Drought Drives Moroccan Olive Oil Prices to Record Highs

Olive oil production remains dependent on water. "You see the effects of the drought? The majority of farmers here don’t irrigate and depend on the generosity of the sky," declares Lahoussine Mechache, president of the Zoyout Ait Attab Economic Interest Grouping, to Maroc Hebdo. Water scarcity is negatively impacting production. "It’s a disaster. The harvest will drop again and things will get worse," he laments near an olive grove nestled in the foothills of the High Atlas central, about fifty kilometers southeast of the city of Beni Mellal. According to this farmer, the problem began in late 2021 and has intensified especially in 2022 and 2023. "Even for irrigation it has become difficult. In Tadla or Beni Mellal, you have to dig down to at least 300 meters to hope to find water... It’s a little less complicated in Azilal, but the problem is still there," he deplores.

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At a press conference held on October 20, 2023 in the province of Settat, the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests announced that the harvest would be around "1.07 million tons, the same level as the previous season," a considerable drop of 44% compared to the record production of just over 1.9 million tons recorded in the fall of 2021, and even compared to the average of 1.7 million tons over the 2018 - 2021 period and the annual average of 1.4 million tons over 2016-2019. 27% of olive oil will be harvested in the Fez-Meknes region, 19% for the Oriental and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima for 17%. Olive trees are grown on a total area of 1.2 million hectares, with 750,000 hectares in rainfed areas (cultivation area) and 450,000 hectares in irrigated areas, or 65% of the tree crops in the kingdom.

This significant drop in production is consequently causing a surge in olive oil prices. The liter of the finished product can increase up to 100 dirhams/liter depending on the regions of origin and the quality of the olives and the methods used in the manufacture of the