Morocco bets on AI to strengthen agriculture and growth

Tuesday 17 March 2026 - 13:34

By: Dakir Madiha

Morocco bets on AI to strengthen agriculture and growth

Morocco is moving to connect its artificial intelligence strategy with agriculture as it seeks to protect economic growth from climate shocks and lift productivity in a sector that remains central to national output. Official projections from the High Commission for Planning show gross domestic product growth reaching 5% in 2026 after 4.7% in 2025, supported by stronger farm activity and steady expansion in non-agricultural industries. The figures reinforce the importance of making agriculture more resilient after several years of weather-related volatility.

The economic backdrop explains why policymakers are treating digital modernization as more than a technology agenda. Morocco’s economy, estimated at about $170 billion, still depends heavily on agriculture, a sector whose performance has swung with rainfall and drought conditions. While non-agricultural activity has held near 4.5% annual growth since 2024, farm output has fluctuated between 2% and 6%, exposing the limits of a model tied closely to climate conditions. That has pushed officials to promote tools that can improve water use, forecasting and farm management.

A major part of that effort is embedded in the country’s digital transformation budget for 2024 to 2026, which totals 11 billion dirhams, or about $1.2 billion. The funding is intended to support AI projects, expand fiber-optic infrastructure and deepen cooperation between universities, public institutions and private companies. Agriculture stands out as a likely beneficiary because precision farming systems can use data to improve irrigation, monitor crop health and reduce waste.

The government has also outlined broader ambitions for AI as a national growth engine. At a conference in Rabat on January 11, 2026, Minister of Digital Transition Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni said Morocco aims to generate 100 billion dirhams in GDP from AI by 2030. The strategy includes investment in sovereign data centers, local cloud capacity and workforce training, all of which could support agricultural applications such as yield forecasting and resource planning. Under the wider Digital Morocco 2030 roadmap, officials say the program could help create 240,000 jobs across the economy and provide annual training for 45,000 people.

Analysts and industry figures argue that the agricultural case is especially strong because of Morocco’s water stress. Karim Beguir, chief executive of InstaDeep, said during a January 2026 panel tied to the World Economic Forum that AI can cut water consumption by as much as 30% through precision irrigation, a point with direct relevance for arid parts of North Africa. In the African Development Bank’s 2025 North Africa Economic Outlook, senior economist Fatima Zahra Alaoui said Morocco’s AI spending could raise agricultural productivity by 15% to 20% over five years, outpacing projections for regional peers such as Egypt.

Infrastructure plans are meant to support that shift. A renewable-powered data center project in Dakhla is expected to strengthen Morocco’s control over data processing and provide capacity for AI systems serving farms and rural industries. Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi, director general of the National Office of Electricity and Potable Water, said in a January 15, 2026 release that the country’s renewable energy network would help supply AI-driven agrotech infrastructure, linking energy policy to digital expansion in the countryside.

Recent and projected data suggest why the government sees urgency. According to HCP figures cited in the source material, agricultural GDP fell 2.3% in drought-hit 2024 after rising 5.1% in 2023. Over the same period, fiber coverage suited to AI deployment is projected to expand sharply, from 40% urban penetration in 2024 to 70% by 2026. Morocco’s target of adding $10 billion in GDP through AI by 2030 also stands above Tunisia’s reported $2 billion objective, underscoring the kingdom’s attempt to position itself as a regional leader.

Pilot programs offer early evidence of what that could mean on farms. In the Souss-Massa region, an AI irrigation trial cited in the source material cut water use by 25% and increased tomato yields by 18% between 2024 and 2025. Those results point to the type of measurable gains officials hope to scale, particularly in water-intensive sectors such as olives and citrus. Comparable Mediterranean pilot data referenced in the source also suggest AI tools can reduce irrigation use by 20% to 30% in crops where water demand is especially high.

Morocco has not yet completed a nationwide AI rollout in agriculture, and legal work on AI regulation is still in progress, including rules related to data privacy. Even so, the combination of public investment, infrastructure projects and early farm pilots shows that the country is trying to turn AI from a policy slogan into an economic tool. If the programs deliver at scale, agriculture could become one of the clearest tests of whether Morocco’s digital strategy can produce stronger and more stable growth.