Rabat – In a bid to meet Moroccans’ need for livestock ahead of Eid Al Adha, the Moroccan government is set to import one million head of cattle and sheep, according to converging reports.
Rachid Benali, President of the Moroccan Confederation of Agriculture and Rural Development (COMADER), reportedly said that the country has earmarked four million head of livestock for the religious holiday. However, Morocco needs one million more to meet the population’s needs, he added.
The move would help increase the country’s red meat market and stabilize soaring prices ahead of the religious celebration, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice.
Eid Al Adha is a major religious celebration for Muslims across the world, where sacrificing an animal, typically a sheep, goat, or cow, is an important ritual.
For this reason, the demand for livestock significantly increases in the weeks leading up to Eid Al Adha, causing a surge in red meat prices, especially if livestock supply is limited.
To address this issue, Morocco has pledged to implement measures to increase livestock supply, including increasing imports from other countries, as well as regulating the market to ensure that livestock and red meat prices remain reasonable.
Since February, Morocco has imported a total of 32,000 head of cattle and sheep, the government announced last week following a meeting between the head of the government Aziz Akhannouch and representatives of professionals from the red meat sector.
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“The government has taken numerous emergency measures to ensure the stability of red meat prices, restore the balance of the sector, and build up the herd in the short term,” Akhannouch said.
The government’s promises come after Moroccans expressed concerns regarding the quality of cattle that the country recently imported from Brazil.
Videos and photos featuring the imported cattle surfaced on the internet two weeks ago, leading many Moroccans to cast doubt over the health of the cattle and the quality of their meat.
In response to these concerns, the government stressed that the imported cattled is subject to a “strict control process” by ONSSA, the Moroccan food safety office.
