Agricultural policy evaluation at the local level through a regional social accounting matrix : An exemple from Morocco

In less developed countries policy evaluation methodology has to be reconsidered as the context has dramatically changed. For example, in Morocco, the main objective used to be self-sufficiency in basic commodities such as flour, sugar or milk. These objectives have justified heavy investments in large irrigation schemes. Nowadays, the problem is to evaluate the impacts of development alternatives on different kinds of economic agent: households, enterprises, public institutions and so on. For that, at national and local levels, the idea of using social accounting matrices is spreading. The methodology at the local/ provincial level is illustrated by an example from Morocco where investments in irrigation are continuing but where there is also concern with poverty reduction in rainfed agriculture. During a research project on regional development, with a focus on agriculture and its upstream and downstream linkages, an SAM has been built for the province of El Djedida (on the Atlantic plain 90 km south-west of Casablanca) for the year 1997. This SAM, and the derived multipliers, is used to contribute to one aspect of the policy debate, namely whether it is better to invest in irrigated agriculture than in rainfed alternatives. (Résumé d'auteur