While vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 were launched worldwide, a drama has been unfolding in the Moroccan countryside. It has been marked, over the last couple of decades, by rapid agrarian transformation, manifestations of which have included expanding irrigation frontiers and the increasing growth of high-value crops. These dynamics rely strongly on female agricultural wageworkers. Although they earn low wages, their income is crucial and is used to care for loved ones by paying for school fees, rent, electricity, and medicines.
Le secteur agricole constitue une activité importante au Maroc, représentant 14 % du produit national brut et employant 40 % de la population active. Avec l’émergence de la pandémie de la Covid-19, il a été ébranlé par des incertitudes économiques et par la distanciation physique qui a accentué les contraintes du travail. Toutefois, l’agriculture s’est imposée comme une activité cruciale, puisqu’elle a continué à assurer l’approvisionnement alimentaire à des prix abordables.
LenCD has prepared a joint statement on results and capacity development (presented in this publication), which stresses that meaningful, sustainable results are premised on proper investments in capacity development and that these results materialize at different levels and at different times, along countries’ development trajectory. To provide evidence in support of this statement, LenCD launched a call for submission of stories.
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the challenges and the practical successes that a selected number of countries are experiencing in moving towards 'climate-smart' agriculture while also meeting the food requirements of a growing population, broader economic development and green growth objectives. It complements papers prepared in 2010 on technologies and policy instruments, research, and farmers' perspectives.