Morocco has submerged itself in what some economists call passive economical output. Since the end of colonization and to benefit the superpowers, Morocco was led to believe that the agricultural economy was the best solution for the newly independent nation. This idea was deceiving and misleading as morocco was France’s farm for products it couldn’t replicate and a good and cheap source of fish for the big brothers in Europe.

Almost 60 years have passed and the country is still trapped in this farce, claiming that agriculture is the future of Morocco. The only real successful agricultural country in the world is USA only because it is a much advanced farming economy that is supported by a strong political and cultural strategy.

The farming practices in morocco are archaic and can’t compete internationally. Even locally, Moroccans love Apples from Chile and raisins from Italy. It can’t even achieve self-sufficiency. Sixty years of failure is a sign of poor government policies and absent strategic planning. It is a shame to keep feeding this failing enterprise hard-earned Moroccan money. Anything less than full reshuffling of the country planning for new agriculture will be a continuation of failed policy.

A new plan should include the following steps:

*Shrinking the size of the Moroccan agriculture especially the heavily subsidized sectors

*Modernizing the new agriculture

*Developing new and profitable products

*Producing locally but thinking globally: find world markets in need of Moroccan     products

*Producing smart and producing quality

*Water management

*Cultivating the farmer. The Moroccan farmer is still illiterate and ignores many techniques of modern farming.

Sometimes, it is better to shrink an enterprise and expand it later. The Moroccan agriculture is unregulated and is left to amateur practices that drain resources rather than produce results. Israel is a small country by all norms but it has an efficient agriculture. It feeds all Israelis and its products are all over in Europe and American supermarkets.

Sudan, on the other hand, is a large country capable of feeding the entire planet but due to its poor and amateurial farming practices ends up importing 45% of its food needs. The difference is management and strategic planning. While Israel created kibbutz and encouraged self reliance and producing extra for external markets, Sudan kept a feudal system that created a  gap between the poor and rich and ruined the country’s chances of being an excellent agricultural nation.

Morocco can learn from these examples. Sudan, upon learning that it needs industry despite all its vast fertile land and abundance of water, is now making planes and some agricultural machinery.

The irony is the fact that industrial countries achieved enough development, modernized their infrastructure and benefited not only their factories but also their farms. They invented machines and products and for all sectors. Nations that relied on agriculture ended up in the low ranking income.

Consider the fact that one Microsoft Office Enterprise CD "full legal copy" costs the same as one ton of potatoes. Commodities are important in world trade but their price is dictated and imposed by companies and banks that set unfair rules on poor countries. Oil is cheaper than diet Pepsi! While morocco awaits rain every year, China continues to transform its economy which is 100 times bigger than Morocco’s to an industrial miracle from a feudal failure

For Morocco to defy the norms and declare itself an agricultural country with real and genuine desire for progress is foolish and plain absurd. Agriculture does not create wealth, it makes the feudals rich such as the AL AMRANI and IRAKI families because they own over a million hectares of land. This does not mean that the other 34,999,998 Moroccans are getting a nickel from this wealth.

For Morocco to achieve a sustained development in the magnitude of countries such as Turkey, Iran, Vietnam and others, it needs a modern agriculture supported by an industrial sector worthy of its name the development that the Moroccan citizen can benefit from, not the beautiful hotels, the 5 star residences and the marinas that he will not set a foot in.

The choices are clear, Morocco can’t make it with the current agricultural policy, and Morocco will fail at the first drought season. More effort and know-how need to be implemented in an agro-industrial ministry. Why not one minister for both sectors? Agriculture and industry are at least complimentary.

It is doubtful that the current prime minister of Morocco has any clue on how to tackle a complete change in Morocco’s output and how to introduce a clear and thorough program, detailed step by step on how to get Morocco out of this passive economy. It is highly doubtful that MR Prime Minister can come up with a plan to save Morocco and guarantee a real development independently of tourism and the expatriates and present it to the King for consideration. Not one minister is capable of detaching him or herself from the safety belt they are all attached to. They all play it safe so they can be chosen for future assignments.

Morocco needs courageous people who can be innovative and who take the initiative to better the lives of Moroccans.

By Zak Ettamymy

Zak Ettamymy, born in Casablanca Morocco, graduated from American University, Columbia and NYU. He writes articles pertaining to Morocco in terms of politics, economy and sports; with a specialty in the Sahara issues. Zak Ettamymy is a member of the Transatlantic Institute for Policy and Progress, a non profit organization that promotes Moroccan interests in the US.

First Published in moroccoboard.com