el-Kelaa des Srarhna

el-Kelaa des Srarhna, city, provincial capital, and province (established 1973), Tensift region, western Morocco. The city, located about 47 miles (75 km) northeast of Marrakech, is a local market centre in the eastern part of the province; its name means the “Citadel of the Srarhna,” referring to its earlier function as the ancient capital of the local Berber-Arab Srarhna tribe. It is picturesque, surrounded by ramparts and adorned by scattered gardens and olive groves.

El-Kelaa des Srarhna province is bounded by the provinces of Settat (north), Beni Mellal (northeast), Azilal (southeast), Marrakech (south), Safi (southwest), and el-Jadida (northwest). It comprises the most arid area of Morocco west of the Atlas Mountains. The western part of the province is a relatively barren quartz and shale plateau (receiving about 8 inches [200 mm] of rainfall annually) whose limited natural vegetation includes fruit-bearing jujube trees. The local seminomads grow subsistence cereals and graze sheep and goats. The Oued (stream) Tessaout valley in the eastern part of the province contains fertile mounds of silt (dirs) washed down from the Haut (High) Atlas mountains. The Tessaont valley has had regulated irrigation since the completion of the Aït Adel dam (in nearby Azilal province) in 1971; crops such as olives, citrus fruits, and cereals (including wheat and barley) are intensively cultivated. Extensive phosphate deposits are located near the town of Benguerir in the western part of the province. Area province, 3,888 square miles (10,070 square km). Pop. (2009) city, 68,694; (2004) province, 754,705.