Desertification and Its Control in Morocco - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 91

Fig. 5.3 Rainfall map showing that rainfall is low (100 mm p.a.) in most inland of Morocco

drought years. This balance seems to have broken since 1975, as the number of dry
years has a tendency to exceed the humid ones. The 1980-1984 drought in Morocco
was perhaps the most severe in the country over a period of 1,000 years! (Chbouki
et al. 1995 ). A high mortality of trees was recorded that exacerbated the on-going
death of trees brought about from excessive lopping of branches etc. feed livestock
and provide fuel wood (see below).

3 Land Area, Arable and Pastoral Areas

Land classification in Morocco shows that 78 % of the area (56 Mha) is in desert and
dry zones (annual average precipitation 250 mm/year), 15 % (10 Mha) in the semi

arid zone (250-500 mm rainfall per annum) and 7 % in the sub-humid to humid

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