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Introduction
I am committed to making a positive impact on the environment and society through delivering effective solutions. With a proven track record in designing and implementing effective solutions, I have worked with a diverse range of clients to achieve their sustainability goals. I am an experienced in green business, sustainable agricultural development, environmental impact assessment, climate change adaptation and mitigation, low carbon strategies, and digital decision support tools.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
May 2017 - July 2017
May 2015 - present
Position
- Head, Regional Centre for Agronomic Research of Meknes
December 2008 - June 2014
Education
September 2002 - August 2006
September 1999 - August 2000
Fondation Universitaire Luxembourgeoise
Field of study
- Envrionmental sciences
September 1985 - August 1991
Publications
Publications (102)
Climate change and rising atmospheric CO2 levels are critical factors influencing agricultural productivity, particularly in Morocco, where cereal crops are essential for food security. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the combined effects of atmospheric CO2 variations and climatic changes on cereal yields up to 2099 using the CAR...
Executive summary
Morocco's rainfed cereal agriculture, a pillar of the country's food security, faces increasing challenges due to the growing scarcity and unpredictability of rainfall resulting from climate change. With wheat and barley yields heavily dependent on climatic conditions, domestic production struggles to meet the needs of an expandin...
Le Maroc est confronté à des défis croissants pour son agriculture céréalière pluviale, pilier de sa sécurité alimentaire, en raison de la raréfaction et de l'irrégularité accrues des précipitations sous l'effet du changement climatique. Avec des rendements en blé et orge fortement tributaires des aléas climatiques, la production nationale peine à...
As climate change impacts intensify, delineating between proactive adaptation and grappling with escalating irrecoverable losses has become pivotal yet ever more blurred. Adaptation involves planned investments to manage projected risks, while Loss and Damage (L&D) contends with uncontrolled consequences breaching adaptation limits. However, real-w...
Under the conditions of Moroccan rainfed agricultural areas, wheat cropping systems—the population’s basic staple food—are subject to a set of limitations that seasonally impact crop production and farmers’ incomes, thus national food security. In the last decades, the major constraints were often related to the country’s Mediterranean-type climate...
Cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) is a fruit tree native to tropical and subtropical Americas but cultivated under different climatic and environmental conditions. It is cultivated for many purposes, but most importantly for human consumption, to feed cattle, and for pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Cactus pear is a valuable plant genus to enhance...
Accurate quantification of evapotranspiration (ET) at the watershed scale remains an important research challenge for managing water resources in arid and semiarid areas. In this study, daily latent heat flux (LE) maps at the kilometer scale were derived from the two-source energy budget (TSEB) model fed by the MODIS leaf area index (LAI), land sur...
Dans l’objectif de promouvoir la transition agroécologique de l’agriculture maghrébine, le Bureau sous- régional de la FAO pour l’Afrique du Nord a lancé une étude afin d’évaluer les défis et opportunités d’une reconversion agroécologique des principales filières agricoles conduites en pluvial au Maghreb. L’étude concerne les pays de l’Afrique du N...
Accurate seasonal forecasting of cereal yields is an important decision support tool for countries, such as Morocco, that are not self-sufficient in order to predict, as early as possible, importation needs. This study aims to develop an early forecasting model of cereal yields (soft wheat, barley and durum wheat) at the scale of the agricultural p...
Cereals are the main crop in Morocco. Its production exhibits a high inter-annual due to uncertain rainfall and recurrent drought periods. Considering the importance of this resource to the country's economy, it is thus important for decision makers to have reliable forecasts of the annual cereal production in order to preempt importation needs. In...
In Morocco, cereal production shows high interannual variability due to uncertain rainfall and recurrent drought periods. Considering the socioeconomic importance of cereal for the country, there is a serious need to characterize the impact of drought on cereal yields. In this study, drought is assessed through (1) indices derived from remote sensi...
The report assesses economic growth and development risks and opportunities for African countries in two scenarios of future climate changes: a low scenario that until mid-century is consistent with the Paris Agreement (well below 2 ̊C, pursue 1.5°C) and a high-warming scenario (2 ̊C by 2050, exceeding 4 ̊C by 2100). It highlights the risks to whic...
Tous les environnements de production céréalière au Maroc sont affectés par la sécheresse qui semble s’accentuer avec le changement climatique, même dans les périmètres irrigués. Si la variété est le premier et le plus important facteur de production, on est souvent confronté au choix de la variété appropriée pour valoriser au mieux les conditions...
The objective of this study was to use SAR (sensitivity of Synthetic Aperture Radar) data to detect the supply of irrigation water during the anthesis and grain-filling phenological stages of wheat in the irrigated Tadla perimeter of Morocco. Backscattering coefficients were derived from four ERS-1 (European Remote-Sensing Satellite-1) images acqui...
