The Optimized Management of Drip Irrigation in the Haouz of Marrakesh for the Construction of Sustainable Development

The Optimized Management of Drip Irrigation in the Haouz of Marrakesh for the Construction of Sustainable Development

Mimoun SIGHROUCHNI

PhD student, Multidisciplinary Laboratory of Research in Economics and Management (LARPEG), Faculty of Economics and Management – Beni Mellal, Sultan Moulay Slimane University – Morocco

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.9020325

Received: 09 February 2025; Accepted: 18 February 2025; Published: 21 March 2025

ABSTRACT

The context of water scarcity requires the implementation of cutting-edge technologies, such as drip irrigation through the green economy. The goal is to achieve food sovereignty, to boost farmers’ incomes.

The issue of this paper is entitled “In what ways do water-saving irrigation projects succeed in building socio-economic and environmental balances in the Haouz of Marrakesh?” The methodological approach is qualitative, the data processing via SPSS software.

Failures have been raised, social control of irrigation, economic and environmental balances remain far from the expectations. Hence, the optimized management of these waters alone is unable to succeed its mission without being blessed by the Haouziens farmers.

Keywords: Green economy, water scarcity, optimized management, sustainable development, Haouz of Marrakesh.

INTRODUCTION

The World Water Conference took the initiative to launch the first alarm of the magnitude of the problems of water availability and access on a quantitative and qualitative level in 1977, in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

As the conference draws to a close, the United Nations declares the Water Decade 1981-1990 around the goal of access to safe drinking water for all humans in 1990.

At the 1992 Rio de Janeiro conference on development and environment, water was dealt with in a chapter of Agenda 21. Previously, the water issue was only discussed in expert meetings, far from a UN intervention. (Chassande, P., 2002),

It was not until 1998 that UNESCO took the initiative to organize the conference under the theme “water: an imminent crisis”. From this date, the situation begins to evolve, the international financial institutions[1] play a decisive role in the direction of water debates. It is from these structures that the provisions designed to encourage the commodification of goods and the privatization of water derive in the main (Barlow M. & Clarke T., 2001).

Institutions have been created to carry out their crucial tasks, namely the World Water Council and the Global Water Partnership taking over global water governance at the expense of the UN. (ONU, 2010)

Morocco, for its part, strongly supports these initiatives, because it is exposed to the hazards of climate change and excessive human intervention, making the potential of water resources scarce in quantity and degraded qualitatively. In this context of structural water scarcity, accentuated by the geographic aridity in many regions of Morocco, such as the Haouz area of Marrakesh, efforts to optimize the management of water are initiated by public decision-makers for the sustainability of this vital resource, and the construction of socio-economic and environmental balances. The Haouz Regional Agricultural Development Office (ORMVAH) contributed to the National program of one million hectares by a large-scale hydraulic area with an area of 144. 600 ha at the perimeter level, as shown in the figure below:

Figure N°1: ORMVAH Irrigated Perimeter Area

Source: http://ormvah.com/office/monographie.

In order to consolidate the Green Morocco Plan (GMP), transversal measures have been adopted, at their head is installed the National Water Saving Irrigation Program (NWSIP) for an area of 550000 hectares at national level, 57100 Ha in the Haouz area of Marrakesh, with a view to mitigating the adverse effects of climate change and managing this scarcity of water resources in an optimized way. Irrigated agriculture is the sector that consumes most water, and it is also the sector that is most exposed to the risks of water scarcity through water restrictions due to the “chisel effect”, the unpredictable increase in demand for drinking water on the one hand, and the reduction of water supplies to dams in case of rainfall deficit, on the other hand.

All restrictions are operated on irrigated agriculture with all the negative impacts that can be generated by making crop productivity and user incomes at risk, at the mercy of the degree of these restrictions. Hence the need for irrigation system innovation is urgent, and the green economy concept is emerging on the surface.

In fact, it is a question of safeguarding the fruit of the policy of dams, initiated in the sixties of the twentieth century, in this case the productive potential of the irrigation perimeters which have always been poles of creation of wealth and jobs at regional level and the foundation of the Moroccan national economy.

This work attempts to study the effects of optimized management of these projects of collective conversion from gravity irrigation to localized irrigation on sustainable development, and on users’ perceptions.

In order to answer the central question entitled: « In what ways do water-saving irrigation projects succeed in building socio-economic and environmental balances in the territory of the Haouz of Marrakesh? »

The following outline consists of three sections: «Literature review» is the first section; «Research methodology» is the subject of the second section; the third section will be dedicated to «Data analysis and discussion of results», and finally a conclusion to this work.

