## 1 Introduction
Although the Rif mountains and the Middle Atlas Mountains provide most of the water that contributes to supporting the summer discharge in the Sebou basin, the amount of water available in summer--especially during the less rainy months of the year (July and August)--is generally insufficient for the agricultural needs of the Gharb [16]. To grapple with the decline in discharge, dams have been built upstream of the Sebou basin to mobilize winter water resources for summer use. Some dams also help in controlling floods that used to ravage the Gharb plain--for example, the Al Wahda dam [17]. Cereal seeds play a vital economic role in Morocco by providing certified seeds with enhanced genetic capabilities that are drought- and pest-resistant and have a short growing season. The cereal seed industry is a vital part of the larger agricultural system that generates jobs and economic growth in the agricultural sector. According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the cereal seeds sector earned over MAD 600 million in revenue in 2009 (2009, Kingdom of Morocco) [18]. The current turnover is projected to be more than MAD 1.2 billion (around USD 140 million). As a result, the cereal seeds sector is critical to the Green Morocco Plan (GMP), as it promotes agricultural production while also improving the capacity of other agricultural (such as legume, vegetable, and fruit) and animal sectors [19]. Assessing the vulnerability of crops to growing season precipitation and socio-economic variables is very important because it enhances understanding of the role of climatic and non-climatic variables in impacting vulnerability. For example, at the level of sub-Saharan Africa, a few such assessments have been performed in the scientific literature as follows: [PERSON] [20] developed a crop yield vulnerability index for maize yields to droughs in Uganda; this approach was later applied to assess the vulnerability of five crops to droughs in Uganda, as well as three crops in Cameroon [20; 21]. In Morocco, a few studies have looked at how vulnerable crops are to droughs from various viewpoints. For example, [PERSON] [22], discussed the application of drought management guidelines in Morocco as well as the national drought observatory in the form of an institutional zone. Within this, they also present the characterization of drought risk and vulnerability assessment in agricultural systems in the Oum Er Ribia river basin. Additionally, [PERSON] [23] observed that the drivers of vulnerability in Morocco at the river basin level are average annual rainfall, the proportion of irrigated land, land status, literacy ratio, and access to drinking water. Additionally, [PERSON] [5] noted that oasis agriculture is vulnerable to climate change, and that biofertilizers could be a possible technique in reducing the effects of climate change on oasis agriculture in Morocco. Furthermore, [PERSON] [24] discussed the spatio-temporal variations of drought vulnerability and risks through the SPI and observed that the inter-annual variability of rainfall is partly responsible for the vulnerability of agricultural systems in Morocco. Finally, [PERSON] [25] looked at climate change vulnerability and adaptability in Morocco, observing that a combination of declining supplies and rapid population expansion are exacerbating the country's difficult water sanitation situation. Despite the proliferation of literature on vulnerability in Morocco, there are still no studies that have used and perfected the vulnerability index reported in [20; 21] to analyze the vulnerability of several crops in Morocco at both the national and sub national scales. The index employed in this study is largely relevant in determining how vulnerable cropping systems are to droughs in African crop production contexts by integrating crop yield, climatic, and adaptive capacity data. Indeed, this method is helpful as it can meet the objectives of offering a comprehensive approach that includes climatic and socioeconomic factors into vulnerability assessments and mapping [21].