King Mohammed VI has asked Moroccans to abstain from performing the Muslim rite of slaughtering sheep during Eid al-Adha this year due to a sharp drop in the country’s herd.

The shortages are blamed on seven years of drought.

Eid al-Adha, which falls in June, commemorates the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son on God’s command.

Muslims mark the event by slaughtering sheep or other animals and the meat is shared among family and donated to the poor.

But herds in Morocco have shrunk by 38% in a decade due to dry pastures, according to official data.

Meat prices are rocketing, and 100,000 sheep are being imported from Australia.

Performing the rite “under these difficult circumstances will cause significant harm to large segments of our people, especially those with limited income,” King Mohammed VI said in a speech read by the minister of religious affairs on national television on Wednesday.

His father, Hassan II, made the same appeal back in 1966 when Morocco also suffered a long drought.

Explaining the challenge in a recent interview, Morocco’s agriculture minister, Ahmed Bouari, said “the need to secure water for priority sectors, such as driving and industry” meant that agriculture was the worst-hit, “with most irrigation areas subject to strict regulations and water rationing”.

Import tax and VAT on cattle, sheep, camels and red meat were recently lifted to help stabilise prices across Morocco.