Moroccan rice farmers in the Gharb region are voicing concerns over record imports of foreign rice flooding the domestic market, threatening the livelihoods of 24,000 families.
The concerns come as rice farmers prepare for the harvest after being unable to plant for three consecutive years since 2022 due to water shortages caused by drought, while the state continued to rely on imported rice.
The National Federation of the Agricultural Sector, affiliated with the Moroccan Workers’ Union (UMT), warned that “more than 50,000 tons of imported rice” this year could hurt local production and create a storage bottleneck.
“The national product could become surplus and go to waste. At best, it will be sold at extremely low prices,” Idriss Ada, deputy secretary-general of the National Federation of the Agricultural Sector, told Hespress English.
He explained that more than 90% of Morocco’s rice production, if not all of it, comes from the Gharb region, with a smaller amount produced in Loukkos.
Ada said that the situation is affecting thousands of families, including 10,000 to 15,000 people working indirectly in the sector through processing, transportation, and other related activities.
With rice farmers having resumed planting this year, the deputy secretary-general emphasized that authorities should have adjusted customs duties to protect local rice production.
The federation is calling for measures to prevent the flooding of the domestic market and urgent talks with farmers’ representatives.
“Protecting the sector is not only about farmers’ incomes but also about protecting Morocco’s food sovereignty and maintaining at least a minimum level of self-sufficiency in rice,” Ada argued.
The farmers are set to protest at the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Rabat on Wednesday, demanding urgent action to protect local rice production, including an immediate and comprehensive review of customs duties on rice imports to ensure fair prices for local farmers.
Abdelkamil El Hamini, secretary-general of Morocco’s Rice Federation, told Hespress AR that rice producers had tried every way to call for government action to protect local production before scheduling today’s protest.
He called for a clear and lasting policy to support rice farming and ensure fair competition between local and imported rice.
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