HM King Mohammed VI, accompanied by HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, launched Tuesday in Oualili (prefecture of Mekns), the first leg of the operation of planting olive trees on 10,000 ha, in the region of Mekns-Tafilalet, reported MAP.
This operation is the fruit of a partnership convention signed between the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Sea Fisheries, the Wilaya of the region of Mekns-Tafilalet, Crdit Agricole du Maroc (CAM), and the Union for Olive Trees' Development of Mekns (UOTDM).
The operation will be supported by the UOTDM's assistance and the know-how of the National School of Agriculture of Mekns.
The convention, valid for three years, aims at supporting small olive farmers, who are rallied in cooperatives and associations, by concluding contracts of production with industrialists belonging to the UOTDM and establishing pilot olive farms on 100 to 300 ha.
It intends to carry out projects of olive oil production designed for national and international markets, based on new techniques, in partnership with different actors in this sector.
In this context, the ministry will give subsidies to encourage investment by funding agricultural development activities, such as digging up wells, buying plants, establishing plantations and the acquisition of agricultural materials, irrigation and unities of trituration. It will also help transfer technologies related to the olive industry and give a technical assistance to the beneficiaries.
In addition, the Wilaya will take charge in supervising this partnership by mobilising farmers, associations and olive cooperatives, while the Crdit Agricole du Maroc (CAM) will assure the technical assistance and the funds necessary to finance the project.
The industrialists' members of the UDOM will offer preferential prices with subsidies for farmers and an advance on production as of the fifth year.
On this occasion, the King planted an olive tree, marking the beginning of an integrated project of developing the olive sector in the region of Mekns-Tafilalet.
The King was later briefed on another project of rehabilitating olive fields in Zerhoune. It aims at encouraging revenue-generating activities within the framework of the National Initiative of Human Development.
The project, which will be carried out over an area of 600 ha, has been allocated a budget of MAD 4,9 million. The National Initiative for Human Development will provide MAD 1 million, local collectivities MAD 2 million, MAD 1,5 million will be provided by the Provincial office for Agriculture in Mekns, MAD 400,000 by the ODUM and a number of donators.
The project aims at extending orchards, developing uneven roads and streams, purchasing vibrators used for picking, setting a bottling unit, and organising the agricultural field.
It is also meant to enrich agricultural lands by planting more olive trees, stabilise farmers' budgets through the creation of new revenue-generating activities, stop rural migration by creating agricultural activities, and preserve natural resources by decreasing the effects of erosion.
About 20,000 days of work will be needed to accomplish this project, which will develop the skills of olive growers, facilitate product purchase and marketing, and promote professional organisation.
Located at the north of the Mekns province, the zone of the olive-growing development project extends on a 46,600 ha surface, covering the rural communes of Oualili (circle of Moulay Driss Zerhoun), Dkhissa (circle of Mekns suburbs) and Wadi Remmane and An Jamaa (circle of Toulal).
The zone's useful agricultural surface rises to 39,450 ha, which constitutes 85% of the whole surface of the project's area.
The development project, which is expected to profit 30,500 inhabitants, including 3,675 farmers, will reconvert a part of the cereal surface into a more adapted olive-growing area. It also aims at improving farmers' revenues and preserving natural resources.
The project has been allocated a budget of MAD 4.9 million. The extension of the olive-growing surface will benefit from a total of MAD 500,000 million; the rehabilitation of old plantations requires MAD 1 million, while the promotion of professional organisations necessitates MAD 500,000. A MAD 1.3 million fund has been earmarked for the evaluation of olive-growing production and another sum of MAD 1.6 million will go to the reinforcement of basic infrastructure.
The King's visit in Oualili comes within the framework of the proximity policy, preached by the Sovereign, aiming at responding to the aspirations of the people and enquires about their living conditions, their concerns and their expectations.
© Morocco Times 2005
