Rabat – Morocco’s Agriculture Development Agency (ADA) has announced opening a tender for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the development of an irrigation system across 224,1517 hectares in the Jraifia council in the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra.
The tender covers 26 projects, including 22 small projects covering 112,0732 hectares, and four medium-sized projects covering a land surface of 112,0785 hectares. Under the tender, the companies would manage the irrigation grids for a long-term lease of 25 to 40 years.
As part of Morocco’s plans to stimulate agriculture activities in its southern provinces, the ADA would lease the land to young Moroccans in the Laayoune Sakia-El Hamra region in addition to private inventors.
According to the ADA, these 26 projects are expected to yield 9,500 tonnes of agricultural produce, and 3,100 fodder crops, generating MAD 51 million ($4.7 million) in added value.
The tender for the irrigation grid is part of the Jraifia hydro-agriculture development project Morocco’s agriculture ministry launched in 2016.
According to an official press release from the ADA, the tender is open until November 1, 2022.
In recent years, Morocco has been ramping up investments in irrigation grids in an effort to mitigate the effect of adverse weather on national agriculture production.
Last week, the North African country unveiled a new program, “Irrisat-Morocco,” that aims to optimize irrigation grids in the country using satellite data.
By developing irrigation grids nationwide, Morocco is attempting to address water scarcity, a core challenge facing its socio-economic development.
Exacerbated by climate change, water scarcity in Morocco is putting in the country’s largely rainfall-dependent agriculture. Agriculture accounts for an average of 14% of the North African country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
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