Moroccan government restricts some agricultural land areas due to water shortage

Morocco’s government spokesperson, Mustapha Baitas said that several measures have been implemented, including the restriction of some agricultural land areas to tackle the lack of water resources.

The initiative aims to boost agricultural productivity across the country.

The government’s measures will also assist in overcoming the Kingdom’s two consecutive years of drought, as well as the continued scarcity and lack of rainfall.

Among the measures are the start of the irrigation program and the allocation of a temporary share of water for the start of the current agricultural season while dam stock is improved, according to the same source.

Additionally,  the government will also restrict some areas of some crops, especially vegetables, and fodder crops,  as they are important for financing the national market.

The government also set the measure of adopting supplementary irrigation depending on the regions and the availability of water.

A financial grant of MAD 10 billion was allocated to subsidizing fodder and providing water for livestock, compensating farmers for drought, and keeping up with loans, indicating that the government maintained the prices of national inputs of phosphate and selected seeds, said the same source.

The government will support farmers with a financial grant estimated at MAD 3.7 billion, and an investment budget of about MAD 7.4 billion, added the same source.

Baitas stated that the government has taken several measures aimed at securing sufficient savings to cover the needs of farmers in seeds, noting that it has secured 1.1 million quintals during the current agricultural season.

The government official further stated that the distribution network has been approved, and the prices of seeds were capped, as they were set at MAD 210 for barley and MAD 290 for durum wheat, while the national market will be supplied with 650,000 tons of fertilizers at subsidized prices.

Regarding fall crops, the government spokesperson said that the total area that has been set amounted to 4.5 million hectares, of which the area allocated for soft wheat represents 35%.

Baitas explained that the grain and crop areas covered by insurance have been expanded by about 200,000 hectares to reach 1.1 million hectares under the multi-risk insurance, in addition to securing 50,000 hectares of fruit trees.

The government continues to disburse subsidies to the Agricultural Development Fund, and for irrigation equipment on an area of ​​350,000 hectares until 2027, and establish new subsidies, especially for small businesses.