Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
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3.1 Morocco
Morocco has one of the most developed agricultural statistics in the region of North Africa.
According to the World Bank Statistical Capacity Indicator, it ranks second after Egypt in Africa
in terms of general statistical capacity. In the area of agricultural statistics according to IASD it
ranks at the top of the African group and third among all COMCEC Member Countries.21
However, it should be noted that the agricultural statistics system only partially meets the
needs of national and international researchers and policy makers. While the statistical system
uses the most up-to-date methodologies and technologies, to the extent that the resources are
available, there is still a mismatch between the demand for and supply of agricultural statistics.
A huge amount of data with relatively less demand is produced but much of the highly
demanded data is not produced.
i. Organization of the Agricultural Statistics System
The Legal Framework : The Royal Decree Law No. 370-67 dated 5 August 1968 refers to the
creation and role of Coordinating Committee for Statistical Studies (COCOES). The Royal
Decree Law No. 371-67 establishes the composition and organization of COCOES. Article 8 of
the Act refers to the principles of confidentiality and respect for privacy.
The COCOES, whose secretariat is provided by the Statistics Directorate of High Commission
for Planning (DS/HCP), is mandated to coordinate and promote statistical studies, support the
exchange of data and ensure the validity of the methodology used and results produced. The
COCOES consisted of four sub-committees, of which one is the sub-committee for agricultural
statistics. The Ministry of Agriculture and Maritime Fishing (MAPM) was a member of COCOES,
which was not very functional. In 2010, the National Council of Statistical Information (CNIS)
replaced COCOES to provide dynamism to the development and coordination of the National
Statistical System (NSS).
In 1975, the responsibility for the implementation of agricultural surveys was transferred
from the Directorate of Statistics (DS) of the High Commission for Planning (HCP) to MAPM’s
Directorate of Strategy and Statistics (DSS)22.
Institutional Set Up: Several institutions play a significant role in the agricultural statistical
system of Morocco. The first is the MAPM, which is mandated to carry out agricultural surveys,
compile statistics on agricultural production, producer prices and costs of production, monitor
agricultural support, manage geographic information systems (GIS) and sample frames.
Second is the HCP, which is responsible for national accounts of agriculture and economic
indicators, indices and analyses based on the raw data compiled by MAPM. They are also in
charge of the methodologies, standards, classifications and international representation for
statistics. The dissemination of statistics, especially those processed on the second level, fall
21 Tables 14 and 36.
22 Idrissi, 2012.