Example of fragmented plots and of the diversity
of crops associations within the parcels in northwestern Morocco.
Credits : Marilou Demongeot

By Marilou Demongeot, Younes Hmimsa, Doyle McKey, Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas, and Delphine Renard.

Read the full paper here.

In many agricultural systems, land access is a complex process in which various norms intertwine, and farmers employ multiple ways of gaining access to land. This is particularly the case in the Mediterranean, where land access is fragmented into small parcels. The objective of this study is to describe these multiple modes of land access and understand how the strategies that farmers implement to access land influence farming practices, crop choices, and ultimately the diversity of crops in this agricultural system.

To do this, we conducted fieldwork in northwestern Morocco, gathering information and conducting interviews with 51 farmers regarding 312 cultivated parcels. We describe the interactions between farmers related to these various modes of land access and distinguish different farmer profiles based on their land access strategies. Each mode offers different opportunities and constraints concerning the kind of crops that farmers can grow on the plot. Considering the cultivated areas, we observe that the diversity of ways of accessing land plays a role in the diversity of crops. Farmers who mobilize a greater variety of modes of access to land cultivated a wider diversity of crops in a more diverse environmental context.

This work highlights the significance of land access strategies in understanding the resilience of agricultural systems. It is a dimension of social organization that is often understudied in relation to crop diversity.