Rachid Mrabet

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique | INRA Morocco · Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Machinery

Serving as a member of Scientific and Technical Committee of 3rd African Congress on Conservation Agriculture held in Rabat (Morocco) from June 5th to 8th, 2023. https://africacacongress.org

The inventory of the flora of the botanical garden of Rabat, which covers an area of 17 ha has been conducted since 2019 to illustrate the floristic richness of an exceptional urban park and to present to a large public a plant palette as rich to discover, study and to see the possibilities of its use in the field of urban development, the list of...

Fossil fuel-based energy generation contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions, leading to climate change in both developed and developing countries such as the USA, China, India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. In India, around 200 million people are deprived of a clean power supply by 2021, highly in hilly and rural locations of the country. Th...

Globally the way food and feed are produced is under pressure like never before, and hence many food systems are not fit for purpose. There is a need to rethink these food systems and explore the root causes of non-sustainability. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA), with its components of productivity for food security and climate change mitigation an...

Water is a vital factor of production, but its diminishing quality may threaten economic growth and social development of a country or a region. One of the most significant irrigated agricultural areas in Morocco is the Loukkos perimeter. The use of pesticides has made this region one of the first agricultural areas of the country in terms of the q...

Climate change, drought, erosion, water contamination resources, desertification, and loss of soil quality represent major environmental risks worldwide. Facing these risks is the most important issue for sustainable development. Conventional tillage (CT) practices seem to expose the soils of semi-arid regions, which are initially fragile, to degra...

The aim of this work is to assess the impact of no-till based cropping system on soil erosion using two indicators. The experiment plot was under no-tillage (NT) for four years, adjacent to a plot under conventional tillage (CT) with same other management practices. The two used indicators are Le Bissonnais soil aggregates’ stability test and the a...

Modeling of land use and land cover (LULC) is a very important tool, particularly in the agricultural field: it allows us to know the potential changes in land area in the future and to consider developments in order to prevent probable risks. The idea is to give a representation of probable future situations based on certain assumptions. The objec...

R'mel groundwater constitutes an important source for the supply of drinking water for Larache city, and rural population of the Loukkos area as well as for agricultural irrigation. It is subject to several potential risks of contamination. In order to assess the impact of agricultural activities on groundwater quality, we examined the physico-chem...

The development pathways of countries and regions have impacted land-climate interactions and shaped challenges, opportunities and actions. Adverse impacts of climate change increasingly threaten livelihoods and resilience of people around the globe, food security and the stability of environmental resources. Globally, the current food systems are...

Soils and climate change mitigation

In Morocco, the intensive use of agricultural land coupled with irregular precipitation is a serious threat to the country’s food security. Conservation agriculture especially no-tillage (NT) system has shown an important result in the semi-arid regions of Morocco, but its dissemination to other, more humid, agro-ecological zones (precipitation > 3...

The availability of water and moisture is the single most essential factor that influences the success or failure of crop production on farmers' fields, as well as agricultural productivity in general at the national level. Farmers' struggles to raise crops successfully are becoming more challenging by the day, given that water for agriculture rema...

This study was conducted to assess the impact of soil temperature, moisture, and microbial activity on the mineralization and dissipation rate of Carbofuran on a typical sugar beet clayey soil in the Loukkos area in order to predict the fate of Carbofuran in soil and environment (Northwest Morocco). The results of incubation investigations demonstr...

Loukkos perimeter is among the most important irrigated agricultural area in Morocco. The use of pesticides has made this region one of the first agricultural areas of our country in terms of the quantity of its production. However, excessive and random use of these chemicals could have adverse effects on human health and the environment, including...

In Morocco, oasis ecosystems cover 15% of country's lands and are bright spots of rich biodiversity and multi-functionality but hot spots of land degradation, social vulnerability and water and food insecurity. Hence there is a need to shift from assessing risks and hazards in these ecosystems to effectively capture key drivers and pursue solutions...

In Morocco, oasis ecosystems cover 15% of country’s lands and are bright spots of rich biodiversity and multi-functionality but hot spots of land degradation, social vulnerability and water and food insecurity. Hence there is a need to shift from assessing risks and hazards in these ecosystems to effectively capture key drivers and pursue solutions...

The Working Group III (WG III) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) assesses literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of mitigation of climate change. The report reflects new findings in the relevant literature and builds on previous IPCC reports, including the WG III contribution t...

Weed dynamics and management under conservation agriculture.

IPCC WGIII AR6 Ch7 AFOLU

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the central issues in dealing with soil fertility as well as environmental and food safety. Due to the lack of relevant data sources and methodologies, analyzing SOC dynamics has been a challenge in Morocco. During the last two decades, process-based models have been adopted as alternative and powerful tools for...

