Water Management

The population of the Souss-Massa river basin, a narrow depression between the High-Atlas Mountains to the north and the Anti-Atlas to the south, has traditionally lived from agriculture, growing mainly grain and cattle feed. But many of the wells that small-scale farmers in the region have traditionally used to irrigate their fields, have started to run dry.

One reason for this is that their water resources are being siphoned off by the greenhouses and pump systems employed by major agricultural players in the region.

"Many farmers have lost their livelihoods because the groundwater is being pumped away," explains Juergen Graebener from the German company Eco Consult, based in Morocco. "The result is that the groundwater level has sunk so low that they can't get to it with their traditional wells."

And with the groundwater level dropping three meters each year, the situation in the region is hardly likely to improve.

Irrigation challenges

In the past, farmers didn't need to burrow further than 10 meters into the ground to reach water. But today, irrigating their fields has become increasingly challenging. The water table has plummeted to such an extent that only major farming companies have the technology necessary to extract water.

In this very dry region, reservoirs run dry even before the end of the season, and the water supply is insufficient to meet the needs of intensive farming.

The last 30 years have seen intensive farming practices adopted across Morocco, as the country has adjusted to the demands of the global economy by lifting import barriers and scaling back its subsidy system.

"Large-scale farming in greenhouses provides Morocco with its main exports, and is the leading economy in the region," says Juergen Graebener. Some 700,000 tons of vegetables are produced in the Souss-Massa basin annually, a large part of which is exported to Europe.

But small farmers haven't benefitted. In the last few years, many of them have protested against developments in large-scale farming and its impact on their own livelihoods. Their depleted water supply is only part of the problem. Those who have no choice but to give up their own land are forced to earn their living as a farmhand – work that's badly paid.

In the long run, the future looks anything but rosy for farmers in the region. The Moroccan government is planning to push development in the Souss-Massa region over the new few years, turning it into one of the country's most productive farming centers that can hold its own on the global market.

High-tech versus tradition

But that's a difficult goal to acheive without improving water availability. To that effect, the government plans to improve water resources management by promoting the efficient and sustainable use of forest, soil, and water. That includes switching from growing grain to olive trees on 52,000 hectares of land, which makes sense because olive trees need less water.

Moreover, Morocco is increasingly looking towards seawater desalination as a source to supply its increasing water needs. The key is modern technology.

"Producing more water is the goal,“ says Graebener. "Two desalination plants are foreseen, and a series of small and medium-sized dams are to be built."

In order to ensure their livelihoods despite the large plants, many small farmers already use a drip irrigation system, a practice adopted extensively in areas of acute water scarcity, which saves water by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either onto the soil surface or directly onto the root zone.

While experts agree that the region needs modern technology to remain economically stable, they also maintain that tradition has a role to play too.

Graebener says the situation is comparable to the debate on nuclear energy in Germany. "There's no alternative for the time being, but in the long run, we need to see how we can move away from it," he says.

Until then, he hopes that not all traditional wells in Morocco will have run dry. Time is running out for small farmers to adapt to a sustainable use of their water resources.

Mabel Gundlach (jp)
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar