Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region

As indicated in Table 41, Morocco’s agricultural statistical system compiles and disseminates a

wide variety of statistics related to the traditional domains, such as production, prices, inputs

and trade with a maximum of a one-year lag. The statistics in the market, consumption, income

and environment domains, on the other hand, are either missing or available with longer time

delays.

iii.

Resources of the Agricultural System

Agricultural statistics in Morocco are compiled by several institutions, which include amongst

others MAPM, HCP, FEO, HCEFLD and ONP. Agricultural statistics in these institutions are

compiled by the agricultural and statistics divisions, as well as non-statistics and non-

agricultural divisions. For example, economic accounts for agriculture are compiled by the

national accounts and not the statistics directorate of HCP. Similarly, the agricultural trade

statistics are not compiled by agricultural statistics directorates in FEO or the MAPM. This

makes it very difficult to allocate the resources available to agricultural statistics activities, at

more aggregated levels for different institutions. The most direct resources available for

agricultural statistics usually refer to the agricultural statistics divisions that are either in

MAPM or the national statistics offices. The resources allocated to agricultural statistics also

shows substantial variations over the years depending on the calendar of large scale surveys

and censuses. In the case of Morocco, MAPM, as the provider of most of the statistics and with a

directorate of agricultural statistics, is the major user of the resources. We estimate that

although SD/MAPM resources account for 80 percent of the resources allocated to agricultural

statistics in MAPM, and MAPM resources account for 75 percent of the resources allocated to

agricultural statistics in Morocco, this implies that only 60 percent of total resources for

agricultural statistics account for the human, financial and physical resources in SD/MAPM, as

summarized below.

Human Resources:

The number of staff for agricultural statistics in SD/MAPM is 216, which

includes 29 senior, 132 surveyors and 49 support staff. At the central level, the staffs of the

division of statistics consist of 30 people, including 10 managers, 10 technicians, 3 officers and

7 secretaries. These represent almost a quarter of the staff of the division. At the field level,

staffs currently consist of 186 persons, including 15 managers, 132 surveyors and 39 support

staff. In the course of fifteen years, the field staff decreased by over 75 percent. Over the next 5

years the number of retirements is expected to reduce by another 33 percent of the current

workforce (i.e. 26.7 percent of managers, 34.1 percent of surveyors and 30.8 percent of

support staff).

Financial Resources:

The DS/MAPA does not have its own legal identity or financial

autonomy from the DSS. The budget of statistical activities is allocated in the DSS’s budget,

comprising of nearly 80 percent of the total budget. The 2012 budget for DSS was 27 million

Moroccan Dirhams (MAD), which is equivalent to 3.4 million USD.

Idrissi, 2012.

SSAQ Results.