LITERATURE REVIEW

There is no doubt that the contribution of the farmers who use irrigation water to the success of these water-saving irrigation projects, in synergy with multi-criteria indicators for building sustainable development, is of great value. Nevertheless, a possible underestimation of this consideration may be a major factor in the production of adverse effects by these projects of conversion of the gravity irrigation system to localized irrigation.

In his paper entitled « Water Resource Planing and development », (Petersen M.S., 1984) noted that water resource planning is fundamental to developing a water master plan, and the two are not really separable. Planning is a process, a systematic way of studying a problem, an art and a science, and the decisions to be made are derived from analysis.

At the national level, modernization of agriculture requires reflection in space and time; the availability of water resources to be developed is the main variable followed by various technical and socio-economic criteria. Although many efforts are being made, the exploitation of water resources will continue to face many problems.

The economist (EL Faiz M., 2001) reiterates in a study on irrigation water in the Haouz of Marrakesh, that in the past, state management followed the entire chain of mobilization, production and marketing. Unfortunately, the new developments use the latest hydraulic technologies, and the crops installed are often water-consuming, falling under the responsibility of users, without intervention by public managers.

The  (FAO, 1993) reiterates that in various parts of the world, the process of extension plays a crucial role in the introduction of such technology. In addition, the share of investment in extension remains low in Africa and Latin America and subsequently their rates of return are not so great.

The use of water in irrigation in Morocco is a crucial task in increasing productivity, the legal and social context of the use of these resources may be a brake on the measures taken or to be taken in terms of water saving and adoption of these projects for localized conversion.

In the case of the Haouz of Marrakesh, the link between the hydraulic question and great history is much more true than in other regions of Morocco because of the age of irrigation on the one hand and the coexistence in the same space of two, three generations of hydraulic equipment. (El Faiz, M., 1993).

The researchers  (Simonneux V., Lépage M., Helson D., Metral J., Thomas S., Duchemin B., Cherkaoui M., Kharrou H., Berjami B., & Chehbouni A., 2009) confirm that integrated irrigation technology faces many problems. On the one hand, water resources are becoming scarce as a result of recurrent droughts. On the other hand, public decision-makers have chosen to supply new areas along the water channel from the dam. The water demand of beneficiary users is not adequately met. The ORMVAH imposes a very low irrigation water quota of 6000 m³/ha/year, despite the fact that the potential evapotranspiration in the Haouz area is close to 15000 m³/ha/year.

The authors (El Faiz M., & Ruf T., 2006) note that it is better to combine at least two types of resources, so that agriculture is possible. Thus, the water crises around Marrakesh are mainly related to conceptual anomalies of the institutional framework, while often a climatic origin is claimed to be the cause.

In a context of climate change that is more worrying than ever, the call for green and sustainable agriculture is dictated as an emergency that must not be postponed. The development of this agriculture will not be effective and efficient without the preservation of natural resources and their optimized management, which are its basis for existence.

In this sense, the author (Tanouti O., 2017) points out that The ORMVAH works under miserable conditions to preserve its leadership on water resources. Many malfunctions are caused by aging facilities. Crop rotation is neglected, farmers are free to choose their crops, in the face of a lack of surface water, Users are moving towards overexploitation of groundwater to fill this water deficit without worrying about the environmental impact of this practice.

Environmental degradation through irrigation is a scourge that is difficult to circumvent because of the high demand for food by an expanding population.

The author  (Vandana, S., 2002) notes that Industrial agriculture has pushed food production towards methods that reduce soil water retention capacity and increase water demand. By refusing to recognize water as a limiting factor in food production, industrial agriculture is promoting waste. The shift from organic to chemical fertilizers and the substitution of water-hungry crops for water-efficient crops has invariably led to water scarcity, desertification, waterlogging and salinization. Drought can be aggravated by climate change or reduced soil moisture.

According to (Barlow, M. & Clarke, T., 2002),  – Where water resources have already declined, humans often use irrigation- At first sight this may seem a good solution but the long-term effects of many irrigation methods are alarming –

The (World Bank, January, 1995) reiterates that – The reduction of unaccounted water volume or the introduction of drip irrigation system, will deserve special attention in future operations.

As a remedy to the situation, the author (Ruf T., 2017) believes that solutions exist to try to reconcile antagonists and refound viable territories by pooling different resources and establishing fair management, Fair and operational water with real associations sitting on a defined perimeter, with clear constitutional and operational rules. The concept of large-scale water management could be considered as a social management of water in a redrawn network, a compromise between public, private and collective interests.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In order to gather sufficient useful information which can be used easily, in order to be able to answer the problem posed and to meet the expectations of this research, a questionnaire of 98 items to avoid any surprises during the analysis of the data collected, was developed by us and intended for farmers in the Haouz sectors, at NFis N1-2 and Oulad Gaid.

