Morocco’s agricultural sector is heading into one of its strongest seasons in years, with the government projecting a cereal harvest of nearly 90 million quintals and a 15 percent rise in the agricultural GDP for 2026. Agriculture Minister Ahmed El Bouari outlined these figures at the opening of the SIAM 2026 conference in Meknès on April 21, framing the season as a decisive break from several consecutive years of drought.
The recovery rests on markedly improved rainfall that has expanded the cereal-sown area to 3.9 million hectares. Tree crops have also performed well, with olive, citrus, and date palm all recording positive results. National dam reservoirs have reached 13 billion cubic metres — a 76 percent fill rate — substantially underpinning the outlook for irrigated agriculture and reducing exposure to further weather risk.
Livestock accounts for close to one third of total agricultural GDP. Morocco maintains approximately 33 million head of sheep, cattle, and camels, supporting annual production of around 530,000 tonnes of red meat and 2 billion litres of milk. The poultry subsector produced 780,000 tonnes of white meat and nearly 6.5 billion table eggs, satisfying the entirety of domestic demand.
Portugal, the guest of honour at SIAM 2026, used the occasion to signal deepened cooperation with Morocco in agri-industry, livestock production, natural resource management, and research. France’s agriculture minister Annie Genevard similarly identified five joint priorities: soil and feed security, professional modernisation, genetic improvement, value chain integration, and consumer-oriented quality enhancement.
The broader context is one of strategic repositioning under Morocco’s Green Generation 2020-2030 strategy, which emphasises human capital, cooperative structures, and value chain integration as levers for sustainable productivity. Officials cited near-98 percent red meat self-sufficiency and full coverage of white meat and egg demand as achievements of two decades of deliberate investment in genetics, veterinary infrastructure, and sector organisation.
