Morocco’s red pepper capital decimated by drought
Morocco’s red pepper capital Oulad Ali Loued has been decimated by the ongoing six-year drought that has threatened to the wipe out the country’s entire agriculture industry, according to AfricaNews via AP on November 26th.
The head of Red Pepper Dryers Association in the village, Mohammed Nosshi, said: “Some farmers who once planted 10 hectares now plant only one.”
Oulad Ali Loued is situated in the centre of Morocco, about 296km from Rabat, where the drought is wreaking havoc on all types of agriculture.
According to the AP, the North African region is one of the most vulnerable in the world to climate change, with increasing delays to annual rains pushing the growing season further and further back.
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Abdelkrim Naaman, the chairman of Nalsya, an NGO specialising in development, environment and social welfare, said: “The late rains during the autumn season affected the agriculture campaign. This year, only the spring rains, especially during the month of March, managed to rescue the crops.”
While the government has responded by placing restrictions on water use in rural and urban areas, the Agriculture Minister estimates this years wheat harvest will produce roughly 3.4 million tons, just over half last year’s yield, which was already considered low.
Driss Aissaoui, an analyst and former member of the Moroccan Ministry for Agriculture, says this drop in yields signifies a real crisis for the country as a whole.
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“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.”
Morocco’s new all-important wheat source is France, having bought nearly 2.5 million tons between January and June, making the kingdom the sixth-largest wheat importer this year, alongside Turkey and Bangladesh, which both have much bigger populations.
Even France’s harvests are shrinking, and will likely force Morocco to take even more extreme measures if the drought persists.
AfricaNews and AP