The choice of direct interview was dictated by the inadequacy of available information and the need for this research both in qualitative and quantitative terms. This technique has facilitated the collection of a wealth of information that can aggregate the perceptions, knowledge and visions of the key players involved in these local irrigation conversion projects to be able to make reasoned inferences.

Samples were selected in accordance with sampling techniques taking into account the geographical[2] pattern of land use, the project baseline and the water supply of this project, the purpose of choosing all these criteria is to maintain a certain consistency in the analysis of data collected from 251 farmers benefiting from the first tranche of this project for the collective conversion of gravel into localized irrigation.

To answer the main question of the problem and verify the assumptions that we considered useful to ask, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted and data analysis is done via the SPSS-22 software.

In order to decipher the content of interviews, descriptive analysis methods for quantitative data and inferential content analyses for qualitative data were used, in this case the Khi-two Homogeneity Test and the Cronbach alpha reliability test.

The qualitative framework has overwhelmed the research phase, which is closely related to the field of economic and social sciences.  The texts resulting from the interviews were used with an affinity in order to obtain information that could be used to serve the expectations of this research.

Theme hypotheses.

H1: The economic balance of the farmer would be fragile.

The new drip irrigation technique requires the installation of consumption meters at the top of the plots, this process is not approved by farmers because it could be a limit to their claims following any increases that might be applied at the billing level.

In this case, the farmers are convinced that the reimbursement of the investment costs allocated to this modern project will only be borne by them, either through the increase in the price of the m³ of water, or through the application of taxes, this will be an additional burden on them, adding to their deficit fiscal position.

Given this situation, the economic balance is fragile and it is likely difficult to achieve.

H2: The social autonomy of farmers would be degraded.

The divergence between traditional farmers’ know-how and the strong use of innovative technology in this localized irrigation system will sow a feeling of dependence on one interlocutor to conquer the new technique. Automation of this irrigation can be a factor in reducing the local labour force and producing rural unemployed, which will accentuate the rural exodus to the city.  Previously, the gravity irrigation system was a source of life for a large mass of the family under the aegis of the head of the family who is the farmer.

In short, with the introduction of this new modern irrigation system, the social autonomy of farmers would probably be degraded.

H3: Drip irrigation could adversely affect the environment.

It is very likely that the implementation of a new localized irrigation system based on water-saving irrigation spike techniques will encourage farmers to produce at least more than two crops per year, and subsequently the concept of water saving will combine in overexploitation of soil and groundwater that will damage the sustainability of soil and water by causing environmental disturbances or degradation instead of saving water.

The overuse of inputs[3] in search of added value without taking into account the rest of the soil, perhaps, it will be an excellent contributor of the soil and pollution of groundwater by nitrates and other harmful products which exceed the acceptability. Hence, the environment would probably be negatively altered.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Analysis of results.

Reading Figure N°2, we can note that the farmers interviewed and who answered “confident in the subsidies and state aids” are among 56 of whom 50 answered “moderately confident”, or 22.7%, whereas 194 farmers or 77.3% answered «not trusting in subsidies and aids».

Figure N°2: Farmers’ confidence in government subsidies and aids

Source: Author (data analysis via SPSS)

Figure N°3 informs us that only 9 farmers are satisfied with the economic benefit of the project, or 3.6%, while the sample of farmers who are not satisfied with the economic benefit of the project are 242 beneficiaries, or 96.4%.

Figure N°3: Farmers’ satisfaction with the economic benefit of the project

Source: Author ( data analysis via SPSS)

In Figure N°4, only 3 farmers who agree that these collective conversion projects are actually respectful of the environment is 1.2%, on the other hand 248 farmers or 98,8% said they did not agree and that these projects of localised conversion do not respect the environment, contrary to what is foreseen in the protocols[4] for setting up irrigation projects, It is our duty to raise the issue so that public decision-makers can rethink it.

Figure N°4: Farmers’ Environmental Awareness Chart

Source: Author (data analysis via SPSS)

The Figure N°5, informs us that 93 farmers have confidence in this technology 37.05%, by the way, those who do not trust in this technology are scorned in 158 farmers, 62.95%.

