• Morocco begins review of 1969 Agricultural Investment Code to modernize sector
• Agriculture draws just 2% of investment; FDI halved since 2021
• Reform aims to boost rural jobs, align with drought-hit Generation Green plan
  

Morocco’s Ministry of Agriculture has launched a study to revise the country’s Agricultural Investment Code (CIA), a key law adopted in 1969. The objective is to modernize the legal framework, better regulate new rural investment, and adapt the sector to the economic, social and environmental changes of the past five decades, local media reported on Nov. 10.

For nearly 50 years, the CIA has served as the cornerstone of Morocco’s agricultural development, covering areas such as irrigation, land management, crop-production systems and incentives for private investment.

According to the ministry, the review will run for nine months and will be carried out in three phases. The first will involve a full assessment of the current system to determine whether it still fits the country’s economic and institutional evolution. The second will identify what new legal instruments are needed and align them with ongoing agricultural policies and the country’s new development strategy. The final phase will outline reform options and a roadmap to guide the ministry in updating the legal framework.

Through this initiative, authorities aim to give the agricultural sector a modern, coherent investment framework suited to Morocco’s current and future challenges and to boost its appeal to private investors.

Investment Trends

A 2024 analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that most investment flows in Morocco are directed toward real estate and infrastructure (more than half), followed by industry (about one-third) and non-infrastructure services (10 percent). Only 2 percent goes to agriculture.

Data from the Moroccan Exchange Office shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector has fallen by 50 percent over the past four years, dropping from 1.1 billion dirhams ($118.8 million) in 2021 to 549 million dirhams in 2024.

Attracting more investment is a strategic priority for the government, which needs additional financing to continue implementing its main modernization program, Generation Green (2020–2030). Progress on the plan has been hindered by persistent drought.

Between 2021 and 2024, cumulative investment under Generation Green reached 83.3 billion dirhams, of which 63 percent came from public funds and 37 percent from private sources. Despite these efforts, Morocco lost nearly one million agricultural jobs between 2019 and 2024, mainly due to long-term drought conditions and growing water stress affecting production.

In response, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in October that it will soon launch a national program to support employment in rural areas, with a projected cost of 1 billion dirhams.

Stéphanas Assocle