Chaouia-Ouardigha
Morocco's breadbasket became phosphate exporter in 1921—dual metabolism draining resources outward. Administrative dissolution in 2015 changed jurisdiction, not extraction pattern.
Two metabolisms fed from the same land. For centuries, the Chaouia plains exported grain through Casablanca; after 1921, they exported phosphate through Khouribga—both flows draining outward, neither building local reserves.
The Tirs soil—dark clay-marl across the Chaouia plains—supported wheat and barley cultivation long before French cartographers drew administrative boundaries. With 400mm of annual rainfall, the region functioned as Morocco's breadbasket, shipping grain north through Casablanca and Fédala ports. Semi-nomadic populations moved across these plains seasonally, following water and pasture. The agricultural metabolism ran on solar energy captured by cereal crops, converted to calories, and exported to coastal cities. This pattern persisted for generations: the land fed others, not itself.
In 1921, OCP Group (Office Chérifien des Phosphates, founded 1920) began extracting phosphate deposits at Khouribga during the French protectorate. The company town that emerged operated on a different metabolic principle: mining sedimentary rock formed millions of years ago, processing it for export to global fertilizer markets. Khouribga sat atop 26+ billion tons of reserves—44% of Morocco's total—and by the late 20th century produced 70% of OCP's national output. The dual economy became entrenched: agricultural breadbasket in the plains, extraction monoculture in Khouribga. Both systems moved resources outward. Wheat fed distant populations; phosphates fed distant soil. The region's economic identity hardened around these parallel export flows, with Khouribga developing the characteristic dependency pattern of company towns—employment, infrastructure, and municipal revenue tied to a single industrial operator.
On February 20, 2015, Decree 2-15-401 abolished Chaouia-Ouardigha as part of Morocco's "advanced regionalization" reform. The territory split between Casablanca-Settat (which absorbed Khouribga) and Béni Mellal-Khénifra. Administrative boundaries shifted, but metabolic patterns did not. Khouribga still produces 70% of OCP's output. The Chaouia plains still grow wheat and barley for export. The dual-metabolism structure—one photosynthetic, one extractive—continues under different jurisdictional labels.
As global fertilizer demand climbs through 2026, phosphate extraction from Khouribga accelerates. Agricultural production persists across former Chaouia territories. The source-sink pattern remains: two flows out, minimal retention locally.