SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY IN MOROCCO: CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

Food security is a major issue and constant challenge in the developing
world. Morocco has reached the target of the first MDG and, since 1990-1992, has
maintained the prevalence of undernourishment level of 5%, but it remains
vulnerable to climate change in case of recurrence of drought and external shocks.
Researches on food security in Morocco and its relationship with sustainable
development are not been sufficiently developed in the direction of
proposing models of sustainable food security strategies. Then, this study aims to
clarify the relationship between food security and sustainable food chain and to
propose a roadmap for food security in Morocco, learnt from the visit study to
Singapore as a leading country in food security. According to GFSI (Global Food
Security Index) of the Economist Intelligence unit, Singapore is ranked second in
the world after United States in 2015. Results outline the issues and challenges of
food security at both global and national levels and highlight the strengths and
weaknesses of food security in Morocco via the analysis of the Moroccan’s food
security balance through the GFSI (Global Food Security Index) of the Economist
Intelligence Unit. Finally, this study proposes a roadmap to ensure sustainable food
security in Morocco focused on two strategic pillars: governance and
organizational pillar and technical and financial support pillar. The first pillar
concerns the establishment of a national authority in charge of coordination and
implementation of food security strategies. The second pillar includes a set of
recommendations related to technical and financial support aspects as optimizing
storage foods, increasing agricultural productivity via agro-ecological
intensification and sensitizing farmers in adoption of sustainable agriculture
principles.