Rabat – As Morocco’s agriculture sector continues to reel from the far-reaching effects of the Ukraine war and a severe drought, the country’s final production of its main cereals dropped to 34 million quintals in this agricultural season, representing a decrease of 67% compared to the previous campaign.
The previous campaign recorded an exceptional performance, with production reaching 103.2 million quintals, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on Monday.
In contrast, added the statement, performance has been below par this season with cereal area production estimated at 3.6 million hectares – against 4.35 million hectares in the previous campaign.
Main cereal production includes soft wheat (18.9 million quintals), durum wheat (8.1 million quintals), and barley (7 million quintals).
Around 57% of the production came from favorable regions, including Fez-Meknes and Rabat-Sale Kenitra, the ministry said, noting that irrigated cereals contributed only 20.7% of the total production.
The ministry attributed the ongoing decline in productivity to a notable “decrease in the irrigated area of cereals and irrigation restrictions in the large hydraulic perimeters.”
Water scarcity
The 2021-22 season’s suboptimal performance is also due to a poor temporal distribution of rainfall, the ministry argued, explaining that nearly a third of the rainfall occurred during the months of November and December.
While 53% of cumulative rainfall occurred in the months of March and April, the lack of rainfall in several regions across Morocco during the months of January and February delayed the growth of most cereals, noted the ministry’s statement.
Even with a slight increase in rainfall in the second quarter of the year, this year’s rainfall was ultimately not high enough to inspire a successful agricultural season. According to the ministry, rainfall reached 199 millimeters by the end of May 2022, representing 44% compared to the 30-year average (355 millimeters) and a drop of 34% compared to the previous campaign.
Facing its worst drought in three decades, Morocco is now implementing water rationing measures to mitigate the impact of the worst drought to have hit the country in three decades.
“We are facing a water emergency situation, the stored water is insufficient, we must take care of the resources we have,” Casablanca’s deputy mayor told the Spanish news outlet EFE over the weekend.
