The kingdom’s “very well-developed experience in the field of water management has made Morocco a model in comparison with other Arab and African countries,” explained Charafat Afilal, Morocco’s state secretary in charge of water.
The shortages were nothing more than the temporary result of recent droughts, she explained.
Accounting for 15 percent of the Moroccan GDP, agriculture is a mainstay of the kingdom’s economy.
But more than that, it’s a pillar of stability, employing 39 percent of Moroccans and 80 percent of the rural population.
French ecologists had long imagined North Africa as the lost “Granary of Rome,” whose rich soil had supplied wheat and other cereals for most of the Roman empire.
Adopting farming techniques that had recently seen success in California—where massive irrigation projects had made its similarly arid land an agricultural powerhouse—the French switched out cereals for fruit and vegetables.
On the eve of independence, vegetables and citrus fruits had made up 20 percent of Morocco’s foreign revenue, and the portion would only grow as World Bank loans and special trade agreements with France pushed Hassan II to expand commercial farming.
Over the past century, Morocco’s water supply has been piped into the global economy.
“We demand to restore sovereignty over our food and the right to produce crops that meet our basic needs.” As the group points out, the protests in Zagora are just the latest in over two decades of struggles against water mismanagement across cities like Tangier, Sefrou, and Casablanca.
Will the government heed their warning before the taps run dry?