Figure N°5: Farmers’ confidence in installed technology

Source: Author (data analysis via SPSS)

Discussion of results

The reading of Figures N°2, N°3 and N°5 raised, as well as the contents of Table N°1 relating to the comparison of confidence and satisfaction rates according to the monthly expenses of farmers (in Annexes), allow us to conduct the discussions as follows:

∎ The farmers interviewed in the framework of the questionnaire of this study, and who answered «confident in subsidies and state aids» are 56 users, each of them spends monthly average 4133.33 MAD. Furthermore, the vast majority of those who replied that “they were not confident of state subsidies and aids” were 195 farmers, each of whom spent an average of MAD 3546.39 per month. (Test T= 2.82, ddl =249, P=008) is significant.

Despite the fact that the costs of supplying and installing these collective conversion projects in localized irrigation are 100% borne by the State within the framework of the Agricultural Development Fund for farmers, each of the latter pays an average daily minimum of MAD 120. It is envisaged that what may have contributed to the development of this lack of confidence in these subsidies could be due to the inequitable distribution of state aids, their allocation is based on the farmer’s capacity in useful agricultural area and not on his social situation, nor on his power to spend.

∎ Regarding the degree of confidence in the installed technology, this variable consists of two ways to answer question (23) which was formulated by “Do you trust the installed technology?” The group that answered “YES, we trust the installed technology” consists of 93 farmers or 37.05%, with an average monthly expenditure of 4201.08 MAD, and those who answered “NO, we don’t trust the installed technology,” their workforce consists of 158 farmers or 62.94% with an average monthly expenditure not exceeding 3372.78 MAD. The test (Test T= 4.702, ddl= 228.821, P= .000) is significant in relation to monthly expenditure. It is reiterated that almost 2/3 of the population questioned expressed their feeling of lack of confidence in this technology introduced into their plots.  The observation forces management and farming authorities to rethink this phenomenon of dissatisfaction on the part of these farmers with this new water-saving technology introduced into their plots.

∎ In relation to the economic satisfaction of the localized conversion project, the chosen variable consists of two ways of answering the question (81) which was formulated by “Is there an economic impact of the localized conversion project?” The group that answered “YES, there is an economic impact” consists of only 7 farmers, with an average monthly expenditure of 3657.14 MAD, whereas those who answered “NO, there is no economic impact” their number is 244 farmers, with an average monthly expenditure of around MAD 3680.33.

Apart from the very strong dominance in number of the 2nd group who sees no economic impact of the project of conversion into localized, we raise a rare event between two opponents, it is that the average monthly expenses of the two groups are almost the same,  this lack of a clear difference between the amounts spent by the two groups can be justified by the fact that the promises made by the builders of these projects far exceeded the economic impact on the ground,  This has led to the two groups coming together and being reluctant to spend.  It can be seen that the whole converges towards the sense of absence of economic impact of these localized conversion projects. Although it is noted that these results are not statistically significant (T=-0. 041, ddl=249, P=968).

∎ Following the reading of figure N°4 mentioned above and table N°2 related to Comparison of confidence and satisfaction rate according to monthly expenses (in Annexes), we propose the following discussion:

Based on the monthly expenses of farmers, there are two answers, each corresponding to a group of the overall sample of farmers who answered question (92) “do you agree with the environmental impact of the localized conversion project?”  The first group, which represents almost all of the farmers surveyed, tends towards 248 users who do not agree with “the respect for the environment and not these drip projects”. Each of them spends on average monthly 3677.42 MAD, moreover, only a very small minority not exceeding 3 farmers, who «agree with the respect for the environment». Each of them spends on average monthly 3866.67 MAD. (Test T=0. 219, ddl=249, P=0. 827), although this result could not be given any significance, probably because of the very limited number of farmers who agree with the respect for the environment by this project of conversion to localized irrigation. Our duty as a neutral researcher requires us to raise the observation to be rethought by decision-makers.

CONCLUSION

In the context of water scarcity, optimized management of this vital resource is at the forefront of various interventions by public policy-makers.  Indeed, at the level of the territorial area of the Haouz of Marrakesh, with regard to climate constraints, considerable efforts have been made by public managers to control water resources and exploit them effectively. Ambitious water-saving irrigation programs have been implemented in this Haouzienne area on a total area of 57100 ha divided into 5 tranches.

It should be noted that following our study, the results obtained and discussed before, allow us to affirm objectively, that the three hypotheses are verified, then, in response to our main question, it is noted that the socio-economic and environmental balances are not achieved.

Probably, the failures raised are not the result of bad will, but no doubt, it is a mismatch in information and communication between the new water management system emanating from the state in the person of ORMVAH, and the social system that is forged with the mode of gravity irrigation.

The failures raised urge the authorities managing and exploiting these water resources, to rethink deeply this phenomenon of discontent on the part of these farmers.

