Wheat harvest in Morocco plummets as climate change takes toll

MOROCCO — The Moroccan Agriculture Ministry estimates that this year’s wheat harvest will yield roughly 3.1 billion kilograms, far less than last year’s 5.5 billion kilograms, a staggering 44% drop.  

The amount of land seeded has dramatically shrunk as well, from 36,700 square kilometers to 24,700 square kilometers.

The severe six-year drought has imperiled Morocco’s entire agricultural sector, threatening farmers’ livelihoods who grow cereals and grains essential for both human consumption and livestock feed.

This decline is putting farmers out of work and necessitating increased imports and government subsidies to keep the prices of staple foods like flour from skyrocketing for everyday consumers.

“In the past, we used to have a bounty,  a lot of wheat. But during the last seven or eight years, the harvest has been very low because of the drought,” said Al Housni Belhoussni, a small-scale farmer who has long tilled fields outside the city of Kenitra.

Belhoussni’s plight is echoed by grain farmers worldwide who are facing the harsh realities of a hotter, drier future.

Climate change is jeopardizing the global food supply, and in regions like North Africa, it is significantly reducing the annual yields of cereals that are dietary staples around the world, including wheat, rice, maize, and barley.

Morocco is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Delays in annual rains and erratic weather patterns have disrupted the growing season, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to plan and cultivate their crops effectively.

In the North African nation,  where cereals dominate the agricultural landscape and employ the majority of rural workers, the drought is causing widespread disruption. Many farmers have been forced to leave their fields fallow, while those who continue to cultivate are seeing drastically reduced productivity and far fewer sacks of wheat to sell.

In response to the crisis, the government has implemented water use restrictions in both urban and rural areas. Public baths and car washes in cities are limited, and water for farms is rationed to conserve resources.

“The late rains during the autumn season affected the agricultural campaign. This year, only the spring rains, especially during the month of March, managed to rescue the crops,” said Abdelkrim Naaman, chairman of Nalsya, an organization that advises farmers on seeding, irrigation, and drought mitigation.

According to Driss Aissaoui, an analyst and former member of the Moroccan Ministry for Agriculture, such a sharp decline constitutes a crisis. “When we say crisis, this means that you have to import more,” he said. We are in a country where drought has become a structural issue.”

Relying more on imports means the government must continue subsidizing prices to ensure households and livestock farmers can afford essential dietary staples.

Rachid Benali, chairman of the farming lobby COMADER, noted that the country imported nearly 2.5 million tons of common wheat between January and June.

However, this solution is not sustainable, especially since Morocco’s primary source of wheat, France, is also experiencing shrinking harvests.

As a result of meager harvests, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization ranked Morocco as the world’s sixth-largest wheat importer this year, following Turkey and Bangladesh, which both have much larger populations.

“Morocco has known droughts like this and, in some cases, droughts that last longer than 10 years. But the problem, this time especially, is climate change,” Benali emphasized.

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