• Morocco expects agricultural sector growth of 15% in 2026
• Improved rainfall boosts crops after seven years of drought
• Cereal production forecast above 8 million tons this season

Morocco's agricultural sector is expected to grow by 15% this year, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch announced on Thursday. He made the remarks at a weekly press briefing following a cabinet meeting on March 12.

Akhannouch attributed the projected growth, which he said would bolster the wider national economy, primarily to the return of rains, which have improved prospects for the sector despite flooding recorded in parts of the north and west. Official data show that between Sept. 1, 2025, and March 11, 2026, cumulative rainfall reached 462 millimeters, representing 134% of the level recorded over the same period in the previous season and 56% above the 30-year average.

The improved climatic conditions mark an end to seven years of drought and signal a broad recovery in production across agricultural activities. The prolonged dry spell had cost the sector nearly one million jobs.

Government spokesman Mustapha Baitas said areas planted to durum wheat, soft wheat and barley now cover 3.9 million hectares, up 48% from a year earlier. He described the figure as a positive sign for the cereal sector, which had been hard hit by the prolonged water deficit, heat waves and a reduction in planted areas. Meanwhile, land devoted to sugar crops, including sugar beet and sugarcane, rose 21% year-on-year to 44,000 hectares, although 11,000 hectares were affected by recent flooding in some regions.

Baitas also said direct state subsidies to farmers, along with support through subsidized fodder barley, a key input for livestock feed, would help rebuild the country's livestock population, which was severely depleted by the prolonged drought. Official figures show the country has lost 38% of its cattle and sheep population since 2016. The episode, which degraded pastureland and triggered a surge in feed prices, led Morocco to cancel the traditional sheep sacrifice for Eid al-Adha in February 2025, ahead of the holiday scheduled for June of that year, due to the scarcity of livestock.

More broadly, a stronger agricultural sector could help reduce import volumes and their associated costs.

According to the latest projections in the preliminary economic budget published by the High Commission for Planning on Jan. 19, national cereal production is expected to exceed 8 million metric tons in the 2025/2026 season, nearly 80% more than the 4.4 million metric tons estimated for 2024/2025.

That would make it the best harvest since the 2020/2021 season, when output reached 10.3 million metric tons. Morocco's cereal import bill reached nearly 27 billion dirhams, or approximately $2.9 billion, in 2024, according to the Office des Changes, accounting for 29% of the country's total food import expenditure that year.

Morocco's agricultural sector contributes roughly 10% of gross domestic product and employs more than a third of the country's active workforce.

Espoir Olodo