Morocco artisans fear 'knockout punch' from COVID-19

Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts Nadia Fettah has proposed ideas such as exhibition spaces in supermarkets to revive a sector that provides employment to two million people. | Moroccan rug dealers roll a carpet at a shop in the city of Sale.

Artisans in Morocco have been starved of income for almost three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | A Moroccan potter works on a wheel at a workshop.

The crafts industry represents some seven percent of GDP, with an export turnover last year of nearly 1 billion dirhams ($100 million). | A Moroccan rug weaver peeks from behind carpet thread at a workshop.

Despite their role in the economy, artisans work without social security cover and with a limited distribution network, much of it through word of mouth, like elsewhere in North Africa. | A Moroccan rug weaver creates a carpet.

Weavers work eight hours a day for barely $100 a month "when the carpets are sold" and they "have nothing left because there has not been a single sale in three months"

Foreign tourists have vanished, the lockdown has paralysed economic life and local customers "have other priorities", Ahmed Driouch said in his store cluttered with copper lamps, ceramics, daggers, jewelry, inlaid chests and carpets. | A Moroccan potter displays his work at a shop.

Business has been "two hundred percent affected by the virus", he said, grimly forecasting it would take "at least two or three years" to return to normal. | A Moroccan rug dealer cleans a carpet at a shop.

A Moroccan rug dealer lines up carpets at a shop.

A Moroccan rug weaver sorts out yarn at a workshop.

A Moroccan rug dealer lines up carpets at a shop.