Morocco’s Wheat Sector: Higher Productivity is Within Reach

A recent study by ICARDA scientists analyzed Morocco’s wheat sector, a strategic crop that is still heavily imported, to identify areas where productivity can be increased to boost smallholder farmers’ yields and income. To this day, Morocco only produces about 58 percent of its needs in wheat and struggles to satisfy the ever growing local demand. To meet its cereal needs, Morocco’s imports have steadily increased over time, at 42 percent for the last 10 years.

Morocco’s climate is arid and semi-arid. About 83 percent of the total wheat area is rain-fed, and the remaining 17% is irrigated. The ICARDA study, recently published in the prestigious journal Agricultural Systems, investigates prevailing crop management practices, current and potential yield grains, and gross margins in rainfed and irrigated systems to guide future research, investment, policies, and institutional objectives.

This study was funded by the CGIAR Research program on Wheat (CRP-WHEAT) and INRA-Morocco