This chapter examines the adoption and spread of Conservation Agriculture in North Africa. The chapter begins by providing an overview of the geography, soil, climate and farming environment in North Africa before moving on to discuss the importance of agriculture and food security in the North African economy. The chapter then moves on to examine...

Conventional tillage coupled with monocropping and limited recycling of crop residues along with increased pressure from human and livestock population has led to the degradation of the soil, water resources, and the environment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Conservation Agriculture (CA) considered as “climate-smart” agriculture, stri...

Climate change, food system complexity and changing international demands are creating new realities, challenges and opportunities. In this respect, unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential is both a vital and a daunting aspiration to achieve commitments to the climate and development of the visionary and optimistic framework of Agenda 2063. In re...

Presenting the concept of soil security as it related to the implementation at scale of conservation agriculture

A keynote presentation on communication and information sharing for up/out/deep scaling of conservation agriculture presented at the 8th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (8WCCA) was held virtually on 21-23 June 2021 in Bern, Switzerland and attended by 783 participants from farmer associations, international organizations, scientific inst...

This work deals with the digital soil mapping as a time and cost effective alternative for soil type characterization. The e-Soter (Soil and terrain) approach was used and validated for in the Khouribga-Kasbat Tadla semi-arid rainfed agricultural area of Central Morocco, covering 217.000 ha. The GIS processing included physiography and parent mater...

This work deals with the digital soil mapping as a time and cost effective alternative for soil type characterization. The e-Soter (Soil and terrain) approach was used and validated for in the Khouribga-Kasbat Tadla semi-arid rainfed agricultural area of Central Morocco, covering 217.000 ha. The GIS processing included physiography and parent mater...

Natural pastures are the initial food base for cattle, goats and sheep. Forage exploitation species allowing an increase of the animal productions must pass initially by the identification of the local existing flora. As part of our various surveys and studies on pre-Saharan pastures, we have been able to identify a number of promising species base...

Despite several efforts for its dissemination, adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is low – causing some to wonder if an incremental approach for adoption of its three components would prove more effective. In this paper, we apply the endogenous switching regression model to a nationally repre...

Recent studies on vulnerability to climate and land use change show a trend towards increased aridity accelerating soil erosion which is the primary factor to be considered by decision makers in the environmental field. Furthermore, to reduce the soil erosion intensity, it is required to clarify the sources zones of sediment yield where soil conser...

Many valuable ecosystem services are driven by soil organisms, and earthworms are the key representatives. Earthworm activity underpins several soil properties that directly influence soil hydrological functioning and food production. However, the influence of different earthworm ecotypes and plant-roots they interact with is largely unknown. Labor...

1. PREMESSA Il problema dello studio dei fenomeni di erosione nei bacini imbriferi è stato oggetto di una crescente attenzione nel nostro Paese in questi ultimi anni per il verificarsi di calamità naturali di ordine idro-geologico, anche di gravità eccezionale, che hanno interessato ampie superfici del territorio nazio-nale. Infatti le conseguenze...

Conservation agriculture (CA) is characterized by three principles: minimum tillage, even the total absence of tillage in the case of direct seeding (NT), permanent soil cover by mulch, and diversification of crops. Its main objective is to control soil degradation by conserving the physical and biological properties and fertility of the soil, whic...

Farming management practices are of paramount importance for soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in carbon (C) cycling at different scales. However, due to a lack of proper methodologies, estimating the impacts of different soil management practices on overall SOC stock remains inadequately quantified. In this paper, a process-based model, Deni...

Virtually all sub-regions of the Mediterranean Basin, on land and in the sea, are impacted by recent anthropogenic changes in the environment. The main drivers of change include climate (temperature, precipitation, atmospheric circulation, extreme events, sea-level rise, sea water temperature, salinity and acidification), population increase, pollu...

For many years, the application of mixed-effects modeling has received much attention for predicting scenarios in the fields of theoretical and applied sciences. In this study, a "new" Multilevel Linear Mixed-Effects (LME) model is proposed to analyze and predict multiply-nested and hierarchical data. Temperature and rainfall observation were carri...

For many years, the application of mixed-effects modeling has received much attention for predicting scenarios in the fields of theoretical and applied sciences. In this study, a “new” Multilevel Linear Mixed-Effects (LME) model is proposed to analyze and predict multiply-nested and hierarchical data. Temperature and rainfall observation were carri...

Mineral nutrition is one of the most important components of citrus production management. The volume of production and fruit quality are closely related to mineral nutrition given to citrus trees. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of different nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels on yield, fruit size, fruit weight...

The oriental High Atlas mountains in southeast of Morocco are characterized by small natural wet grasslands called “Almous”, they are suitably well managed by the local population. They are destined to feed cattle and mullets. This trial was implemented in order to assess the effects of nitrogen fertilization on the phytomass production on the Tiss...

