Morocco Tags 8 Million Livestock for Eid Al Adha

Rabat – Morocco’s supply of healthy livestock — especially sheep and goats — for Eid Al Adha, one of the two major Islamic holidays also known as the “feast of sacrifice,” is estimated at eight million while the demand does not exceed 5.6 million, the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests said on Monday.

The health status of the Eid Al Adha livestock is “generally satisfactory,” the ministry argued in a statement to Morocco’s news agency MAP, noting that the supply of livestock includes 5.1 million sheep and 500,000 goats.

The ministry also added that it has set up since the beginning of this year a program of continuous monitoring of the health and the market supply situation of animals intended for slaughter for Eid Al Adha.

Morocco has put in place several support measures for the 2021-22 agricultural season to mitigate the effects of this year’s unprecedented drought season and strengthen the sheep and goat farming, the statement added.

The ministry highlighted that its program to reduce the impact of the rainfall deficit has provided “significant support” to livestock farmers in the form of subsidized livestock feed.

Morocco’s National Health Security Office of Food (ONSSA) also launched a program in April to register the sheep and goat farming units for the slaughter of this year’s Eid, and its veterinary services have registered more than 242,000 units of fattening of sheep and goats for Eid.

The ministry noted that the operation of tagging a yellow loop carrying a serial number on the ears of livestocks continues. As of June 16, six million sheep and goats already had the yellow loop.

Pledging to establish 30 temporary markets across the country for the sale of livestock for Eid, the ministry pointed out that, as the religious celebration approaches, only animals with the specific yellow loop labeled “Eid Al Adha” will be allowed in markets across Morocco.