Morocco took measures to support farmers, face rainfall shortage

Morocco has taken a series of measures to support farmers and lessen the impact of rainfall shortage in certain regions, Minister of agriculture, Aziz Akhannouch, said last 14th May.

    Speaking at the House of Adviser's question time regarding the agricultural season 2007-2008, Mr. Akhannouch said these measures include marketing of cereals, agricultural insurance, and the preparation of seeds for the next season.

     The minister underlined that this year's agricultural season was marked by a rainfall shortage of 27% compared to last year, as well as by the excessive heat witnessed late March and early April. However, the minister went on, rain was well spread out in terms of time, which allowed many regions to overcome the drought they went through.

     Autumn cultivations reached some 5 million ha, the minister said, divided into 900,000 ha for hard wheat, 1.9 million ha for soft wheat and 2.2 million ha for barley.

    Cereal production reached 50 million quintals, that is a 113% rise compared to last season, Mr. Akhannouch pointed out. Production includes 10.3 million quintals of hard wheat, 27 million quintals of soft wheat, and 12.7 million quintals of barley.

     As to the production of early fruits and vegetables, it reached 1.8 million tons, while that of citrus fruits was about 1.1 million tons, he added.

     According to Mr. Akhannouch, dairy production witnessed a 6% increase compared to the same period of last year, as well as that of red meats (+11%), white meats (+28%) and eggs (+ 3%).