Relief for Moroccan agriculture after heavy rainfall

• Sector declined after 2024 drought
• Irrigated land essential for exports
• Rise in dam levels across country

Morocco has reported so much rainfall this year that it is filling dams across the country to levels not seen in at least three years. 

That augurs well for the agricultural sector which accounts for about one-sixth of the economy and is a component of exports and therefore foreign exchange. The economy declined last year by 7 percent because of drought.

“The rise in dam levels is a huge relief for the agricultural sector, which badly needs a year of normal rainfall after the drought of last year,” François Conradie, lead political economist at economic consultancy Oxford Analytica Africa told AGBI.

While only around a fifth of Moroccan farmland is irrigated, the products grown on that land – such as dates, citrus, avocado, tomatoes and melon – are essential to Moroccan exports, Conradie said. 

For the country’s non-irrigated land, which is mostly used for cereals and grazing livestock, the rainfall is also likely to improve output, at least in the short term, according to Conradie. That can help Morocco’s import bill and therefore demand for foreign exchange.

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“Although cereals are not exported, they play a role in the trade balance because more wheat must be imported in years of weak harvests,” Conradie said.

However, problems still persist. The impact of years of drought will still take time to abate, Mohammed Mahmoud, CEO of the Climate and Water Initiative, said.

“While these (latest) rains provided a reprieve in terms of generally boosting dam levels in the short term, inflated water demand, because of drought, including from agriculture, is still going to be an issue,” Mahmoud said.