WATER INFRASTRUCTURES AND IMPACTS IN THE SEBOU BASIN

Paola Minoia, Anna Brusarosco Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia Centro Interdipartimentale IDEAS

AIMS

 To assess social, territorial and environmental impacts of past water policies in Marocco, based on water supply growth, partic. for irrigation.

 To evaluate some new perspectives for IWRM and water demand management in Morocco, by overcoming practical constraints to their application.

Focus

:

the Gharb Plain in the Sebou basin

core area of agricultural development

THE SEBOU BASIN

From 1970: “politics of dams”, equipment of large agricultural areas, development of agro-industry (

Projet Sebou

) • •

Water resources in Sebou Basin

: Oued Sebou and tributaries (Beht, Ouergha). Annual contribution: 6 Bm 3 (27% of available national waters).

Groundwater stocks: 900 Mm 3 Realisations: - 10 large dams - 44 small dams - Matmata gallery for water transfer - Thousands of wells.

Agriculture consumes 97% of all mobilised freshwaters of the basin.

THE GHARB PLAIN

Climate

: Mediterranean with oceanic influence

Soils

 : fine alluvium with a clay content of 15-55% high potential for agriculture

Population

: 1.500.000 inhabitants (48% urban, 52% rural), partly in small urban areas and partly spread in more than 1000

douars

.

DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION

1) Colonial period (1912 – 1956)

French occupation and development of agriculture: Development of 800 farms on 175.000 ha  First hydraulic infrastructures: - 700 km of drainage canals to drain

merjas (1940-1962) -

El Kansera Dam (1935) on Oued Beht for irrigation of Beht perimeter in Sidi Slimane; - Private pumping on the oued At Indipendence (1956): 45.000 ha of irrigated lands: 25.000 ha in Beht perimeter 20.000 ha from private pumping  Effects: - introduction of commercial crops (citrus fruits, rice, oleaginous) - population transfer to urban centres and degradation of local livelihoods - marginalisation of traditional pasture areas (e.g. by remediation of

merjas

) - alteration of tribal organization

DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION

2) Since 1970

(“Politics of dams” - Projet Sebou)



Extension of irrigated perimeters



Wide crop diversification



Development of agro-industry

5 sugar refineries 4 rice mills 7 flour mills 1 dairy production 1 cotton manufacture 1 orange juice production 1 tomato manufactoring 1 animal food production 14 packaging plants.

Gharb compared to National production

:    95% rice 70-80% oleaginous 40-50% strawberries   25-35% sugar 20-25% citrus fruits  6-16% cereals.

Crops Total (1970) Total (2000) Surface (ha) Irrigated (2000) Not irrigated (2000)

Sugar beet Sugar cane Rice Cereals Forage Horticultu re* Oleagino us** Legumin ous Arboricult ure*** 11.000

3.600

127.100

4.700

3.800

10.250

22.100

26.450

13.122

15.000

7.698

142.444

21.879

29.700

32.188

20.702

24.986

13.023

15.000

7.698

28.000

21.879

28.980

15.555

8.744

21.406

99 114.444

720 16.633

11.958

3.580

Crops structure in Gharb Plain - Comparison 1970 - 2000 (Projet Sebou 1970; ORMVAG 2001) * Strawberry, asparagus, melon and all kind of vegetables ** Sunflower, peanut *** Citrus fruits, rosaceous plants, vineyards

IRRIGATION IN THE GHARB PLAIN

 Total surface: 616.000 ha Surface potentially irrigable (planned by

Projet Sebou

): 250.000 ha, of which only 120.000 ha have been equipped : - 107.000 ha large irrigation schemes - 13.000 ha small/medium schemes Surface irrigated by private pumping: 22.000 ha Cultivation without artificial irrigation: 276.000 ha  Irrigation systems: Gravitation: 87.000 ha Sprinkler: 19.700 ha Dams  Changes in territorial and socio-economic structure

TERRITORIAL IMPACTS

 Development of important territorial inequalities

1) CENTRAL GHARB 2) WEST GHARB 3) SAHEL 4) HIGH GHARB AND CHERARDA Equipment Purpose

