Rabat-Morockos Zentralbank, Bank al-Magrib (BAM), is expecting a low increase in the country’s grain harvest this year, although the return will remain under the expectations of the government.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the governor of Bank al-Maghrib, Abdellatif Jouahri, estimated that the grain harvest in Morocco will reach 35 million quintals for the current season. This is an easy improvement compared to the 31.2 million quintal of the previous year, but remains significantly lower than the 55.1 million Quintal, which was recorded in the 2022-2023 season.
Thanks to this expected grain harvest and an expected increase in the non-grain-like agricultural production, Bank al-Magrib is 2.5%an increase in the increase in the agricultural sector this year.
However, the central bank has revised its previous predictions. In December it estimated a potential harvest of 50 million Quintal, but was waiting for the reaching of these favorable rainfall. At the time, BAM had found that the rainfall of the harvest between December and March was able to exceed the bank’s forecasts and the government.
In the meantime, the government had set a more optimistic goal of 70 million Quintal in its financial law projections.
The country has seen Significant rain and snowfall in the past few weeks the dam reservoir has increased. The reservoirs in Morocco reached a filling rate of 35% compared to 26% in the same period of the previous year. However, the reservoir filling rate remains well below the 68%recorded in 2018.
The strong rainfall gave farmers hope, especially those who grow autumn grains such as wheat, durum wheat and barley.
While many experts recognized the relief that is the recent precipitation, they warned that it was not enough to solve the long -term water crisis in Morocco.
“Morocco has always been a land of drought. This is structurally, not something new. Before the founding of the Moroccan state, it existed before the Idrisid dynasty” told Mwn.
He pointed out that the heaviest rainfall in northern regions in which water shortages was less serious, while central and southern areas that were more affected by drought received less rain and fought further.
