Morocco’s farming sector to the test of drought

Six consecutive years of drought left Morocco’s agricultural dams at a critical filling rate, prompting a halt of irrigation in key farming areas.

This year’s cereals harvest is expected to drop 43% to 3.12 million tons only, due to a lack of rainfall that induced a reduction in the cultivated area.

Rainfall was down 34% this year compared to an average year and 3% less compared to last year, according to agriculture ministry.

Filling rate of agricultural dams dropped to 29% so far this year, compared with 30% last year, the ministry said.

Up to May, farming exports dropped 0.7% to 41.7 billion dirhams. The central bank has revised downwards the country’s growth rate this year to 2.8%, from 3.4% last year.

To address water shortages, Morocco is investing in non-conventional water, including desalination plants under a 2020-2027 program to which 143 billion dirhams have been allocated.

Last month, Crown Prince Moulay El Hasan kicked off construction works to build Casablanca’s desalination plant with a capacity of 300 cubic meters, enough to meet the fresh water needs of 7.5 million people.

Following the example of an operating desalination plant in Agadir and a developing one in Dakhla, Casablanca’s plant will allocate 50 million cubic meters to irrigation.