Morocco PM defends sheep import policy as crucial response to severe drought

KHEMISSET – Moroccan Prime Minister and former president of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), Aziz Akhannouch, strongly defended the government’s recourse to sheep imports, describing the measure as an unavoidable response to unprecedented, consecutive years of severe drought.

Addressing a party gathering on Friday afternoon in the rural commune of Aïn El-Jouhara Sidi Boukhalkhal near Tiflet, Akhannouch presented an overview of government performance in Khémisset province before devoting much of his speech to rebuffing criticism and accusations of political opportunism surrounding the livestock sector.

Akhannouch argued that the public debate over red meat prices and sheep livestock completely ignored Morocco’s exceptional climatic hardship. Criticizing commentators who assess the situation as though agricultural conditions were standard, he explained that approaching the Eid al-Adha holiday two years prior, the executive was left with only two choices: cancel the ritual or import sacrificial sheep from abroad. He described that intervention as a historic first for the Kingdom, necessitated solely by the deep structural distress Moroccan pastoralists were suffering under water shortages.

To implement the initiative, the government deployed a direct subsidy framework granting 500 dirhams per imported head. Akhannouch noted that no domestic business operators had prior experience in this specialized line of trade, and every shipment was subjected to rigorous verification procedures, particularly through customs checkpoints, before qualifying for public assistance. The operation enabled the arrival of nearly 800,000 sheep onto the domestic market ahead of the religious holiday, with subsequent import waves continuing to support the broader replenishment of the national herd.

As climatic conditions worsened and livestock losses escalated toward a threshold where herd restoration appeared in jeopardy, a royal decision was made to suspend the sacrifice that year to safeguard remaining stock. When rainfall returned the following season, the state launched a direct financial support scheme benefiting 1.2 million sheep farmers, managed jointly by the ministries of Agriculture, Interior, and Finance through a comprehensive census and verification mechanism.

Dismissing attempts to link his personal name to the commercial import contracts, Akhannouch labeled speculation about whether he had acted as an importer irrelevant, stressing that citizens directly reaped the benefits of public stabilization policies while national livestock entered a solid recovery phase.

Turning to proposals for a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the sheep import operations, Akhannouch affirmed that cabinet ministers are entirely prepared to appear before lawmakers and submit all required documentation. While acknowledging that the parliamentary majority initially expressed reservations before Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) parliamentary leader Ahmed Touizi engaged on the proposal, he emphasized that his party has nothing to conceal and awaits the findings without concern. He conceded that isolated irregularities may have occurred given the scale of the operations over recent years, but maintained that the state’s fundamental objective—preserving the national herd amid extreme hardship—was successfully achieved.

Akhannouch also reviewed the broader developmental track record in Khémisset province, highlighting nearly 10 billion dirhams directed into the healthcare system, which financed the construction and upgrading of multiple regional hospitals. He pointed to accelerated outlays in road transport, educational institutions, and industrial acceleration zones intended to generate employment for local youth. Stressing that the province still urgently requires sustained capital inflows, he confirmed that the government has actively courted foreign investors, several of whom have already set up regional operations, leaving him confident in the province’s long-term economic trajectory.