Washington – The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $4 million grant from the Livable Planet Fund (LPF) to Morocco to provide additional funding for the Transforming Agri-food Systems Program.
The program aims to strengthen Morocco’s agri-food system against climate change while improving food safety and quality, the international financial institution said in a press release.
This new grant supplements the $250 million initially approved for the program in December 2024, the Washington-based institution explained.
Building on the initial focus on scaling climate-smart practices, the additional financing tackles demand-side constraints faced by small- and medium-scale farmers to accelerate the transition of Morocco’s rainfed cereal sector to conservation agriculture, the World Bank added.
In this context, the Bretton Woods institution indicated that the program will reach approximately 1,200 farmers across 20,000 hectares. Support will be delivered via digital e-vouchers that lower production costs by offering mechanization services like direct seeding, and access to climate-resilient seeds.
According to the statement, this project will also help cereal and legume farmers – including women and youth – gain financial access and reach better markets by efficiently pooling their harvests, facilitate financial inclusion and improve access to remunerative markets for cereal and legume producers through smart aggregation of the output generated under the project.
Furthermore, project management, monitoring, and evaluation will be strengthened to track adoption, measure gains in yields and farmer incomes, and quantify climate mitigation benefits, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, World Bank executed technical assistance will support the design and rollout of the e-voucher system and the impact evaluation.
Emphasizing that the agri-food sector is vital to Morocco’s economy and rural livelihoods, the institution noted that consecutive years of drought have underscored the vulnerability of rainfed cereal production and the need to move toward more resilient production systems.
The World Bank thus pointed out that the additional financing supports that transition by expanding conservation agriculture to help stabilize yields, improve soil and water management, and reduce exposure to climate shocks.
Furthermore, the program also advances the One World Bank Group approach through collaboration between the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and contributes to the AgriConnect initiative by boosting employment in cereal and legume value chains and enhancing food and nutrition security.
“By reinforcing the shift to climate-smart practices and piloting innovative, digitally enabled support for smallholders, this additional financing will support Morocco create green jobs in rural areas and strengthen national food security,” said Ahmadou Moustapha Ndiaye, World Bank Division Director for the Maghreb and Malta.
He also noted that the project “sustains the momentum of the program approved last year and deepens our partnership under the One World Bank Group approach.”
Together with measures to improve market access and capacity-building among public and private stakeholders, the program aims to help farmers produce and market higher-quality, safer food while increasing their incomes, ensuring continuity and coherence with the initial financing, the Bretton Woods institution underlined.