Salsola vermiculata L. (Chenopodiaceae) est une ligneuse basse largement répandue dans les zones arides du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord (MENA). C'est l'une des espèces pastorales prometteuses pour la réhabilitation des pâturages arides du Maroc. Les objectifs de cette étude sont de déterminer les effets de la température et de la durée du s...

Background: The Argane tree ( Argania spinosa L. Skeels) is an endemic tree of mid-western Morocco that plays an important socioeconomic and ecologic role for a dense human population in an arid zone. Several studies confirmed the importance of this species as a food and feed source and as a resource for both pharmaceutical and cosmetic compounds....

Au Maroc, les effets des changements climatiques couplés à la dégradation des ressources en sol constituent des facteurs majeurs limitant le développement socio-économique. Parmi ces facteurs, le labour intensif pratiqué par les agriculteurs marocains provoquent l’appauvrissement des sols en matière organique (MO) et affectent leurs propriétés phys...

Innovative, cross-disciplinary community-based approach for development and transfer of no-till technology at the farm level in Morocco.

Many soil microorganisms are able to transform insoluble forms of phosphorus into an accessible soluble form, thus contributing to plant nutrition through exhibiting other beneficial traits such as production of organic acids, siderophore indole acetic acid (IAA) and production of hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Achieving this purpose, ericoid fungi and ac...

Wocat SLM Technologies

Soil erosion from agricultural fields is a worldwide problem, to influence water quality, soil fertility and reservoir sedimentation especially in Mediterranean countries such as Morocco. In fact, this work assesses the effects of Best Management Practices (BMPs) on sediments using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in the Kalaya water...

Research agenda for climate change adaptation and resilience agriculture

Soil samples were taken from INRA experimental stations at Sidi El Aïdi and Jemaa Shaim in the provinces of Settat and Safi, respectively. The weed seed bank was estimated in three soil layers (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) of plots under no-till and conventional tillage systems at both sites. A total of 18 species were represented in the seed bank in...

Background: The Argane tree (Argania spinosa L. Skeels) is an endemic tree of southwestern Morocco that plays an important socioeconomic and ecologic role for a dense human population in an arid zone. Several studies confirmed the importance of this species as a food and feed source and as a resource for both pharmaceutical and cosmetic compounds....

Today microbial enzymes are commonly used in many industrial applications and the demand for more stable, highly active and specific enzymes is growing rapidly.The aim of this study was the screening of fungal enzymes such as cellulase, lipase and proteinase. Four fungal cultures were isolated and identified. Among these fungal cultures, three belo...

The soils of the Mediterranean Basin are the products of soil processes that have been governed by a unique convergence of highly differentiated natural and anthropogenic drivers. These soils are expected to be dramatically affected by future climate and societal changes. These changes imply that suitable adaptive management strategies for these re...

Depuis le milieu du XX e siècle, du fait de la forte croissance démographique, les sols et la végétation des zones tropicales et méditerranéennes subissent d'importantes dégradations. Actuellement, plus de 20 % des terres cultivées sont dégradées chimiquement, physiquement et biologiquement. En effet, malgré la mise en oeuvre de grands projets tels...

A presentation for the second conference on adaptation metrics, which the COP22 decided to organize together with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.

In Morocco, land degradation under a changing climate is a major factor limiting agricultural and economic and social development, especially in semi-arid and arid regions. Indeed, Morocco is a hot spot for soil erosion and organic matter depletion. The situation is worsening with climate change as well as a lack of the use of the best management m...

Proceedings of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Matter organized by FAO from March 21 to 23 2007 at FAO Headquarter in Rome.

Proceedings of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon 2017. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy, pp : 501-505. ISBN 978-92-5-109838-7.

The plants belonging to the Ericaceae family are morphologically diverse and widely distributed groups of plants. They are typically found in soil with naturally poor nutrient status. The objective of the current study was to identify cultivable mycobionts from roots of nine species of Ericaceae (Calluna vulgaris, Erica arborea, Erica australis, Er...

Today microbial enzymes are commonly used in many industrial applications and the demand for more stable, highly active and specific enzymes is growing rapidly. The aim of this study was the screening of fungal enzymes. Four fungal cultures were isolated and identified. These fungal cultures were tested on Solidstate Fermentation (SSF). The fungal...

In Morocco, the Vertisols, known by vernacular name Tirs, are often used for cereal and arboriculture. Because of their difficult physical properties due to their high content of swelling clay and the presence of cracks, Vertisols are generally underutilized at present. This paper presents a state of the art on Vertisols and their distribution in t...

In order to evaluate the efficacy of 11 cereal herbicides on no till soft wheat, two trials were conducted in Chaouia region during 2014-2015 growing season. Dominant species of weed flora in Sidi El Aidi site were: Bromus rigidus, Lolium rigidum and Avena sterilis. Dominant species of weed flora in Ouled Said site were: Avena sterilis, Centaurea d...

This presentation was done as part of the COP 22 side event on Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative (AAA).