Organized by the Digital Pole of Agriculture, Forestry and Drought Observatory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, in partnership with the Technopark Management Company of Morocco, FAO and the World Bank (WB), this meeting was an opportunity to deepen reflection and exchange experiences around the importance of the digital ecosystem as a lever for transforming food systems around the world.
The work of this conclave also made it possible to examine the experiences of developing ecosystems of agricultural start-ups internationally and in Morocco, as presented in the guidebook, as well as to present an outline of international transactions in the field of AgriTech. In addition, they emphasized the role of accelerators and incubators in promoting the creation of agri-digital start-ups in Morocco.
In her opening remarks, the director of the Digital Pole of Agriculture, Forestry and Drought Observatory, Loubna El Mansouri, indicated that this meeting is part of the Pole’s 2024 action plan, focused on improving knowledge and capabilities in agri-digital, and promoting the agri-digital ecosystem, including exploring the potential of entrepreneurship 4.0.
“A mapping of the ecosystem was carried out to identify the technological solutions available, revealing the existence of 76 solutions focused on various aspects of the agricultural value chain,” she said, noting that this mapping work also highlighted gaps in storage and traceability technologies, as well as concentrated use of digital in certain regions and for certain applications.
For his part, the WB agriculture expert, Rémi Trier, underlined the importance of considering the development of agri-digital and its opportunities for Morocco, taking into account international experiences and future priorities for Moroccan agriculture with public and private sector partners.
At the same time, Lina Belmaachi, consultant manager at INSKIP, a firm specializing in entrepreneurship consulting, discussed the emergence of AgTech which benefits from increasing investments, despite a certain delay in terms of overall economic impact, , moreover, the challenges specific to emerging markets, such as access to data for small farmers and climate and water issues, which are particularly relevant for Morocco.
For her part, Aziza Inoubli, Data Scientist at Brighter Bridges, highlighted the importance of innovation facilitators in the development of the agri-tech ecosystem, suggesting thinking about involving international players active in other key regions to attract more funding for Moroccan agri-tech startups.
The Head of the project offer development department within the Agency for Agricultural Development (ADA), Ilyass Rabi, presented the master plan for agricultural, para-agricultural and digital professions developed by the ADA to identify the most promising entrepreneurship opportunities, including a regional-scale mapping of services and identifying 25 entrepreneurship niches, to develop technological solutions for the benefit of farms and agro-industry.
At the end of this meeting, the participants made recommendations. On a strategic level, this involves promoting, as a priority, analog agricultural e-services for the benefit of small and medium-sized farms and strengthening agri-digital capacities and knowledge along the value chain of digital transformation.
On the operational level, it involves adopting and building joint actions between public and private partners covering all components of the ecosystem, including research-industry-inter-professional-finance and technology promoters, around priority subjects with a view to implementing adapted, attractive and affordable solutions and services for the community of all Moroccan farmers.
This meeting is part of the implementation of the “Green Generation” strategy which has made digitalization a transversal project to achieve resilience in the agricultural sector, promote growth in the sector from 20 to 50%, improve living conditions in rural areas and promote job creation, particularly for young people and women.