Ultra-Low Energy Drip Irrigation for MENA Countries Drip Irrigation in Morocco

Vinay Nangia, Rachid Moussadek, Gianni Montanaro. (10/4/2017). Ultra-Low Energy Drip Irrigation for MENA Countries Drip Irrigation in Morocco. Morocco: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Abstract

While drip irrigation has been hailed as a promising solution to Morocco’s water shortage problems, current adoption rates have been quite low, with some watersheds reporting an adoption rate as low as 10% (Jobbins et al., 2015; Kalpakian et al., 2014). Possible reasons for this have been lack of access to capital; land titles that prevent access to credit, loans and subsidies; weak presence or knowledge of relevant bureaucracies or programs; and limited scholastic education, among other reasons. Drip irrigation systems have various strengths and weaknesses from a farmer perspective, but the weaknesses seem to disproportionately affect the poor and small farmers.