2008-2009 agricultural campaign enjoys 'generally favorable' conjuncture, Minister

The 2008-2009 agricultural campaign takes place in "a generally favorable" national and international conjuncture, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Abdelaziz Akhannouch, asserted on Monday at the weekly cabinet meeting.

    Quoted by the Communication minister and Government Spokesperson Khalid Naciri at a press briefing following the meeting, Akhannouch stressed the paramount importance of this campaign, the first to be launched within the framework of the "Green Morocco Plan".

    The "Green Morocco Plan" is a pragmatic and ambitious program aimed at achieving a sustained agricultural development at the national level.

    This year's action plan revolves around several measures, namely, developing vegetal production and water management, the Minister said, noting that they also consist in protecting the livestock and improving its productivity, offering more agricultural supervision and funding farms.

    Providing up to 1.2 million quintals of wheat seeds and subsidizing soft wheat (MAD 130/ql), barley and hard wheat (MAD 115 /ql) are among the objectives of those measures.

    The action plan also aims at providing 1.5 mln quintals of seeds during the 2009-2010 campaign, scheduling the growing of a 60,000 ha–area of sugar beet, subsidizing monogerm beet seeds, and increasing the production of citrus by 7%, Akhannouch went on.

    Handing out 5.6 million fruit patches, increasing by 6 % the production of early fruit and vegetables to reach 1.9 million tons, and increasing by 60% the subsidies allotted to water basins are also among this year’s measures, he explained.

MAP