Irrigation Systems for Fruit Trees in Africa

The High Atlas Foundation has been generously granted land by the High Commission of Waters and Forests in the Ait M’hamid municipality of the Azilal province upon which walnut and almond seeds as well as medicinal and aromatic plants will be planted in a nursery that will be managed by the local women’s association. This plot of land for a new nursery, that will profoundly benefit the entire region and that will be a revenue source for the member’s of the women’s group of this municipality, requires the installation of pressure-drip irrigation systems, as well as a basin to contain water for irrigation. 

Morocco is in a transition from subsistence agricultural practices and moving toward a more cash-flow based agricultural production which would be optimized by including organic procedures. As part of this transition, the country is in massive need of organic trees and plants, water efficiency systems, certifications of organic product, and processing, as well as broadened domestic and international commercialization that benefits rural farming families and their cooperatives. This tree and plant nursery will produce hundreds of thousands of trees and plants, provide an important model and training area for water conservation practices. Furthermore, the High Atlas Foundation is dedicated to the entire agricultural value chain and will work with the people of Ait M’Hamid as they build a farm-to-fork line of production. 

However, with the planting season starting January 2016, we now face the basic necessity of installing the irrigation system in order to launch this essential initiative for the municipality and province with your partnership. 

The following is a picture is of a drip irrigation in Ait M’hamid. Our hope is that we can achieve the same in in the women’s cooperative in the area.