Almond, fig, date and olive trees, as well as walnut and apple trees, have suffered greatly from the drought this year. Youness Soukrifi walks around his house with his camera to document the damage.
It is one of the worst droughts in the region, which rivals that of 2005 and the other oldest of 1985-1986 which his parents, now deceased, told him about. Dates engraved in the local memory.
This time, it is its duration that overwhelms the farmers. Morocco lacks water for the 4th consecutive year.
According to a report published this summer by the World Bank, the kingdom is in structural water stress situation
. It has only 600 m3 of water per inhabitant per year and is approaching the absolute shortage threshold (500 m3).
In the middle of July, the main dams had a filling rate of 30%, against 46% last year, according to the Ministry of Equipment and Water.
Main cause: lack of precipitation
Youness tries to remember when the last heavy downpour was. In January there was snow, in March a little rain, and since then nothing.
A dead tree from drought and a land in lack of water. Youness takes photos around his farm, for the archives of the village of Imghran, near Toundoute.
Photo: Youness Soukrifi
Nothing, or almost. Not enough to replenish rivers and groundwater.days continuously, day and night. Now, when it rains, it’s half an hour”,”text”:”Before, the rain could fall continuously for 15 days, day and night. Now when it rains it’s half an hour”}}”>Before, the rain could fall continuously for 15 days, day and night. Now when it rains it’s half an hourobserve Youness Soukrifi.
There is nothing to do
, he says, a little fatalistic but convinced that the rain will eventually come back, Inch’Allah (God willing). In his village, water is drawn in the traditional way, by wells which join springs.
It would require a large budget to find solutions to have water, so we leave it like that
he said.
In the souk of the town of Skoura, 30,000 inhabitants, merchants shelter from the sun under canvas stretched above their stalls. It’s a heat wave in early November, an unusual situation.
Bulk clementines at the Skoura souk.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Fimbry
Brahim Mrabou, father of four, does his shopping for the week. Peppers, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage, oranges, pomegranates…% organic here and produced locally!”,”text”:”Everything is 100% organic here and produced locally!”}}”>Everything is 100% organic here and produced locally! he said proudly, pointing to Atlas apples, Skoura dates and quinces.
A merchant explains that he grows his fruits and vegetables in the Atlas Mountains. Its 15-meter-deep well has run out of water. You would have to dig deeper, but it’s difficult and expensive in rocky ground. Given its meager profits, the investment is not profitable.
Each additional meter costs 500 dirhams (CA$58). A small fortune: one in two Moroccans in the countryside live on less than $108 a month, according to statistics from the High Commission for Planning, which measured the median standard of living in 2019.
Without water, there is nothing
, launches an old producer of dates. He grabs two of them in his hands to let potential buyers taste them. The authorities do not come to ask us if we are well, what we lack. But Al Hamdoulillah, God be praised! It is God who decides!
A man has just bought a sheep at the Skoura souk.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Fimbry
A little further on, the sheep are waiting to find a buyer under the blazing sun and to be brought at the end of a rope, aboard small trucks.
Brahim shows a local breed of sheep, more prolific than others and less water-intensive, now favored in the region: the D’man breed. But the skinny ewe and her lamb don’t look well.
Exodus to the cities
In Morocco, agriculture is the most water-intensive. A pillar of the economy, it represents at least 85% of national consumption.
Among the farmers and breeders hit by the drought, many are thinking of packing up, leaving the village where they grew up, to work in the city in construction or in the automobile industry. They go into exile as far as Casablanca, Marrakech or Fez, several hundred kilometers from their roots, and start from scratch.
This rural exodus caused by climate change is breaking up families.
Youness Soukrifi came to inquire about the price of goats at the Skoura souk.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Fimbry
Youness Soukrifi also questions himself, although attached to the region where he grew up. His professional future is ahead of him. I could work in commerce, or… or… leave Morocco, go to Europe or America!
he blurts out with a big smile.
In the meantime, with his degree in film studies, he is on the lookout for contracts in the audiovisual field. The Ouarzazate region is renowned for its film shoots, but it is a seasonal domain and, since the beginning of the pandemic, there is no work
.
The eagerly awaited snow
The potter Mohamed Kabor, too, needs water, which he mixes with clay to make jars and vases in his workshop in the palm grove of Skoura, where about 8,000 inhabitants live, divided into 17 tribes and as many of neighborhoods.
Potter Mohamed Kabor keeps smiling despite the difficult conditions caused by the lack of water in the region.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Fimbry
His 18-meter well, dug by his grandfather, has no water at the moment. He thinks he would have to dig up to 26 meters to find some.
Climate change has become a reality in his daily life. Before, here, we had a lot of springs, and now they are dry
he regrets.
Fortunately, a water tower managed by a local association makes it possible to serve the community.
I am very happy when I see the snow
, says Mohamed Kabor. The nearby mountain range is normally covered in white during the winter, especially M’Goun, the third highest peak in Morocco (4071 meters).
This is what will fill the rivers when the snow melts in the spring. Many wadis
are currently dry, to the point of being able to cross their bed on foot or by car.
In the meantime, he tries to use less water and recover it. When he washes his hands, he places a basin under the tap, in order to reuse the water for the pottery.
The water used by the potter Mohamed Kabor to wash his hands is collected for his workshop.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Fimbry
And he never takes a shower, in the western sense of the term. Instead, he uses a bucket of water, heated in a wood-fired oven, and a carafe to wash himself once a week.
He can also treat himself to the hammam from time to time, in downtown Skoura, from 8 dirhams – around $1 – or four times the price of a flatbread.
Khadija’s advice
At the other end of the Skoura palm grove, 11-year-old Khadija Mrabou has known since childhood that water should not be wasted. If there is no water, he is dead, the man. They are dead, the animals. They are dead, the plants
she tells us in French, a language she is learning at school.
Khadija Mrabou, 11, worries about dwindling water resources.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Fimbry
Her hands decorated with henna, she likes to write princess tales and dreams of becoming an architect. Despite her young age, she is interested in the question of water and the way humans look at nature.
His parents taught him never to leave a tap on. They told him that the water was not unlimited and that one day there would be no more. For me, it is a treasure, it must be preserved.