Morocco: Rice sector still awaiting its rescue plan

In a region like the Gharb, home to more than 90% of Morocco’s rice growers, the next harvest season will be decisive for the 24,000 households that depend on the crop for a living. After a complaint filed by the Moroccan Rice Interprofessional Federation (FNARIZ) warned of “a significant rise in imports that could destabilize local producers,” followed by mobilization by the National Federation of the Agricultural Sector (FNSA) calling for government intervention, farmers are still waiting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Last April, the Ministry of Industry and Trade opened a safeguard investigation, following a 116% increase in imports between 2022 and 2025, against the backdrop of a historic drought. Contacted by Yabiladi on Monday, FNSA deputy secretary-general Driss Adda said climate challenges had pushed rice growers into the red. However, he added that they had been counting on the abundance of the season that had just ended to hope for an economic recovery — one that ultimately failed to materialize because of “record imports of more than 50,000 tonnes.”

90,000 tonnes of local production

The union official explained that beyond the harvest volumes recorded by farmers, local rice production significantly drives a chain of processing-related economic activities. These are vital not only for producers’ families but also for factory workers who depend on them, as well as for national food security.

Driss Adda explained that “because rice is considered a water-intensive crop, the sector has already suffered from the suspension of irrigation over the past three years as part of efforts to rationalize water resources.” With last winter’s floods, “producers began their season already in deficit, but they hoped to recover thanks to output that reached around 90,000 tonnes this year.” However, “they then came up against customs duties on rice imports that had been lifted since the drought period,” the unionist told us.

The FNSA deputy secretary-general believes that “maintaining this suspension of duties, which is still in force, is a serious mistake, especially given that forecasts for the upcoming harvest season are made well in advance, leaving room for decision-making.” “The government should have reviewed customs measures periodically and regularly, in line with the national situation, precisely to prevent the market from being flooded with imports, as happened,” Driss Adda added.

According to him, “the situation mainly benefited speculators in the rice sector who, much like what some did with cereals, seized the opportunity to flood the national market with 50,000 tonnes, mainly from Egypt, saturating stocks and creating direct competition with local production.” For Driss Adda, the situation also reflects “a problem in managing both scarcity and abundance.”

Promises that must be delivered

For weeks, the FNSA has reiterated its calls to the Ministry of Economy and Finance for “an immediate and comprehensive review of customs duties, in order to ensure fair recognition of farmers’ work and equitable protection for the national product.” The body has also recommended “deterrent legal and commercial mechanisms capable of preventing dumping, protecting the domestic market, and combating middlemen and speculators.”

As part of this mobilization, the FNSA held sit-ins outside the Ministry of Economy and Finance and in front of Parliament, calling on the government to open dialogue in support of the national rice sector. Speaking to Yabiladi, Driss Adda said that since then, “promises have been made to resolve this situation and safeguard the interests of national professionals, in the hope that these commitments will be honored.”

For the union official, the situation is “even more urgent as the new harvest season approaches, generally beginning between September and October” in the Gharb and Loukkos regions.