While experiencing the worst drought in over three decades in 2022, Morocco has reached a new milestone in exporting water-intensive watermelon: the country has overtaken Italy to become the second largest supplier of watermelon in the European Union, second only to Spain.
Spain’s watermelon supplies to the EU have been sliding over the past four years. Meanwhile, Morocco’s watermelon supplies have been on a steady rise, according to data from statistical service Euroestacom (Icex-Eurostat) quoted in Spanish media.
Morocco’s watermelon exports to the EU nearly doubled between 2019 and 2022, going from around 149,000 kilograms to 270,000 kilograms. However, Spain’s supplies dropped from 681,000 in 2019 to 520,000 in 2022.
Water scarcity is emerging as a major challenge to Morocco’s socio-economic development. Demographic pressure coupled with agricultural activities is straining the country’s dwindling water resources, with agriculture alone accounting for 88% of water consumption in the country, according to recent data from the World Bank.
Amid growing concerns over water scarcity, Morocco’s agriculture ministry announced in September 2022 ending irrigation subsidies on the cultivation of avocado, watermelon, and citrus fruit.
Morocco is on the World Bank’s list of countries with the lowest water resources per capita. The country’s average water resources per capita stood at an annual 645 cubic meters in 2015, well below the international “water poverty line” of 1000 cubic meters per capita.
According to the World Bank, Morocco’s water resources are expected to plunge even further by 2050 to 500 cubic meters per capita, approaching the international threshold of “extreme water scarcity.”
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The country’s decision to end irrigation subsidies came in the wake of several online campaigns calling for ending the cultivation of water-intensive crops. Several Moroccan environmental associations, including Morocco Environment 2050, have been demanding the government to end the cultivation of watermelon and avocados.
Last year’s severe drought caused Moroccan dams to reach a record five-year low filling rate. While Morocco is historically no stranger to droughts, acute climate change has in recent years been causing droughts to become more frequent and more severe.
Meanwhile, the scarcity of water resources caused several regions to take extreme measures to preserve their water resources, such as rationing water and banning the use of drinking water to water public gardens, among other measures.
The situation prompted many activists and ecologists to question why the country still allows for the cultivation of water-intensive crops.
“I don’t think that growing watermelon in Zagora is a good thing,” Abdelghani Chehbouni, a professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), told Morocco World News in August of 2022.
“As a population, we do not need to consume food outside its normal season … I can live without avocado, but I cannot live without water,” he added. “It is not realistic to continue growing products that consume a lot of water and are not of prime necessity to the population.”
The increase in Morocco’s watermelon exports to the EU comes at a time when Morocco is turning to extreme measures to guarantee water security.
In recent years, the country invested heavily in desalination plants, stations that turn seawater into drinkable water. The process requires substantial amounts of energy as water is evaporated and condensed to separate it from salt.
