The salinity of agricultural soils and irrigation water, as well as the technical problems of boron content, were the focus of discussions at a meeting organized by the Al Moutmir initiative on Tuesday in Agadir. The issue of water, and in particular the rational use of water resources in farming and the preservation of agricultural soils, were identified as major challenges.
Reducing the salinity of agricultural soils, treating the salinity of brackish and desalinated water, optimising the cost of irrigation water by using desalinated water, reducing the pressure on groundwater… These are just some of the issues raised at a meeting organized by the Al Moutmir program last Tuesday in Agadir, as part of a meeting dedicated to the sustainable management of water resources and the strategies to be deployed for resilient agriculture in a context of drought.
Agriculture accounts for some 70% of all freshwater withdrawals worldwide. As a result, water shortages and problems with the quality of this vital resource are increasingly threatening the world’s food systems. Morocco is no exception, with water shortages affecting almost every aspect of the country’s socio-economic development.
This is why the Kingdom is making increasing use of non-conventional water resources, in particular seawater desalination. The plan is to increase desalinated water production capacity to more than 1.7 MMm3/year by 2030. However, Al Moutmir data shows that the use of desalinated water for agricultural irrigation is still low.
The Al Moutmir initiative mobilizes the Ministry of Agriculture, UM6P, and the OCP Group to provide better support for farmers, especially small farmers, by focusing on innovation.
Desalinated water for irrigation: Morocco covers 15% of its needs
In figures, Spain, which has 765 seawater desalination plants, has achieved a usage rate of between 20% and 25%, whereas this share, according to calculations made by Professor Rachid Bouabid, a teacher-researcher at ENA in Meknès, is around 15% in Morocco.
The Kingdom has embarked on a program to develop seawater desalination plants under public-private partnerships, particularly for agricultural irrigation. The Agadir meeting, which brought together more than fifty participants (farmers, cooperatives, researchers, agronomists, teachers, industrialists, institutions, and start-ups), focused on the salinity of agricultural soils, which results from the excessive accumulation of soluble mineral salts in the soil, with implications for fertility, stability, biodiversity, and crop yields. In all, almost 500,000 hectares are affected by this problem in Morocco.
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