No abstract

In many developing countries where agricultural groundwater use led to aquifer overexploitation, direct control over farmers' groundwater use is difficult to implement. This calls for the setting up, at least in the short term, of indirect policies, the efficiency of which will depend on farmers' strategies. The different strategies adopted by farmers to cope with the groundwater crisis are analysed in the Chaouia region in Morocco, where intensive agricultural groundwater use for the past 50 years has led to seawater intrusion in the seashore part and falling groundwater levels further inland. First, strategies may be based on ‘chasing’ groundwater, by deepening boreholes, bringing fresh water in sufficient quantity to the farms or renting fields in areas with sufficient fresh groundwater, so as to maintain a water‐intensive farming system. Second, strategies that may be designated as adaptive, entail adapting the farming system to the water available on‐farm given existing hydraulic infrastructures. These strategies may be considered as more sustainable with regard to water resources. Most of analysed strategies were not at the same time economically and environmentally sustainable. Possible policies to achieve economically and environmentally sustainable activities differ not only in the difficulty of implementing them, but also in the types of farms likely to benefit from them. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cet article présente le nouveau cadre conceptuel d’évaluation de la durabilité de l’exploitation agricole développé dans la méthode IDEA v4. Il combine une approche évaluative basée sur les objectifs assignés à une agriculture durable et une évaluation des propriétés des systèmes agricoles durables. Il s’ancre dans le champ de la durabilité forte, de la multifonctionnalité et prend en compte les enjeux globaux d’une agriculture durable. Ce cadre conceptuel a permis de construire 53 indicateurs permettant d’analyser la durabilité de l’exploitation agricole selon ces deux approches complémentaires. La première évalue la durabilité en organisant ces 53 indicateurs selon les 3 dimensions normatives du développement durable (agroécologique, socio-territoriale, économique), structurées en 13 composantes ; l’évaluation repose sur un système de notation basé sur 100 unités de durabilité pour chacune des 3 dimensions qui ne se compensent pas entre elles. La seconde évalue la durabilité en organisant les 53 indicateurs selon les 5 propriétés des systèmes agricoles durables (autonomie, robustesse, capacité productive et reproductive de biens et services, ancrage territorial et responsabilité globale) qui sont structurées de manière arborescente en 15 branches ; l’agrégation des indicateurs y suit une démarche qualitative et hiérarchique mobilisant l’outil DEXi. Le potentiel pédagogique du concept de propriétés des systèmes favorise une approche transdisciplinaire de l’exploitation agricole. À la suite de ses trois précédentes versions, IDEA v4 renouvelle son potentiel d’usage pour accompagner la transition agroécologique.

In Morocco, many farmers rely on groundwater for irrigation. Extensive groundwater exploitation along with the recent droughts, have led to over-exploitation of this resource. We argue that state regulation is necessary but insufficient to manage groundwater. This article determines farmers' strategies in the exploitation of groundwater and explores the perceptions of farmers of the functioning of aquifers and the use of groundwater. We showed that farmers are rather pessimistic about the possibility of stopping over-exploitation of groundwater. However, farmers have a reasonable idea about the terms of the water balance, and were able in difficult groundwater situations to put in place defensive farm strategies to manage water stress. In addition, they continue to confer legitimacy on the state for controlling groundwater exploitation, even though it does not in fact have the means to do so. These are encouraging signs for engaging local groundwater debates.