Assessing different irrigation innovations for better climate resilience of olive farming systems in Morocco

Kharrou, M. and Chehbouni, A. 2022. Assessing different irrigation innovations for better climate resilience of olive farming systems in Morocco. Rome, Italy: CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience.

Drought and water crises jeopardize olive systems (1.1 Mha), a climate adaptation focus of the Green Morocco Plan. This case study with Tensift Basin stakeholders will inform what/where new irrigation innovations could reduce the water footprint of olive systems without economic tradeoffs. Two experiments were established in 2022 near Marrakech (Agdal domaine and on-farm) to test surface and sub-surface drip and deficit irrigation practices. Through hybrid model frameworks, a Climate-Smart Systemic Solutions and Scaling (C4S) yield gap prediction subtool was co-developed to test different irrigation scenarios for olive farms, to know if a combination of irrigation innovation and soil fertilization practices could be a good water and climate resilience option for olive farms. A PhD thesis supervised by Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and Cadi Ayyad University (UCA) began at the end of 2022 on the co-development of appropriate cross-scale fertirrigation guidance resulting from this work.