Rabat (Reuters) – In Morocco, water levels in dams have reached critical levels after six years of drought.
By mid-January, the average filling level had fallen to 23 percent from over 31 percent in the previous year, according to a statement from the royal family on Wednesday with reference to Water Minister Nizar Baraka. The rainfall was 70 percent below the average for a normal year, and the Al Masira dam in the west of the country was almost empty. Normally, Morocco’s second largest dam supplies the economic center of Casablanca.
According to Agriculture Minister Mohamed Sadiki, the area irrigated with dam water has almost halved to 400,000 hectares since the start of the dry period. “The autumn harvest is in critical condition, we are praying for rain.”
Facing the worst drought in more than two decades, authorities have banned street cleaning or watering in city parks. They have also stopped the use of water from dams for key agricultural areas. This affects many farmers in the southern Taroudant region, which supplies supermarkets across Europe with fresh produce and represents a central source of income for exports.
Morocco’s statistics agency expects a below-average grain harvest this year, resulting in more wheat imports. In 2023 alone, the area of grain cultivated with rainwater fell by around 37 percent to 2.3 million hectares compared to the previous year.
(Report by Ahmed Eljechtimi, written by Philipp Krach.; Edited by Hans Busemann; If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for companies and markets).)