This report will study the overall situation in Morocco and the drought’s negative effects on agriculture, the economy, food security, etc., with gender lenses considering how different gender groups are affected differently on household and community levels. Additionally, the report will provide suggestions and information for the way forward at the local level and per gender group.
Key findings:
• Male community members in the rural areas who used to consider agriculture as their main income source decided to migrate to urban communities seeking temporary or permanent jobs.
• Women are the most affected during the drought season for several reasons:
▪ Women are primarily responsible for fetching water and with the drought, access to water is more challenging.
▪ When the male HHs members migrate to urban areas, female members step forward to take additional responsibilities on top of their existing daily tasks which put them in very overwhelming circumstances.
It is observed that over the past few years, farmers have progressively stopped using local seeds/seedlings/crops aiming for a higher yield using foreign inputs that showed low resilience to Moroccan climate and weather. Similarly, few profitable crops were cultivated in areas that suffer from water scarcity such as watermelon, avocado, and few other crops which led the government to intervene and restrict these crops in certain locations.
• It was reported that veterinary service expenses, which were already high, have increased even more due to inputs and fuel costs which pushed herders to reduce the frequency of veterinary
checks.
• Drought can have a significant impact on the macro economy, but through this study, it was confirmed that the most affected sector was the agricultural production and yields, and thus people’s livelihoods such as small farmers and rural workers with specific challenges women and girls were going through due to water and income shortage.
• water consumption was reduced despite the implications on the amount of yield they will harvest later but considering that irrigation expenses won’t be recovered by selling their crops later considering the high production cost and limited purchasing power.