Project area: The project area covers 14 rural communes. The total population of the project area is 78,000 inhabitants and arable land accounts for about 29,500 hectares, of which 11,140 hectares are irrigated. In general, farmers in this area maintain very small plots of land, which are either irrigated or use the bour system (bour zones are areas where rainfed or upland crops are grown, as opposed to irrigated zones).

Target group: The project will target smallholder farmers and livestock producers, women, young people and landless farmers whose livelihoods are affected by the upward and downward linkages of the olive, apple and lamb meat value chain. The project will directly benefit approximately 33,000 people, 55 per cent of whom will be women.

Project objectives: The project’s overall goal is to alleviate rural poverty through sustainable growth in the incomes of poor rural women, men and young people involved in three agricultural production subsectors: olives, apples and lamb meat. The Project’s specific objectives are to: (i) raise the productivity and quality of the three targeted products; (ii) enhance the value added of the targeted products through processing and packaging; and (iii) improve producers’ access to more lucrative markets.

Project description: Besides project organization, coordination and management, the project has three main components:

• Support for the development of the olive value chain. The component aims to: (i) increase productivity and product quality; (ii) add value through the creation of facilities for bottling olive oil; manufacturing olive paste and soap, and packaged table olives; and (iii) support product certification/labelling and marketing.
• Support for the development of the apple value chain. The component aims to: (i) increase the productivity of existing orchards and the quality of fruit; (ii) expand the apple orchards; (iii) add value by setting up packaging facilities for apples and apple by-products (vinegar and canned apple); and (iv) support product certification/labelling and marketing.
• Support the development of the lamb meat value chain. The component aims to: (i) increase productivity of sheep flocks; (ii) develop value chain by-products by setting up wool and leather processing facilities; and (iii) support the certification/labelling and marketing of value chain products and by-products.

The Project will put in place measures to increase women’s participation in the planning and implementation of project activities. Women will receive technical and organizational capacity-building. They will benefit from investments to increase the value added of the products and by products of the three chains. The Project will also facilitate access to credit for rural women and girls through the existing financing mechanisms.

Important features: The project is among those jointly identified by IFAD and the Government under the country strategic opportunities programme for 2009-2014 and will constitute an exit strategy to ensure the sustainability of investments and actions undertaken by the Rural Development Project in the Mountain Zones of Al Haouz Province, which closed in 2010. The project is also consistent with IFAD Strategic Framework, the National Human Development Initiative and the Green Morocco Plan, the second pillar of which targets the development of smallholder agriculture.

Potential cofinanciers and domestic contribution: The Government of Morocco will cofinance US$2.3 million, and the beneficiaries US$0.12 million. The National Sheep and Goat Association will provide about US$0.16 million.