The Crédit Agricole du Maroc Group (GCAM) and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed, on Wednesday in Meknes, a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a €50 million credit line to finance agricultural projects with a strong sustainable development component.

This line of credit, the subject of this memorandum of understanding initialled by the Chairman of the Management Board of GCAM, Tariq Sijilmassi and the Director of AFD's Morocco Office Mihoub Mezouaghi, on the sidelines of the 14th International Agricultural Show in Morocco (SIAM 2019), will thus make it possible to finance agricultural and agri-food projects with a dimension related to sustainable development. and the protection of natural resources.

The main objective is to support the GCAM in financing sustainable investments in various areas, such as saving irrigation water, combating soil degradation, organic farming, agroforestry, the use of renewable energies, energy efficiency, waste treatment, etc.

This line is associated with technical assistance dedicated both to the GCAM for a better structuring of its sustainable development offer, and to the client units of the bank benefiting from the credit line in question to support their growth and their sustainable development plan.

The technical assistance will be managed by the Centre d'études et recherches du Crédit Agricole du Maroc (CERCAM).

This protocol represents the 4th GCAM-AFD credit line in progress, after three previous ones (20, 20 and 60 million euros), and testifies to a solid partnership that has also made it possible to support the group in technical capacity building and management projects for the target population, in particular small and medium-sized farms and agricultural cooperatives as well as commercial, industrial and service rural VSEs.

"This new line of credit will support agricultural project leaders towards more sustainable and less expensive production solutions, including the reduction of fossil fuel consumption and the consumption of water and phytosanitary products," Said Mihoub Mezouaghi in a statement to the press. It is also a question of supporting the transformation of the practices of the actors of the agricultural world towards models with higher added value such as organic farming for example, he said.