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seed needs for next year and for possible sale
to other farmers.
It is extremely difficult to predict the area
that will be planted to the Mexican varieties
in 1970-71 since this will be in a large part
a function of seed availability. However, it is
not unreasonable to expect .that 45,000 to
50,000 hectares will be seeded to these varieties,
although the large areas which will be
seeded with uncertified farmer seed will make
verification nearly impossible.
The widespread use of the dwarf bread
wheat varieties raises the possibility of a serious
problem within the next few years. Such
a problem may result from the high yielding
bread wheat varieties replacing durum varieties
and thereby upsetting the long-time balance
between these wheat types. Given the
enormous qemand for durum for production of
couscous (the staple dish of the Moroccan
diet), it is essential to develop in the near
future semi-dwarf durums capable of competing
with the high yielding bread wheat varieties.
Efforts along this line will receive maximum
attention in the breeding programs now
underway. Otherwise, Morocco could find itself
in five years with a surplus of bread wheat
and a shortage of du rum wheat, just the opposite
of the present situation.
Production Research
It is evident that a high degree of variation
in yield from year to year will continue to be
a normal situation in wheat production in Morocco.
The dryland wheat regions are largely
areas of shallow soils, often less than 50 cm
in depth, making agriculture susceptible to the
highly variable rainfall patterns. In contrast
to similar climatic areas such as those of the
American Pacific Northwest where research
has learned to adapt fertilization and management
practice to measurable moisture parameters,
Morocco's shallow soils and shorter
wheat season make such adaptive practices
more difficult.
However, the development of proper management
practices combined with better varieties
can decrease this variability from year
to year while increasing average yields. Two
years of varietal demonstration conducted by
the wheat project in cooperation with the extension
service have shown repeatedly two
things: (1) the local varieties have a genetic
yield potential of 30 quintals/ha under good
management; (2) it is absolutely necessary to
push yields above this level to demonstrate
the clearcut genetic superiority of the Mexican
varieties. Unfortunately many uncontrolable
variables in the package of practices recom-
A large demonstration campaign is being carried out with farmers in Morocco involving new wheats and
production practices. Dr. H. D. Floyd, USAID, and farmer cooperator supervise harvest of one of these
demonstrations in the Casablanca area.