Morocco - Large Scale Irrigation Improvement Project

Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 1t,8 7GaA/ao Report No. 5846-NOR STAFF APPRAISAL REPORT KINGDOM OF MOROCCO LARGE SCALE IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT January 22, 1986 Regional Projects Department Europe, Middle East and North Africa Argiculture II Division This document has a restricted distribution and may be used bv recipients only in the performanc- of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.  CURRE3NCY EQUIVALENTS Currency Unit Dirham (DH) us $ 1.00 D DH 10.00 DH .00 = US $ 0.10 WEiGHTS AND MEASURES The metric system is used throughout this report GOVERNMENT OF KINGDOM OF MOROCCO FISCAL YEAR January 1 - December 31  FOR OMCIAL USE ONLY GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS ASAL Agricultural Sector Adjustment Loan CmV : ORMVAs' Local Development Centers (Centre de mise en valeur) CNCA : National Bank for Agricultural Credit (Banque nationale de credit agricole) DEAR MARIA's Central Department of Training and Research (Direction de l'enseignement agricole et de la recherche) DER MARA's Central Department for Rural Construction (Direction de l'equipement rural) DPA MARA's Provincial Directorate for Agriculture (Direction provinciale de I'agriculture) DPAE MARA's Central Department for Planning and Economic Affairs (Direction des affaires economiques) DPV MARA's Central Department of Crop Production (Direction de la production vegetale) FERTIMA: National Fertilizer Marketing Company (Societe Marocaine des fertilisants) INRA : National Institute for Agricultural Research (Institut national de la recherche agronomique) MARA : Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (Ministere de l'agriculture et de la reforme agraire) ORMVAs Regional Agricultural Development Offices (Offices r6gionaux de mise en valeur agricole) This document has a restricted distnbution and may be used by recipients only in the performance or their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be discksed without World Bank authorization.  MOROCCO LARGE SCALE IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT LOAN AND PROJECT SUMMARY Borrower : Kingdom of Morocco Amount : US$46.0 million equivalent Terms : 20 years, including 5 years of grace, at the standard variable interest rate. Proiect Description: The proposed Project would help implement and complement the reform package agreed upon under the First Agricultural Sector Adjustment Loan (2590-MOR) with regard to the irrigation subsector. The Project would (a) reduce the need for major costly investments for the rehabilitation of existing large-scale irrigation systems covering 400,000 ha by improving operation and maintenance operations; (b) induce an increase in production mainly caused by the availability of increased water due to the Project improvement works over 150,000 ha, but also caused by improved extension services and applied research; (c) improve the incomes of about 47,000 farmers and create employment opportunities; and (d) improve efficiency and financial autonomy of ORMVAs, which would have a positive impact on the Government budget. The Project would consist of (a) rehabilitation or upgrading of existing irrigation infrastructure serving about 150,000 ha; (b) provision of equipment, vehicles and houses for O&M operations; (c) setting up an efficient management information system and defining improved planning, financial, accounting ard operating procedures in the ORMVAs, improving extension services, upgrading the coordination between ORMVAs and Government, increasing farmers' participation in O&M, increasing water charge collection rates, introducing users' charges for commercial services before their full divestiture by ORMVAs, helping resol-ve problems caused by the water rights and collectively-owned land situation, and revising cropping patterns in the Large Scale Irrigation (LSI) areas; (d) technical assistance; and (e) on-farm development. The risks of slower Project implementation and production response and of lower rehabilitation cost cavings than expected would be minimized in view of the priority given by the Government to successfully implement the Project, as demonstrated by the actions it has already initiated under the ASAL to support the Project.  Estimated Proiect Costs: Local Foreign Total -----(US$ million)