa, agriculture is the largest employment sector in Morocco, accounting for40% of the working population. However, the sector contributes significantly less to overall GDPearnings than this figure would suggest, and is characterised by small-scale husbandry. Despite beingself-sufficient in many farmed goods, the country is nevertheless a regular importer of some foodstuffs; adynamic that has increased in recent years as drought has ravaged much of the region, severely hamperingproduction. To stem the rising tide of consumption staples being sourced from overseas, the governmenthas sought to improve the performance of domestic agriculture. However, ever-tightening water suppliesand rapid urbanisation threaten to undermine such efforts. It is against this backdrop and with the globalrecession yet to abate that BMI publishes its Morocco Agribusiness Report Q309.Owing to its proximity to Mediterranean Europe in the North and the drier climate associated with theWestern Sahara in the South, Morocco's agriculture sector lends itself well to the cultivation andharvesting of a diverse range of goods. Various domestically produced vegetables, pulses and fruits aresufficient to cater to local demand, while in some cases production is robust enough to allow export tomainland Europe. Yet droughts, which are an historical regularity in the country, have lingered in theregion during recent harvests, meaning that more imports have been required when, paradoxically, theprice of agricultural goods on world markets have been higher than ever. As such, there is a need toimprove the outlook of domestic Moroccan production. The government, realising the precarious position of Morocco as a net food importer, has initiated a 10-year plan - estimated to cost US$20.67bn - to upgrade and diversify Moroccan farming, help the sector tofight poverty and boost export growth. Irrigation is an area where much investment is likely to bedirected, so as to more efficiently use the water resources of a country where there is, on average, adrought every three years. Large sums of money have been used in establishing agricultural researchcentres where future innovations can enhance the potential of local farming. Along with improved weather fundamentals, we believe that state efforts to improve the domestic outlookwill enable double-digit supply and demand growth to be realised across virtually the entire range ofagricultural goods covered in the BMI outlook in 2009 and beyond. Grain farmers in particular willbenefit massively from the rains, while the adoption of relevant seed types and modern farmingtechniques are likely to complement the outlook. In addition to the goods covered in our outlook, opportunities abound for agribusiness processors giventhe diversity of goods that are produced at the farm level. The dairy industry will continue to expand at agood pace, although falling cheese consumption will mean that exports will need to make up a largerpercentage of the destination of local production. Conversely, and in a dynamic that stands in contrast tothat being witnessed in most other countries, butter consumption is likely to outweigh production, so thatthe deficit grows by roughly 47% between 2009 and 2013. We expect greater productivity in Moroccan agriculture to be characterised by the emergence of a morestreamlined and highly consolidated industry. This will come at the detriment of small farmers, who canoften be heard complaining that the majority of the gains made, thus the bulk of extra profits, are by themore commercially minded units, which can than use their enhanced financial positions to consolidate themarket. Having said this, if food security and GDP growth are in the best interests of the population as awhole, then this shift in industry fundamentals is needed; this does not have to result in higher levels ofunemployment if larger enterprises can integrate and synergise their efforts to more closely accommodatethose of smaller farms. Get Full Details About This Report >> |
|
|||
|
About MarketResearch.com
|
||||