Similarly, the observation underlines the decision-makers to work massively for the participatory integration of users of these projects to voluntarily change their practices in a mutual trust, for the implementation of the objectives set and ensuring that the optimal management of these scarce waters is the key to their sustainability, and that it is everyone’s business in order to achieve a possible sustainable development.

On occasion, one may suggest prospects for a possible remedy to this worrying situation:

• Establish for each of the sectors a rigorous monitoring of irrigation water consumption according to the crops in place and not according to the area;
• Ensure optimal mobilization of water resources, and popularize farmers to avoid water-consuming crops such as citrus fruits;
• Increase the efficiency of water use by establishing a minimum consumption scale to be paid to counter fraudsters;
• Assess the adverse effects on the environment of excessive use of water and take the necessary measures to combat any waste.

ANNEXES

Table N° 1: Comparison of confidence and satisfaction rates based on farmers’ monthly expenses*P<0. 05

Source : Author, SPSS analysis

Table N° 2: Comparison of confidence and satisfaction rates based on monthly expenses.

Source : Author, SPSS analysis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. (Barlow M. & Clarke T., 2001). l’or bleu, l’eau le grand enjeu du XXIème siècle. Paris: Pluriel, Hachette Littératures.
2. (Barlow, M. & Clarke, T., 2002). L’or bleu l’eau, le grand enjeu du XXIème siècle. (P. Noyart, Trans.) Librairie Arthème fayard, p- 75-80.
3. (Chassande, P., 2002). Développement durable Pourquoi? Comment? Aix Provence, France: Edisud.
4. (El Faiz, M., 1993). Grands Appareillages hydrauliques et sociétés locales en Méditerranée, pour une histoire de longue durée des aménagements hydro-agricoles dans le Haouz. Presses de l’école nationale des ponts et chaussées, P-33.
5. (El Faiz, M., 2001). La grande hydraulique dans le Haouz de Marrakech: fascination technologique et emergence du pouvoir des ingénieurs. In Gobe E. (dir). Les ingénieurs maghrébins dans les systèmes de formation. Tunis, Institut de recherche sur le maghreb contemporain.
6. (El Faiz, M. & Ruf T., 2006). La gestion collective de l’eau est-elle encore possible dans le N’Fis à l’ouest de Marrakech? Cordinations hydrauliques et justices sociales, 4^e séminaire du PCSI Agropolis- Monpellier. 25 et 26 novembre 2004, CIRAD, WWW.hal.archives-ouverts.fr/docs/00/15/43/99/…EL_FaizRuf_VF2.pdf.  Accesssed  novembre 30, 2024.
7. (FAO.,1993). Etude FAO. Développement économique et social 113. FAO, Rome, P- 46.
8. (ONU., 2010). Campus Plein Sud, quelle gestion de l’eau pour les pays du sud ?
9. (Petersen M.S., 1984). Water Resource Planing and development, Prentice- Hall. Inc, Engle Wood Cliffs? New Jersey. USA.
10. (Ruf T., 2017). L’accès à l’eau, une question de justice pluridisciplinaire. In chataigner J-M., les objectifs du developpement durable, Marseille, IRD, chap. 17. p: 161-169.
11. (Simonneux V., Lépage M., Helson D., Metral J., Thomas S., Duchemin B., Cherkaoui M., Kharrou H., Berjami B., & Chehbouni A., 2009). Estimation Spatialisée de l’évappotranspiration des cultures irriguées par télédetection: application à la gestion de l’irrigation dans la plaine du Haouz ( Marrakech, Maroc). Secheresse, Vol 20, n°1, Janvier- Février- Mars 2009, pp 123-130.
12. (Tanouti O., 2017). La gestion intégrée des ressources en eau à l’épreuve du bassin versant- Cas du bassin du Tensift au Maroc- Université de Paris Nanterre. p 399.
13. (Vandana S.,2002). La guerre de l’eau, Privation, pollution et profit (2003 ed.). (L. Perineau, Trans.) Paris: L’Aventurine, p- 33.
14. (World Bank.,January 1995). Une stratégie pour la gestion de l’eau au Moyen – Orient et en Afrique du Nord, pp- 68-69.

FOOTNOTE

[1] Consists of two bodies: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), with the addition of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

[2]Choice of 5 AUEA in Old El Gaid, Province of El Kelaa des Sraghna and 6 AUEA at level NFis N1-2, Prefecture of Marrakech

[3] Fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals.

[4] Environmental and Social Management Plan describes specific mitigation measures to mitigate potential negative effects and improve positive impacts, it is recommended for all phases of the project (preparation, construction and operation of each component).