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During the festival of Eid al-Adha, in Morocco, the air is usually thick with smoke from barbecued meat. There are families coming back from their morning prayers, ready to feast on platters of meat skewers. But this year, it's been different. The king has banned an important part of the festival, the ritual sacrifice of livestock, particularly sheep. That's because there have been several years of drought, which have led to falling numbers of sheep and rocketing meat prices.
Today, you're going to hear how this important festival is celebrated in Morocco and what the band tells us about climate trends in North Africa. I'm Hannah Gelbart, and this is What In The World from the BBC World Service. What In The World
I'm speaking to Basma Elati, a Moroccan journalist for The New Arab in Rabat. Hi, Basma. Hi, thank you for having me. So, Basma, what's going on in Rabat? How have people been celebrating Eid? Well, the month of Eid is a very important month for Moroccans. As you know, Eid is one of the biggest celebrations for Muslims and Morocco is a Muslim-majority country.
So people go to buy sweets, to visit families. This year is a bit different because we have Eid ban.
But still, people are trying to celebrate with what they can. For those listening who don't know about the festival, can you tell us a bit more about Eid al-Adha and why it's so important? Eid al-Adha is one of the biggest celebrations for Muslim communities. And people usually buy an animal. It's mostly a sheep. And they give it as a sacrifice to God. It's technically based on the Islamic belief that
One of the prophets had a dream about sacrificing his own son to God. But then when he tried to do that, the God replaced the son with a sheep. But in
In Quran, at least, I would say it's more about sharing with people who don't have much. It's about sharing with the impoverished and sharing with the communities that cannot really afford buying their own sheep and buying their own food. And we're talking about this because, as you said, there has been a ban this year. The King of Morocco has banned the sacrifice of sheep and goats.
What reasons is he given for the ban? It was for economical and environmental reasons. Morocco now is in the sixth, seventh constructive year of drought. The livestock population dropped by 38% since 2016, mainly because of drought, inflation and the soaring cost of animal feed. So if we celebrated aid this year, people would be buying a sheep for $500 or more.
which if we consider that the minimum wage in Morocco is $300, that would be not affordable for many families in Morocco, which in some years they had to take loans to be able to celebrate like other people.
And it's not the first time there's been a ban like this. Yes, this is not the first time. We've had three bans before. They all were in years of crisis. The first one was when Morocco was in war with Algeria. So the country was struggling. And the two other years were also for environmental and economic reasons.
But this is the first time in 30 years and also this is the first time under the current King Mohammed VI. Are there people who are against the ban and what are they saying? I would say that most people are happy with the ban because Eid has been a financial burden in the last years, way before Eid.
this ban. But people who are worried about this ban are mostly farmers and herders because they invest every year in the celebration. It's a big opportunity for them. So while most of them admit that the ban will help revive the livestock, they're also asking the government to step in with aid. Last month, the government promised $6.5 million
million in aid for farmers. So yes, farmers are hoping that that will help them get through this ban. We've been speaking to people in Morocco to get their thoughts on this ban. Here's Nisreen. I think it's actually a step in the right direction. It's such a big deal that in many cases, nearly 90% of the population participate in
The thing is, sheep are not cheap in Morocco and because they're bought in such large numbers every year, it's putting a lot of pressure on the local supply. Sheep are also not breeding as much, so their prices are rising. In some cases, families are even going into debt or selling things like their TV just to afford the sheep for Eid, which is really troubling.
Overall, I think it's a good idea. It could help families financially and also encourage us to reflect on the meaning behind the holiday itself instead of focusing so much on the ritual of animal sacrifice. And here's Ashraf. So personally, I believe it's a very wise and necessary decision and it's an important step to preserve Morocco's animal resources.
which have been under pressure lately. This may be difficult for some people as Zayed Adha is one of the most important religious celebrations in Morocco, but in the end, the common goods and our national responsibility take precedence over everything else.
Basma mentioned that sheep herds have shrunk by 38% in a decade due to dry pastures. So let's hear more about this now. I'm joined by Samia Hosni, North Africa specialist from BBC Monitoring. Hello. Hello. So what is it that is causing the drought that Morocco is experiencing? Well, Morocco has experienced drought throughout history. But the recent drought, which
has been happening and recurring over the past six years is particularly bad because of climate change. Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of drought. So it makes...
Is a drought when there is no rainfall whatsoever for a period of time?
followed by heavy rainfall causing flooding. So Morocco saw heavy flooding, devastating flooding in parts of the country two years ago. So yes, they have rainfall, but less frequently. These climate trends that we're seeing in Morocco, are other countries in North Africa across the region experiencing the same kind of trends?
Neighbouring Algeria is an example. It has experienced severe drought, wildfires, heatwaves, but the landscape in Algeria is slightly different. It's mostly desert with a strip of coast and mountains, the Atlas Mountains in the north. And Algeria has always been vulnerable to heatwaves and at risk of wildfires and droughts. But also Algeria has been
has a very ambitious plan of dam building. So they're all building dams and affecting neighbouring Tunisia, which is also experiencing similar problems, partly related to climate change. And we've heard how these droughts are affecting livestock, farmers, agriculture. What other ways are people's lives being affected by it? Well, obviously, the drought has impacted farmers because...
Farming is at the backbone of the Moroccan economy. It employs something like 31% of the working population. And also it consumes 88% of the water consumption, so it's quite a high percentage. Also, it's soaring prices of food and especially meat are
which is an important part of Moroccan cuisine. You know, the tagine, lamb tagine and all that. So it's an important part of life. Also, the hammams, which are public bathhouses, and they're very important in Moroccan culture. It's a tradition. So people go to hammams once or twice a week and they mix socially. All social classes go to hammams and hammams were ordered to shut part of the week
And that was a big thing for Moroccans. And also, our moms, apparently, they only consume something like 2% of water consumption. So it's not much compared to farming. But the government has prioritized water supplies to households to farming, which again, had a very negative impact on agriculture.
farmers. Samia, thank you so much. Thank you. Basma, back to you. So how have people been celebrating Eid in Morocco this year instead? Honestly, I did so many interviews and people are just turning to other traditions because Eid is not only about sheep. I mean, the sheep is the part of the religious aspect of it, but we still have the prayers in the
early morning we still have the family gatherings we still gonna share food we still have uh the festival after eve that's festival which is an amazing amazigh festival that people get to celebrate and dance and perform uh so we still have so many things to celebrate thank you so much for coming on the podcast thank you so much
That is it for today. If you enjoyed this episode, do go back and have a listen to some of our other ones. We've looked at things like whether artificial reefs are good for our oceans and why high school proms are being restricted in Uganda. You can find those wherever you get your BBC podcasts. I'm Hannah Gelbart. This is What In The World from the BBC World Service.