Morocco remains a major importer despite its significant potential in the agri-food sector, says a new analysis by a Moroccan think tank. In a publication last week, the Moroccan Institute of Strategic Intelligence (IMIS) drew an analogy between the country’s agrifood sector and the phosphate sector, explaining that Morocco has the potential to create a strong agri-food business industry to match the success of the OCP Group. Noting the challenges facing the growth of the agri-food business in Morocco, IMIS’s analysis pointed out that while the agriculture input has improved significantly in recent years thanks to state strategies such as the Green Morocco Plan 1 and the Green Generation project, the country is yet to create an “agrifood industrial complex” that would target both the national and international markets. The disparity between Morocco’s agriculture production and the absence of a strong agrifood industrial complex has been the center of attention of many state-owned or sponsored policy institutions in recent years, the think tank argued. Morocco’s Caisse de Depot et de Gestion (CDG), a state-owned financial institution that manages the country’s long-term savings, is placing the Moroccan agri-food industry at the heart of its priorities.
In 2015, the institution announced plans to enact a new strategy to increase investments in the Moroccan agri-food industry and bring it into the league of the country’s phosphate industry. IMIS’s analysis went as far as to suggest that Morocco could make the agrifood business the cornerstone of its recently formulated development model to further boost its food sovereignty and its international trade by 2030. As of 2022, the food industry sector generates MAD 30 billion in added value to the Moroccan economy, accounting for 26% of the country’s industrial Gross Domestic Production (GDP). The sector comprises 2,000 companies and employs 150,000 people, supporting 25% of the industrial workforce in the country. However, the sector currently is largely made up of Small and Medium Size Businesses (SMEs) employing less than 200 workers each. Meanwhile, 90% of businesses in the sector are SMEs. And while SMEs make up the majority of businesses in the sector, they are only responsible for 45% of Morocco’s agrifood input. Multinational and national groups such as Danone, Nestle, and Holmarcom make up only 5% of the companies but are responsible for 55% of the input in the agri-food sector in Morocco.