Meknes — Mohamed Ouhssain, financial director at the Ministry of Agriculture, used the 18th International Agriculture Fair (SIAM) in Meknes to present a new pilot project aimed at expanding digital payments for rural cooperatives.
The initiative, launched in collaboration with Bank Al-Maghrib during SIAM, is being rolled out at the local products pavilion and provides electronic payment terminals to 50 cooperatives.
“During this edition of SIAM, we have equipped 50 cooperatives with EPT, which will allow them to smooth their business and pay directly by bank card instead of always looking for liquidity,” Ouhssain told Morocco World News (MWN).
He presented the move as a practical step toward integrating cooperatives and farmers into Morocco’s formal banking system while making day-to-day transactions easier and more efficient.
His remarks placed the focus less on abstract financial policy and more on direct field application.
Ouhssain said the ministry is working with electronic payment institutions to expand the use of digital tools in rural areas, particularly among cooperatives and farmers who still rely heavily on cash. He also linked the initiative to Morocco’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which is jointly steered by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Bank Al-Maghrib.
Beyond card payments, Ouhssain said the ministry is already looking ahead to broader digital options. He told MWN that future efforts will also aim to introduce phone-based payments in order to facilitate commercial operations and improve business profitability for rural actors.
That forward-looking message gave the SIAM pilot a wider meaning as a one-off fairground initiative as well as part of a longer effort to modernize how rural agricultural businesses operate.
The project also reflects the ministry’s attempt to connect agricultural development with concrete financial tools.
