Images of Daily Life in Morocco


Orange harvest
Haouz Plain near Marrakech

The Haouz Plain surrounds Marrakech and provides the city with a rich variety of fruits and vegetables. The Haouz is also a major orange producing region, where the fruit (mostly navel oranges) ripens to a delightful sweetness and commands a big export market in Europe. Morocco is one of the top orange producers in the world.

-In what kind of climate do oranges grow?

Mediterranean climate is characterized by the presence of a long period of hot, dry weather. In the Haouz, there is generally no rain from April until the end of October.

Irrigation becomes necessary. Farmers carefully work up the soil around their tree crops to capture the winter rains and allow rainwater to penetrate the ground fully.