In Zagora, the effective enforcement of legislation that seeks to regulate the cultivation of watermelons, both red and yellow kinds, within the territorial boundaries of the drought-threatened region are still at the forefront.
A key provision of the decision limits the maximum area for cultivation to half a hectare to one hectare.
“It is completely forbidden to cultivate watermelons of any kind in areas near drinking water pumping fields, as determined by the local committee,” says Chapter 3 of Decision N°26.
The chapter specified that the areas include those “designated for drinking water supply, the outskirts of the Draa Valley, and along the oases, in addition to the riverbeds,” further highlighting that “the implementation of this directive is ensured by local committees.”
The local committee is responsible for monitoring and reading the meters of wells and water drills at the start of exploitation and periodically to ensure the proper utilization of water sources, as stipulated in Chapter 4 of Decision N°26.
The following chapter stresses that “in case the agreed-upon area is not respected, the committee will take legal action against the violators.”
“Authorities should increase their monitoring efforts to prevent a repeat of what occurred in the previous season due to the violation of the previous regulations by some farmers. This led to an oversupply despite the presence of strict and deterrent language,” said Ibrahim Al Zine, a farmer from Zagora.
Al Zine told Hespress AR that “strengthening the enforcement of the law must be more stringent than before, as protecting the water table in the region has become a real challenge for melon cultivation.”
Al-Zain suggests that authorities work with local associations and civil events to ensure that the law is effectively implemented.
He noted that, while the decision specifies a maximum area for each farm, the sheer number of cultivated areas makes it difficult for monitoring committees to thoroughly inspect all of them.
“There must be new monitoring methods that enable the implementation of the decision and prevent farmers from circumventing the regulations, as some of them may, for example, cultivate one hectare in different areas, which exceeds the designated hectare limit in the regional decision,” underscored the farmer.
He stressed the need to take preventive measures to discourage any attempts to circumvent regulations. These measures will ensure fairness among farmers, promote regional stability as well as social peace, and mitigate environmental degradation.
“The authorities continue to rely on the same traditional methods for monitoring and field tracking to implement the regional decision. However, there is already a kind of shortage in terms of human resources assigned to this task,” confirmed a highly informed source within the province of Zagora to Hespress AR.
The same source explained, “this field tracking was a crucial element in the development witnessed in melon cultivation last season, in terms of preserving water resources.”
“The decision has maintained the standards of the previous year, especially after the total cultivated area decreased by about 70%. The decision is related to the issue of the water table between the Water Basin Agency and the Regional Center for Agricultural Investment,” added the same source stressing that “All of this was of interest to local farmers, and they favored the idea when it was approved that farmers must be from the region.”
The informed source told Hespress AR that the implementation of the decision seeks to prioritize local farmers while restricting large investors who are primarily interested in maximizing agriculture.
“There will be strictness in enforcing the law, especially since the civil society organizations responsible for irrigation activities accompany the local monitoring and tracking committees and participate in their field visits, thereby contributing to the implementation of the regional decision,” the source added.
“There will be meetings next week between authorities, farmers, and others to pave the way for the implementation of this decision,” said the same source to Hespress AR highlighting that “the challenge is to maintain the same cultivated quantity as in the previous season, with the same result in terms of rationalizing and managing the use of water resources in watermelon cultivation.”
“Initially, there was a complete ban, but since the social aspect is strong and present, we decided to allocate a specific area for each farmer,” concluded the interview with Hespress AR.
During the period from 2000 to 2019, Water withdrawal grew from 1 million cubic meters to irrigate 250 hectares to 21 million cubic meters to irrigate 3,500 hectares, suggesting that the situation generated an imbalance in the region’s groundwater, according to a study carried out by the Draa-Oued Noun Water Basin Agency.
A recent report on drought and watermelon farming in Zagora said that watermelons thrive in the region due to the warm winter climate, which allows Zagora to produce two crops before the season begins in Agadir and Marrakech. It, however, is a risky business, according to local farmers.
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