Drought recovery credit

The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Finance, CNCA, and contractors. A.I.D. will provide CNCA with $13.5 million for onlending during the 1984-85 season to 9,759 small- and medium-sized farmers and to 366 agrarian reform cooperatives (and their members) who are having previous loans rescheduled; actual rescheduling will be a prerequisite to the granting of fresh credit. Interest rates will be positive in real terms. This strategy will both help drought-stricken farmers restore their productive capacity and reduce their repayment burdens and help CNCA recover unpaid loans and recover its lending capability. The European Economic Community will fund a rescheduling program for smaller, more marginal farmers. The project will improve CNCA"s institutional capacity by providing a long-term agricultural credit/agribusiness advisor to assess the effectiveness of current CNCA lending policies, develop a comprehensive program for lending to agribusiness, and ensure an adequate flow of information between A.I.D. and CNCA. Detailed analyses of the impact of current CNCA programs will be conducted in such areas as agribusiness lending, the macro- and micro-economic benefits of credit, the relationship between credit and agricultural production, and long-term strategies for drought conditions. Special attention will be given to an indepth analysis of the roles and credit needs of women in Moroccan agriculture. To support CNCA"s recently-developed training plan (in which field personnel are to attend seminars and workshops at the head office), the project will help equip the CNCA training center and technical library, and supply five microcomputers for training purposes. Also planned are 3 overseas observation tours for 15 top-level managers, and short-term overseas training of personnel and trainers in such areas as credit evaluation, loan monitoring, accounting, electronic data processing, and audit/control. The project will also help CNCA to develop a management information system and to computerize its credit network.