Fully Cash Crops + agro-industry Unaccompli shed Food crops + cash crops Unaccompli shed Cash crops Absent Mainly food + some Cash crops

Main Crops Land Tenure

Citrus, vineyards, rice, sugar beet, sugar cane, oleaginous

Melk*,

Collective, State Cereals Collective lands Strawberries, bananas (greenhouses). horticulture Collective lands Cereals (wheat, sorghum)

Melk* Guich**

Population Density Urban Concentrati on

Relatively High Sidi Slimane (70.000), Sidi Kacem (68.000), Souk El Arbaa (38.000) Low None Low Kénitra (border) Relatively High None *Private property ** Lands traditionally assigned to soldiers

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

 Social restructuring. Main features: -

Large farmers

(> 50 ha): 2% of farmers, 33% of agricultural surface highest consumption rate of soil, water resources and other inputs distribution and marketing authorized private pumping -

Medium farmers

(50 to 5 ha): 29% of farmers, 44% of agricultural surface weaker financial capacities family management rare authorization for private pumping -

Small farmers

(< 5 ha): 69% of farmers, 23% of agricultural surface CIA (Code d’Investissements Agricoles) does not authorize irrigation rights demographic weight (8-10 people for family) complex land tenure:

melk

is rare debt exposure cultivation based on forage livestock -

Agricultural water users associations

: formally 48 associations in the Gharb no effective influence on organisation, management and distribution of water

DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACTS

 Effects: 2 migration trends: From mountains to the central plain From the central plain (overpopulated) to the regional urban centres (Larache, Tanger, Kénitra, Tétouan) and to Casablanca Extension of urban areas and rural villages Development of bidonvilles and insalubrious areas near industries, large farms and urban areas (20.600 families in bidonvilles)

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

1) Soil salinity, due to : - Bad drainage - Use of wastewater from drainage canals - Waterlogging, superficial water table - Disfunctionalities in gravitational irrigation 2) Agricultural pollution : - use of fertilizers and pesticides.

- drainage of polluted waters contaminates groundwater. - main pollutants: nitrates and phosphates.

Estimates for whole Sebou: - 8.670 tons/year of total Nitrogen; - 2.050 tons/year of Phosphates .

3) Agro-industrial wastes Localisation of main industries

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

  Impacts on water and soil quality human health Loss of wet ecosystems (

merjas

) due to drainage Quality of groundwaters in the Gharb Plain (2000-2001) Quality of superficial waters in the Gharb Plain (2000-2001)

WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT

PROBLEMS:

- inequality in water access; - water-demanding crops (rice, sugar beet, sugar cane); - water loss in the nets (50%) and insufficient maintenance.

NEW WATER STRATEGY:

- IWRM principles - water quality - demand management and efficient irrigation.

Concrete plans:

- to accelerate the progress in equipment of agricultural schemes (from annual rate of 10.000 ha, to complete the remaining 110.000 ha) by more efficient irrigation systems - to promote water economies, with financial supports to increase adoption of water saving technologies “National Program of Localized Irrigation Development”: target of 14.000 ha (in 2003 only 3.000 ha accomplished in Sahel). Increased State subsidies: from 40% to 60% of the equipment costs.

WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT

Barriers to the concrete achievements of the “National Program of Localized Irrigation Development” (El Hasnoui 2005):  Inadequate equipment proposed by the State respect to the requirements of the main profitable cultivations;  Role of private sector in the origin of the localised irrigation.

 Adoption of the localized irrigation is rather influenced by other constraints: - difficult access to credit; - difficulties in subsidy granting; - land tenure problems; - need to create water basins to be shared by farmers groups; - not yet sufficient agro-industrial development; - need to empower users associations.

SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS

 Traditional water supply management has created changes on society, economy and environment in the Gharb Plain.

 Not sufficient attention has been paid to water quality and demand management.

 New and more effective strategies based on IWRM principles are needed: integration of sectoral water policies to guarantee overall coherence of legislation and effective application of Water law (10/95) - water and agricultural institutional reforms