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A partnership agreement was signed on Thursday on the sidelines of the International Agriculture Show in Morocco (SIAM) in Meknes, marking a step toward strengthening and revitalizing agricultural cooperatives.
The agreement brings together the National Office for Agricultural Advisory Services (ONCA), the Office for the Development of Cooperation (ODCO), and the Moroccan Confederation of Agriculture and Rural Development (COMADER), with the objective of supporting the structuring and development of the cooperative sector.
The signing ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture , Ahmed El Bouari, and the Secretary of State in charge of Handicrafts and Social and Solidarity Economy, Lahcen Essaadi, as part of efforts to strengthen the organization and performance of the agricultural cooperative sector.
Signed by Hicham Rahali, Director General of ONCA, Aïcha Errifaai, Director General of ODCO, and Rachid Benali, President of COMADER, the agreement aims to structure, professionalize and integrate agricultural cooperatives into organized value chains, with a view to enhancing their competitiveness, governance and economic performance, while improving their access to markets, support mechanisms and advisory services.
In this context, the three signatory parties will work to strengthen the structuring of agricultural cooperatives by encouraging their grouping into unions, associations and federations, while supporting their formalization, regularization and revitalization to consolidate their organization and facilitate their integration into the formal economic fabric.
The agreement also provides for the establishment of an integrated system for the exchange, qualification, and valorization of data related to agricultural cooperatives, enabling the development of a reliable and regularly updated national database.
Furthermore, ONCA, ODCO and COMADER will support the professionalization of cooperatives by strengthening their governance, transparency and managerial, organizational, administrative, financial and commercial capacities, as well as by promoting the adoption of digital tools and management solutions to improve production, organization and marketing processes.
The signatories will also support the promotion, valorization and commercialization of agricultural products, and will set up shared mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, knowledge sharing and dissemination of best practices.
Finally, the agreement seeks to expand the participation of agricultural cooperatives in recognized interprofessional organizations, facilitate their integration into organized value chains and their contractual inclusion in sectors, while placing particular emphasis on promoting the active participation of youth and women in the structuring, governance and development of agricultural cooperatives.
