64470 September 2011 · Number 2 January 2011·Number 77 By Julia Bucknall and Hassan Lamrani1 Wherever possible, farmers have been making Introduction. This operation provides a $70m up the shortfall in surface water by tapping into Loan for a Project that would help participating groundwater, making the problem of aquifer farmers in the Oum Er Rbia basin increase the depletion more and more serious. The productivity of their farming and to promote allocation for urban and municipal water is more sustainable use of irrigation water to only around 15 percent of the total water overcome current and future water deficits. abstracted in Morocco, but gets priority in This would be achieved by providing allocation decisions. Urban growth and further participating farmers with the level of irrigation decline in average precipitation associated with service necessary for high efficiency drip climate change make it almost sure that the irrigation through (i) replacing irrigation canals amount of water available for irrigation will with pressurized systems or adapting existing decline over the next few decades in most pressurized systems, (ii) providing irrigation basins of Morocco. water on-demand, with a predetermined annual quota according to surface water The problems are particularly acute in the Oum availability, and (iii) providing supporting Er Rbia basin. This river supplies water to half services. The Project went to the Board in May of Morocco’s large scale irrigated areas (322,700 2010 and is planned to be completed in 2016. ha), accounting for 60 percent of the country’s This Note is based on the Project Appraisal sugar beet production, 40 percent of olive Document (PAD)2. The project was declared production and 40 percent of milk production. effective only in September 2010 so it is too However, on average over the past decade, the early for any implementation lessons to be basin’s Large Scale Irrigation (LSI) schemes collected. received only 60 percent of the water for which the system was designed. Background. Scarcity and degradation of water resources have reached alarming levels in The government has long been aware of these Morocco. In addition, water resources are issues and has acted accordingly. Since 1995, unevenly distributed throughout the country when a new Water Law was published, the and rainfall is highly variable. Droughts are Government of Morocco has been pursuing common. Ninety percent of economically reforms to improve water management and accessible surface resources are already service delivery. The water allocation system is controlled by dams, leaving few options for the responsibility of the River Basin Agencies, additional surface water storage. Population which were created to promote integrated and and economic growth have increased demand participatory water resource management. even as supply has fallen. The country has seen a 30 percent drop in average precipitation since For agriculture, the Government launched a 1970, increasingly accepted as a sign of climate new strategy called the "Morocco Green Plan" change. Severe restrictions for irrigation water in April 2008 which has two strategic pillars. have been common in the last 15 years. First, it promotes high-value agriculture. Second, it improves productivity in poor areas. 1 The “Green Plan� also promotes cross-cutting Julia Bucknall (TWIWA) and Hassan Lamrani (MNSWA) reforms relating to land tenure, agricultural were joint TTL’s for the preparation of this project (FY10, ID: P093719) water, free trade agreements, domestic market, 2 Morocco - Oum Er Rbia Irrigated Agriculture business environment, farmer organizations Modernization Project, Project Appraisal Document and the structure of the Ministry of Agriculture. A thorough reform of the Ministry of consumed (actual evapotranspiration measured Agriculture and associated agencies began by remote sensing techniques) and advisory shortly after project appraisal. The project is services for farmers to improve their irrigation designed to support the Green plan. and groundwater management practices. In addition, the Bank has secured a grant3 to build Lessons learned and reflected in the project capacity in the Oum er Rbia Basin Agency design including activities for strengthening the monitoring of groundwater abstraction in International experience shows that conversion project areas. of gravity irrigation systems to the more water efficient drip irrigation does not necessarily Evaluation of the Bank-supported Second Large result in a reduction in overall water Scale Irrigation Improvement (LSII2) project consumption by farmers. Data from a number (1993-2000) indicated that the project would of countries have emerged recently showing have generated more successful results if: (i) it that while drip irrigation may be beneficial for had paid more attention to improving on-farm the individual farmer is not necessarily helpful irrigation, rather than just network at the basin level. An individual farmer will improvements, and (ii) it had integrated efforts convert a larger share of his allocated water to improve agricultural productivity rather into crops by reducing “losses�. But a share of than tackling them in a separate project (the the water that was formerly “lost� infiltrated Irrigated Areas Agricultural Services project). into the ground