CNCA IV

closed

The Fourth Agricultural Credit Project aims to: (i) improve the standard of living of about 475,000 of Morocco's 1,928,000 farm families; (ii) contribute to growth of agricultural production and to a decline in Moroccan dependence on imported food; (iii) create about 115,000 man-years of rural employment; (iv) generate value added from agro-industrial production; and (v) expand CNCA's (Caisse Nationale de Credit Agricole - National Agricultural Credit Bank) capacity as an agricultural credit institution. The project will do this by financing farm investments through CNCA during the period September 1979 to August 1982, including: (A) investments by small farmers with incomes below 1.6 times the absolute rural poverty level; (B) investments by Agrarian Reform Cooperative and Farmers' Associations; (C) investments by medium and large farmer clients; and (D) agro-industry investments. CNCA's monitoring and evaluation system would also be strengthened. About 40 percent of beneficiaries are expected to be small farmers whose present income falls beneath the absolute rural poverty level. The major project risk is that of abnormally adverse weather conditions which will reduce crop yields and the project's rate of return.