By admin 
Rabat – Morocco enters a extra hopeful agricultural season as cereal manufacturing is anticipated to achieve 44 million quintals, up by 41% in comparison with final 12 months.
The announcement got here on Monday from Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Bouari throughout a parliamentary session.
After a troublesome earlier season, the sector seems to be regaining momentum. Bouari instructed members of parliament that the agricultural progress price ought to stand at 5.1% this 12 months, a big turnaround from final season’s 4% decline.
Rainfall patterns started to enhance in March. Recorded rainfall reached 295 millimeters by the top of April. Whereas this determine was nonetheless 20% under the norm, it was 15% greater than final 12 months’s ranges. The rise contributed to higher dam reserves. Water storage for agricultural functions reached 5.31 billion cubic meters, in comparison with 4.38 billion final season. The general dam filling price now stands at 38%.
Efforts to arrange for the season included the sale of almost 740,000 quintals of licensed seeds, a ten% enhance from the earlier 12 months. Authorities additionally backed 1.3 million quintals of nitrogen fertilizers, benefiting 78,000 farmers. Insurance coverage protection prolonged to 661,000 hectares of cereal crops, legumes, and oilseeds.
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Farmers sowed a complete of three.11 million hectares with main autumn crops. About 2.6 million hectares have been planted with cereals, whereas forage crops lined 400,000 hectares and legumes 100,000. Solely 10% of the whole space was irrigated.
As for spring crops, planted land reached 158,000 hectares. Maize took up the biggest share with 47%, adopted by chickpeas at 35%, sunflowers at 13%, and dry beans at 5%.
Sugar crop cultivation additionally superior. This season noticed over 35,000 hectares devoted to sugar beet and 1,155 hectares planted with sugarcane.
The vegetable program moved ahead steadily. Farmers accomplished 91% of the autumn vegetable plan, protecting roughly 97,000 hectares. Winter greens lined 65,000 hectares, reaching about 90% of the focused space.
This 12 months’s indicators supply cautious optimism for Moroccan agriculture after a interval of drought and uncertainty.