Wheat Moroccan farmers grapple with drought, risking agricultural economy

Around this time every year, Moroccan wheat farmer Abderrahim Mohafid is usually preparing for his spring harvest, but this year his fields lay unusually bare.

"The harvest is already lost," said Mohafid, 54, as he glanced at his 20-hectare field where almost nothing has grown. "Wheat should already be at 60 centimetres."

More than 88 percent of Berrechid's vast agricultural lands are not irrigated, with farmers relying instead on rain, according to Morocco's agriculture ministry.

Yet so far this year, the North African country has seen only about half the rainfall it did during the same period last year, Morocco's water minister Nizar Baraka said.

This has occurred in parallel with temperatures in Morocco increasing by an average of 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to the period between 1981 and 2010, he added.

In recent weeks, Moroccan authorities have restricted the opening of hammams and car wash stations in several cities and prohibited the watering of golf courses or gardens with drinking water, as the country's dams are only at 23 percent capacity, compared to around 32 percent last year.

'Serious impact on economy'

The successive years of drought are "compromising" this agricultural season, says Abderrahim Handouf, an agronomist.

The situation, Handouf added, will have a "serious impact on the economy" of the country where a third of the population works in agriculture.

The sector also accounts for 14 percent of Morocco's exports, with exported produce seen as more profitable than that sold in domestic markets.

Mohafid said he hoped to make up for losses in previous seasons by adapting new sowing techniques, such as planting seeds without ploughing the field first, allowing the soil to preserve its natural humidity.

A policy issue

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned of a "disorderly intensification of irrigation" in Berrechid over the past two decades.

The North African country's needs are estimated at more than 16 billion cubic metres of water, including 87 percent for the agricultural sector, but it has only had five billion cubic metres over the last five years, according to the water ministry.

"Agricultural policy should be reviewed from top to bottom," said Handouf.

"Today, I'm under the impression that the government is looking in one direction while reality is in the opposite direction."