Morocco’s Minister of Agriculture Aziz Akhannouch has visited the agricultural fields in the Fez-Meknes region that sustained damage due to a hailstorm. Akhannouch visited the region on Thursday, June 11, five days after a violent hailstorm damaged 19,000 hectares of agricultural fields. The hailstorm affected 31 different municipalities in the Fez-Meknes region, he said. Experts have estimated the damage to vary between 5% and 80% depending on the crops. The field examination would allow the Ministry of Agriculture, in consultation with experts and farmers, to determine the necessary measures to protect Moroccan agriculture from weather-related incidents. As soon as all the data is gathered, the ministry will put in place the appropriate measures to deal with similar phenomena in a sustainable way, Akhannouch assured. The region of Fez-Meknes currently has 6,260 hectares of agricultural fields equipped with anti-hail netting and 68 anti-hail generators. The Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Development Fund subsidized the protective equipment with a MAD 310 million budget ($32 million), Akhannouch said. The hailstorm incident dates back to Saturday, June 6. On June 7, the ministry issued a statement saying the hailstorm affected most provinces in the Fez-Meknes region, with the exception of the Taounate province. Source - https://www.freshplaza.com