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Geography, agriculture and the economy

The Kingdom of Morocco is located in North Africa, to the extreme west of the Maghreb. It has a population of 30.8 million (2007) and a surface area of 446,000 km2. The population growth rate dropped off sharply in the decade before the 2004 census, from 2.04 in 1994 to 1.4 per cent in 2004.

Morocco is bordered by the Mediterranean to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and by Algeria to the northwest and Mauritania to the south. Rugged, mountainous terrain characterizes the north, with the Rif range culminating in Djebel Tidirhine at 2,448 m and the Atlas Massif at an altitude of 4,165 m in Djebel Toubkal. The northern part of Morocco receives more rainfall than other zones in North Africa. The southern half of the country includes an extremely arid desert zone that is part of the Sahara Desert.

Agriculture
Approximately 12 per cent of Moroccan territory (8.6 million ha) is cultivated, 13 per cent (9 million ha) is forested and 75 per cent (53 million ha) is given over to rangeland. Only 16 per cent of the cultivated area is irrigated. Agriculture in the remaining cultivated area depends on uncertain precipitation that affects production. 

Agriculture accounts for between 13 and 16 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 40 per cent of the population. Farming systems range from subsistence farming to production of commercial crops. Since most land is not irrigated, the country's agricultural potential is far from being realized. Cereal production, for example, which occupies 68 per cent of mainly non-irrigated cultivated land, ranges between 2 and 10 million tonnes, depending on precipitation, with an average cereal production of 6 million tonnes. Other export crops, grown on irrigated land, include citrus fruits, tomatoes, potatoes and eating olives.

Fishing, which provides 400,000 jobs, alone accounts for half of all food export revenues.

Economy
The services sector is the country's most highly developed economic activity, contributing more than half of GDP. Within that sector, trade and tourism are major activities. Despite expansion of the manufacturing sector and rapid industrialization, current economic growth is highly dependent on fluctuations in agricultural output and swings in food and energy prices.

Globalization, recently signed free trade agreements and the dynamics of trade liberalization offer major opportunities for economic growth. Foreign investments increased fourfold between 1990 and 2006, the rate of domestic investments is growing steadily and new prospects for social development have been opened up by the National Human Development Initiative.

Source: IFAD