The long drought in Morocco continues to harm producers. According to the Moroccan Minister of Agriculture, the cereal crop has experienced a loss of more than 53% because of this drought. In order to maintain prices, the government suspended wheat import duties.
Mohamed Sadiki also announced that the land of the distant sunset has lost half of its wheat harvest due to drought. “Only 21% of our plantations are in good condition,” he suggested.
It should be remembered that more than 4.5 million tonnes of wheat were imported into Morocco in 2021. 36% of them came from Russia (25%) and Ukraine (11%). But this year, with the increased drought, the kingdom will still have to resort to imports.
Furthermore, the Moroccan government had announced that due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, cereals might be “easily imported from the European Union (EU) or any other region”.
53% of the cultivated area of cereals, or 1.6 million hectares, is lost due to drought, regretted the minister who answered, Monday, April 11, 2022, questions from parliamentarians while making a preliminary assessment the state of cereal crops. He thus specified that the cultivation of winter cereals is dependent on climatic conditions during the month of April.
And the Minister underlined that Morocco experienced an agricultural season characterized by the scarcity of water and the delay in rainfall “at the end of last February, the current agricultural season is considered to be the driest for 40 years. The level of the water stock in the dams is very low to allow the irrigated basins to play their role in terms of production”. The water deficit, adds Mohamed Sadiki, has reached 34% compared to last year. And the minister continued that despite this delay, the latest rainfall has had a positive impact on the current agricultural season.
Moctar FICOU / VivAfrik
