Climate change, agricultural policy and food security in Morocco

Abstract

The agricultural sector constitutes a key factor ensuring food security in Morocco, meeting the dietary and nutrition needs through vegetables, fruits, meat, and other products. It employs almost 40% of the working population at the national level and 74% in rural areas. It plays multiple roles in the economy as it provides market and non-market services, contributes to a certain balance between urban/rural, provides a basis to rural people for their social attachment, serves as a cradle for cultural landscapes, and attracts nature lovers by promoting agricultural tourism. However, Moroccan agriculture is still vulnerable to climatic variations and remains strongly constrained by the annual and interannual variability of precipitations. It should be recalled that the Moroccan climate, generally arid to semi-arid, is influenced by global warming with a rise in temperatures and a sharp decrease in rainfall, with prolonged droughts and catastrophic floods. These phenomena are expected to intensify in the coming decades, threatening to further degrade natural resources, especially water scarcity. Furthermore, Morocco is an exporter of agricultural crops that consume a lot of water (such as citrus and tomatoes). It has opted for intensive practices, in particular within the framework of the Green Morocco Plan, in all territories despite their ecological limitations. Intensive agriculture is for instance responsible for the overexploitation of the groundwater in the Souss-Massa region; an area responsible for 60% of the nation's exports of fruit and vegetables. The estimated water deficit of 271 million m3 for the region was accompanied by a drop in the level of the groundwater and a sea-level rise, with repercussions on the environment and agriculture. Some producers in this region have migrated to Zagora, an extension area of the oasis region, to grow watermelons. In addition, climate change has further aggravated the already water-stressed situation. Indeed, the increasing variability of precipitation and the high frequency of droughts are likely to further reduce the water availability. These constraints will have negative impacts on potential agricultural yields, employment opportunities, and purchasing power of rural people. In such a scenario, it seems imperative to adopt sustainable agricultural practices to adapt and deal with climate change.