No sheep for Eid, King tells Morocco
King Mohammed VI has asked the people of Morocco to avoid the demonstration of Muslim rites of killing sheep during Eid al-Dada this year due to a sharp decline in the country’s flock.
The reduction is blamed for seven years of drought.
Eid al-Dada, who falls in June, remembers the Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham’s will to sacrifice his son on the command of God.
Muslims mark the phenomenon by killing sheep or other animals and the meat is shared between the family and donated to the poor.
According to official data, the herd in Morocco has shrunk up to 38% in a decade due to dried pastures.
Meat prices are rocketing, and 100,000 sheep are being imported from Australia.
In a speech read by the Minister of Religious Affairs on National Television on Wednesday, Raja Mohammed VI said, “The performance of the rites will cause significant damage to the large sections of our people under these difficult circumstances.”
His father, Hasan II made the same appeal in 1966, when Morocco also dried for a long time.
Explaining the challenge in an interview recently, Morocco’s Agriculture Minister, Ahmed Bur, said, “Need to secure water for priority areas, such as driving and industry” meant agriculture was the worst hit, “subject to strict rules and water rationing with most irrigation areas”.
To help stabilize prices in Mavoco, the cattle, sheep, camels and red meats were imported and VAT was recently picked up.
