Climate change threatens Morocco's drought-hit cereal farmers and food supply

Drought Devastates Moroccan Agriculture

Fields once teeming with golden wheat in Morocco are now struggling to produce their usual bounty due to a prolonged drought. This severe weather has endangered the entire agricultural sector, affecting farmers who grow essential cereals and grains used for both human and animal consumption. The North African nation is facing a substantial reduction in this year's harvest in terms of both volume and acreage, increasing the need for imports and government subsidies to stabilize staple food prices like flour for ordinary citizens.

Farmer's Struggles Mirror Global Reality

Small-scale farmer Al Housni Belhoussni, who has long worked the lands outside Kenitra, shares a common plight with grain farmers worldwide facing a hotter and drier future. "In the past, we had a lot of wheat. But in the last seven or eight years, the harvest has been very low because of the drought," Belhoussni said. Climate change is impacting and reducing the annual yields of essential cereals such as wheat, rice, maize, and barley, which are staple diets globally. In North Africa, where climate change poses a significant risk, delayed rains and erratic weather patterns have pushed the growing season further into the year, complicating farmers' planning efforts.

Agriculture Hit Hard in Morocco

In Morocco, cereals account for the majority of farmed land, with agriculture employing most workers in rural areas. The drought has led to fallow fields and less productive cultivated areas, resulting in significantly fewer wheat sacks for sale. In response to the drought, the Moroccan government has imposed water use restrictions in both urban and rural areas, rationing water supplies to farms. "The late rains during the autumn season affected the agricultural campaign. This year, only the spring rains, especially in March, managed to rescue the crops," noted Abdelkrim Naaman of Nalsya, an organization advising farmers on seeding, irrigation, and drought mitigation.

Unprecedented Crisis in Wheat Production

The Agriculture Ministry projects that this year's wheat harvest will yield around 3.4 million tons, a sharp decline from last year's already low 6.1 million tons. The land seeded for wheat has also significantly decreased from 14,170 square miles to 9,540 square miles. Such a reduction marks a crisis, according to agricultural analyst Driss Aissaoui, who emphasizes the increased need for imports. "In a country where drought has become a structural issue, relying more on imports requires continuous government subsidies to ensure affordability for families and livestock farmers," said Rachid Benali, chairman of the farming lobby COMADER.

Between January and June, Morocco imported nearly 2.5 million tons of common wheat. However, dependency on imports is fraught with uncertainty, especially given that Morocco's key wheat supplier, France, is also experiencing reduced harvests. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization has ranked Morocco as the world's sixth-largest wheat importer this year, right between Turkey and Bangladesh, countries with significantly larger populations. "Morocco has endured droughts before, some lasting over a decade. But this time, the situation is exacerbated by climate change," Benali noted.