The Chamber of Agriculture of the Casablanca-Settat region announced, Thursday, during its 3rd ordinary session, the launch of the 2022/2023 agricultural campaign in the region in climatic conditions marked by the scarcity of rainfall.
On this occasion, the regional director of agriculture, Hssain Rahoui stressed that the regional management has taken all the necessary measures and arrangements for the start of the agricultural season in good conditions.
In this regard, he noted that the centers of Sidi El Aidi in Berrechid and Zmamra in the province of Sidi Bennour were supplied with 185.227 thousand quintals of cereals spread over soft wheat (121.13_ thousand qx), durum wheat (55.838 thousand qx) and barley (8.25 thousand qx).
Rahoui pointed out that the management has dedicated 888,000 hectares to fall crops of which 350 hectares have been cultivated, noting that the rest of the area can be cultivated in the days that come with the next rainfall.
The State is working to support grain prices, he said, adding that the price of a quintal of soft wheat and barley varies between 435 and 850 dirhams, while the price of a quintal of durum wheat fluctuates around 735 and 880 dirhams.
With regard to sugar crops, the regional director of agriculture explained that the committee responsible for monitoring these crops has taken all the measures and arrangements to allow the launch of the sowing operation in good conditions and to guarantee the success in the program set at 9000 hectares, noting that so far 6800 hectares have been cultivated relying on the wells.
Regarding the direct seeding operation, Rahoui added that this operation concerned 23 thousand hectares which are spread over Settat (14,000 h), Berrechid (5,500 h), Sidi Bennour (1,600 h), Benslimane (1,000 h) , El Jadida (600 h) and Casablanca (300 h), noting that the seeds for direct sowing were distributed to many farmers in the region during the National Trade Fair for Cereals and Legumes held recently in Berrechid.
For his part, the president of the chamber of agriculture of the Casablanca-Settat region, Abdelkader Kandil highlighted the efforts made by the chamber to improve the quota reserved for the region with regard to food subsidies for livestock, noting that the region has the largest number of head of cattle and sheep and will benefit from an additional quantity from the beginning of next year to ease the burden on farmers and producers.
Abdelilah Bencharki, adviser to the 2nd chamber and representative of three agricultural regions, namely Casablanca-Settat, Rabat-Salé-Kenitra and Béni Mellal Khénifra, underlined that the share of barley reserved for the region has increased from 250 thousand quintals to 810 thousand qx.
And to specify that within the framework of the ban on the slaughter of producing heifers under 4 years of age, it was decided to authorize the slaughter of Belgian blue white (BBB) heifers, the Charolais and the Italian breed intended for meat while maintaining the ban on the slaughter of dairy heifers of the Holstein and Montbeliarde breeds.
The Casablanca-Settat region has 1,263,042 hectares of arable land, of which 146,433 are irrigated, while it has 723,000 head of cattle, 2,343,000 head of sheep and 104,000 head of goats.
