Council of Ministers: Agricultural and water challenges on the menu
The impact of rainfall on the agricultural season and the current situation of the national livestock was on the agenda of the Council of Ministers chaired on Monday, May 12 by the Sovereign.
«The rainfall that our country has experienced has had a very positive impact, especially on the production of cereals and autumn and spring crops, fruit trees, just as it also had a positive impact on the plant cover and livestock in the different regions of the Kingdom,» said the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Ahmed El Bouari. He was also questioned on the measures developed by the government for the sustainable reconstitution of livestock and the improvement of the conditions of breeders.
In this context, His Majesty the King gave his guidelines to ensure that the herd replenishment operation is successful at all levels and carried out professionally. This is in accordance with objective criteria, and that the supervision of the support management operation is entrusted to committees under the supervision of local authorities.
The Sovereign also questioned the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, on the dam filling rate and its impact on the water situation in our country. The minister emphasized that «the average filling rate of dams currently reaches 40.3% and that this increase makes it possible to mobilize 6.7 billion cubic meters of water, equivalent to a year and a half of drinking water consumptio.»
2024-2025 agricultural season
As a reminder, the harvest of the main cereals is expected to reach 44 million quintals for the 2024-2025 agricultural season. This is an increase of 41% compared to the previous season, said Ahmed El Bouari recently in the House of Representatives. The agricultural sector is expected to show a growth of 5.1%, after having recorded a decrease of 4% last year.
The minister stressed that approximately 740,000 quintals of selected autumn cereal seeds were marketed (+10%). Nearly 1.3 million quintals of nitrogen fertilizers were subsidized for the benefit of 78,000 beneficiaries and that 661,000 hectares (1,633.000 acres) of cereals, legumes, and oilseed crops were insured. He noted that the area sown with large autumn crops amounts to 3.11 million hectares (7,684,977 acres), 10% of which is irrigated, split between 2.6 million hectares (6,424,739 acres),of cereals, 400,000 hectares (988,00 acres), of fodder crops, and 100,000 hectares of legumes.
Regarding spring crops, the minister noted that they cover approximately 158,000 hectares (390,426 acres), split between corn (47% of the total area), followed by chickpeas (35%), then sunflowers (13%), while the area sown with dry beans represents nearly 5%. As for sugar crops, El Bouari affirmed that this season has seen a quantum leap, with an area sown with sugar beet of more than 35,000 hectares (86,486 acres), and the planting of 1,155 hectares (2,854 acres), of sugarcane. In addition, the Minister specified that 91% of the planned program for autumn vegetables had been achieved, i.e. around 97,000 hectares, while the area planted with winter vegetables amounted to 65,000 hectares, representing almost 90% of the established program.
Fatim-Zahra TOHRY
