The World Bank (WB) on Friday approved a loan of 203 million U.S. dollars to Morocco to further help the country modernize its agricultural sector, the bank bureau in Rabat said in a press release.

The loan is part of the support for the Green Morocco Plan, a large-scale agricultural program aiming to improve food security and promote Morocco's integration into the global economy, among others.

"Developing a liberalized and diversified market environment will boost the performance of the agri-food sector and contribute to reducing rural poverty," said Simon Gray, WB's Maghreb Country director.

The Green Morocco Plan, the country's core agricultural strategy which started in 2008, also aims to provide better opportunities to farmers by transforming the agri-food sector into a stable source of growth, competitiveness and broad-based economic development in rural areas.

The agricultural sector contributes to 19 percent of the country's gross national product (GNP) and employs over 4.5 million people. Morocco plans to double the value-added of the agricultural sector and add another 1.5 million jobs in the sector by 2020. Endi

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