The succession of crises has revealed the need to transform the food system and invest more in resilience to achieve food security, underlined the Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Redouane Arrach.
Speaking on Tuesday in Rabat, at the opening of the 16th annual solemn plenary session of the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Techniques under the theme “Food sovereignty and security in Morocco: the role of science and Innovation”, Mr. Arrach listed several crises that affect food security, including the health crisis, economic recession, inflation, disruption of supply chains, declining water resources, rising costs of food production and prices, as well as the decline in household purchasing power.
Food sovereignty is based on adequate policies implemented in a responsible, participatory and inclusive manner, the achievement of water and energy security and the investment in training, research and innovation which are the driving force for the transformation of food systems. food, said Mr. Arrach in a speech on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, on the consolidation of food security and sovereignty in Morocco.
Highlighting the main levers of transformation to ensure food security, the official cited in particular agricultural public investment to create agricultural and rural economic dynamics, private investment to modernize exports, adopt technology and develop to improve productivity, financing and incentives and public-private partnership.
Likewise, he said, international trade and its smooth functioning without barriers is vital for food security, as global supply chains have become highly interdependent on each other.
And Arrach argues that trade liberalization increases economic growth in terms of jobs, incomes and inclusion of women, saying that well-functioning global markets, away from speculation, go a long way to mitigating volatility prices of products and inputs.
Organized with the High Blessing of HM King Mohammed VI, the 2023 solemn plenary session of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology is attended by members of the Academy and eminent scientific personalities invited from Morocco and abroad, who will lead the work of the various sessions, in particular from Brazil, France, China, Canada and the FAO.
The subject chosen for this session, which continues until February 23, particularly concerns Moroccan agriculture, which is part of a long history, punctuated by successive innovations and adaptations, the pace of which has accelerated during the last decades, and which today raises various concerns (economic, social, scientific, cultural and environmental) in particular because of climate change and the problem of natural resources (water, soil and biodiversity).