Water, Agriculture: Can we save the day?

Food price fever continues. Prices continue to climb. Supermarket prices are staggering. Tomatoes, onions, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, red meat, chicken… are all experiencing substantial price rises. The only exception is avocado, the price of which has fallen to 16 MAD (US 1.6) per kilo.

Carrots, for example, used to sell for 5 Dirhams (US 0.5) a kilo in a Casablanca supermarket. Today, the price has doubled. It should also be noted that prices vary from one neighborhood to another. Faced with this escalation in prices, the Government is brandishing the card of subsidies granted to transport professionals, as well as to tomato, onion, potato, and meat producers…, in order to cope with increasingly high production costs.

These measures are intended to encourage growers to maintain their crops and supply the local market, thereby curbing the upward trend. However, prices are continuing their upward trend. What are the reasons for this?

For the Moroccan Confederation of Agriculture and Rural Development (COMADER), «soaring prices are a normal consequence of the current situation». «We can expect prices to remain high. It is true that professionals have been entitled to very substantial subsidies. However, these subsidies only solve the problem of inputs, not the lack of irrigation water. At present, this is the most pressing problem», explained its president, Rachid Benali. Because of the drought, restrictions have been placed on the use of water from dams.

 «There was a trade-off between securing drinking water and irrigation for agriculture. Priority was given to drinking water. River basin agencies are prohibiting irrigation in certain areas. What’s more, groundwater levels are still at their lowest», stresses Rachid Benali. According to this professional, vegetable crops as well as olives and citrus fruits have been particularly hard hit. «The cultivated area has declined considerably. Some struggling farmers have preferred to uproot their trees to avoid further losses. Without water, these trees die and risk damaging other plantations «, he lamented. Lack of water is detrimental to agriculture. Drought, compounded by high temperatures, caused the soil to dry out. The situation is worrying. It is feared that droughts will become increasingly recurrent.

Speculators are once again being singled out. «The soaring prices are also due to these middlemen who buy the harvest months in advance to make a financial gain on the day of resale. The farmer suffers from a lack of cash. He therefore agrees to sell his crop well in advance of the season. Take olive trees, for example: this year, over 60% of the harvest was sold months ago», says the President of Comader.

K.S.