Drought gripping Morocco is bad omen for global food supplies
Wheat yields plummeted last year to 1 ton per hectare (2.5 acres), his smallest harvest ever, as the worst drought period in three decades envelops the North African nation. The 25-foot-deep well on Sadiri’s plot dried up, and he can’t afford to dig any deeper. So now he’s trying barley, a more resilient crop.
Sadiri is among 1.2 million grain farmers suffering the brunt of climate change in Morocco, where the frequency of droughts has quintupled this century. The impact will ripple far beyond its borders: The country stands to bring in record volumes of wheat — at a time when major shippers like France and Russia are suffering harvest setbacks of their own — and less of its fruit and vegetables will line store shelves in Europe, the US and the rest of Africa.
“We haven’t had a good year since 2000, and the last three years were the worst,” Sadiri, the 77-year-old farmer, said under a relentless sun and hot wind raising billows of dust in Ezzhiliga. “All we can do now is pray for God’s mercy.”
Authorities project the current wheat harvest will be less than 2.5 million tons — far below what the national budget is predicated upon and the kingdom’s lowest since the global food crisis of 2007. Imports will be threefold that amount, the US government forecasts, a fifth season in six that production has trailed purchases.
Mohamed Sadiri's farm and home in Ezzhiliga, Morocco, in June. Photographer: Souhail Karam/Bloomberg
The longevity marks a stark shift in Morocco’s ability to supply its people with food staples and
