In Morocco, farmers call for an end to the ban on watermelon cultivation

Farmers in the Tata region are calling for the ban on watermelon cultivation to be lifted. But the local authorities maintain their refusal.

Farmers in the Tata region are in debt due to the ban on watermelon cultivation. “The alternative crops we have experimented with over the past three years have failed to fill the economic void caused by the ban on watermelon cultivation, as many farmers now find themselves having to repay debts incurred for agricultural investments made locally a few years ago,” he told Hespress Brahim, a former watermelon farmer in the region. According to him, the farmers’ wish is for this crop to be regulated in the region, like other neighboring desert regions. “Zagora, which suffers more from drought than us, has not completely banned this cultivation, but has subjected it to regulation and reduced the cultivated areas,” he explained.