Recent light rains in southern and northern Morocco have benefited winter crops which are advancing through the reproductive stage. The prospects for the 1998 harvest in June/July is generally favourable. Isolated solitary adult desert locusts may be present in the extreme south-west and breeding in areas of recent rainfall. Cereal production in 1997, estimated at 4.1 million tonnes, was 60 percent lower than in 1996.
The Government has decided to increase customs duties on wheat imports to 50.6 percent for hard wheat and to 101 percent for soft wheat, to protect local farmers. Imports of wheat in 1997/98 (July/June) are forecast at 2.4 million tonnes.