and was used elsewhere in the basin. So the new technology can benefit the The Bank-financed Water Resources farmer who makes the investment at the Management Project (1999-2004) financed pilot expense of other water users downstream. If installations of drip irrigation on ten small the allocations are not controlled (especially in farms in the Tadla, Doukkala and Souss areas. groundwater areas), the farmer may even These pilots achieved outstanding results. increase his overall water consumption in Farmers diversified crops, improved water response to the new technology. Schemes that productivity and reported increased incomes. promote drip irrigation when there is no The project financed drip irrigation systems on limitation on the amount of water used by one hectare and farmers used their own funds individual farmers in many countries have to extend the equipment to the remaining areas resulted in aggravating the water deficit at the of their farm. basin level. Projects in some countries (including China, Mexico, and the United Alternatives considered and reasons for States) have shown that it is possible to reduce rejection overall water consumption by individual farmers by combining investments to increase In designing this project, the team considered water productivity with controls on overall several options: consumption. Should the project address both the water quantity A key aspect of this success, particularly in and quality problems of the basin, or concentrate on China, is to maximize agricultural production the quantity problems associated with irrigation? per unit of water consumed rather than per unit This proved to be a difficult issue. Addressing of water abstracted. Other lessons include the both aspects together was the initial concept for need to integrate irrigation projects into a water the project, which envisaged both aspects being resource management framework. In addition, implemented by the Oum er Rbia River Basin experience shows that projects need to include Agency. However, it was also preferable from technical assistance and targeting mechanisms to help small farmers reap the potential benefits 3 PHRD grant No TF092827 Strengthening Capacity to of modern irrigation technology. To take into Adapt to Climate Change Impacts on Water Management account these lessons, the project includes in the Oum er Rbia Basin project technical assistance for monitoring the water September 2011 · Number 2 · 2 a fiscal viewpoint for part of the project funds literature is clear that price is not an effective to be borrowed and paid back by the way to curb demand in irrigation since demand implementing agency but detailed financial is price inelastic at prices less than analysis of the River Basin Agencies showed approximately ten times the cost of providing that they would have insufficient resources to the service. Furthermore high prices of surface borrow directly from the Bank and should not water push farmers to additional unregulated be burdened with debt at this stage in their extraction of groundwater, threatened by development. Since close involvement by the overexploitation. Ministry of Agriculture and the ORMVAs4 States would be essential anyway for the success of Contact MNA K&L: any irrigation investments it was decided to Director, MNACS: Laura Tuck avoid the complexity of both quantity and quality issues in the same project and Regional Knowledge and Learning Team: concentrate on the irrigation aspects using the Omer Karasapan Roby Fields, Rory O’Sullivan ORMVA’s as implementation agencies. The Tel # : (202) 473 8177 Bank then secured a separate grant to build MNA Knowledge Notes: capacity in the Basin Agency, and is developing http://mnaknotes a separate project to tackle quality problems in The MNA Knowledge Notes are intended to the basin (Oum er Rbia Sanitation project). summarize lessons learned from MNA and other Bank Knowledge and Learning activities. The Notes Should the project aim to improve water use do not necessarily reflect the views of the World efficiency by farmers not directly involved in the Bank, its board or its member countries. project? The project objectives concentrate on the farmers directly using the project-financed infrastructure. The project-financed information systems will have spillover benefits to other farmers as well. Should the project concentrate on upgrading to pressurized systems (off farm investments) or help farmers build storage tanks on their property and convert to drip irrigation in that way? The team considered the storage tank option and determined that it is not suited to small farmers who could neither benefit from economies of scale nor have sufficient financial resources to build individual tanks and pumping stations. How much institutional reform should the project promote? The 2006 water development policy loan had supported a number of policy reforms in irrigation management. The present operation will help the government implement investments in line with the new policies. The decision was therefore to concentrate on implementation of the new policies already developed. Should the project consider tariffs as a means of curbing demand for irrigation water? The 4 Offices Regionaux de Mise en Valeur Agricole, or Agricultural Development Agencies September 2011 · Number 2 · 3 September 2011 · Number 2 · 4