The objective of this study was to use SAR (sensitivity of Synthetic Aperture Radar) data to detect the supply of irrigation water during the anthesis and grain-filling phenological stages of wheat in the irrigated Tadla perimeter of Morocco. Backscattering coefficients were derived from four ERS-1 (European Remote-Sensing Satellite-1) images acqui...
Irrigated agriculture is an important strategic sector for Morocco, contributing to food security and employment. Nowadays, irrigation scheme managers shall ensure that water is optimally used. The main objective was to support the irrigation monitoring and management of wheat in the irrigated perimeter using optical remote sensing and crop modelin...
Chapter 8
Support irrigation water management of cereals using optical remote sensing and modeling in a semi-arid region
Tarik BENABDELOUAHAB, Hayat Lionboui, rachid hadria, Riad Balaghi, Abdelghani Boudhar, Bernard Tychon
Irrigated agriculture is an important strategic sector for Morocco, contributing to food security and employment. Nowadays, irr...
The assessment of rangeland productivity in semi-extensively grazed arid rangelands is a prerequisite for livestock management in relation to sustainable use of pastoral resources. The objective of this study was to assess rangeland productivity based on normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) images. Data on phytomass were measured on 61 fie...
In this article, correlations to derive minimum (Tmin), mean (Tmean), and maximum (Tmax) air temperatures from land surface temperature (Ts) in Morocco are studied. Land surface temperature was derived from 349 decadal cloud-free images acquired by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensor, onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adm...
L’objectif de ce travail, réalisé dans le cadre du projet ACCAGRIMAG, est d’analyser le profil de risque, sous climat futur, de la céréaliculture dans la région de Fès-Meknès (Maroc) vis à vis de l’aléa climatique dans une perspective d’améliorer l’assurance multirisque climatique agricole. L’idée est de réaliser une étude prospective du meilleur m...
Cette publication a été réalisée dans le cadre du projet « Adaptation au Changement Climatique de l'Agriculture du Maghreb », financé par le Fonds Français pour l'Environnement Mondial, à travers l'Agence Française de Développement. Elle présente une analyse de la fiabilité et des améliorations à apporter au système CGMS-Maroc de prévision des rend...
Le Maroc est situé dans une des zones du monde les plus exposées et sensibles au changement climatique,
particulièrement pour le secteur agricole qui est un moteur de croissance de l’économie nationale. Dès le lancement de la stratégie du secteur agricole en 2008, appelée Plan Maroc Vert (PMV), le Ministère de
l’Agriculture, de la Pêche Maritime, d...
Ce livrable n°4 de la Composante 3 du projet ACCAGRIMAG, visait à réaliser une cartographie des rendements observés et calculés à l'échelle communale pour la campagne agricole 2015-2016. Ce rapport a proposé une série de recommandations pour améliorer et pérenniser le système CGMS-MA et le mettre en œuvre dans le cadre d’une assurance paramétrique....
The aim of this study was twofold: in the first part, we adjusted and tested AquaCrop 4.0 version parameters for durum wheat under semi-arid conditions. Grain yield, biomass and the evolution of soil water content (0-90cm layer) in an irrigated perimeter were simulated. The experiment was conducted in the Tadla region, Morocco, between 2009 and 201...
COP22 Side Event, 17 November 2016, Marrakesh, Morocco
COP22 Side Event, 17 November 2016, Marrakesh, Morocco
COP22 Side Event, 8 November 2016, Marrakesh, Morocco
Présentation des travaux de l’INRA (Maroc) dans le domaine des carte d’aptitude des terres à l’agriculture
In Morocco, water availability is becoming a national priority for the agricultural sector. In this context, the stakeholders try continuously to improve strategies of water irrigation management, on one hand, and to assess vegetation water content status, on the other hand, in order to improve irrigation scheduling and prevent water stress that af...
Le présent document s’inscrit dans le cadre du Projet « Adaptation au Changement Climatique de l’Agriculture du Maghreb » (ACCAGRIMAG), financé par le Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) et l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD). Les maîtres d’œuvre de ce projet au Maroc sont l’Agence pour le Développement Agricole, La Direction F...
After 15 years, the Système Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT)-VEGETATION (VGT) program reached the end of its life inMay 2014 and was replaced by the Project for On-Board Autonomy-Vegetation (PROBA-V) mission. Exploiting the period of overlap between instruments, this study compares the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of two instr...
Rangelands cover about 82% of the arid area of Morocco. It is generally acknowledged that these areas are threatened by desertification. Monitoring desertification requires accurate knowledge about the current status of rangeland degradation. Remote sensing is widely used to assess changes in land cover, but its use in arid rangelands has limitatio...
Irrigated agriculture is an important strategic sector in arid and semi-arid regions. Given the large spatial coverage of irrigated areas, operational tools based on satellite remote sensing can contribute to their optimal management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of two spectral indices, calculated from SPOT-5 high-resolution...
The objective of the NAMA “arganiculture” is to cultivate argan tree as modern orchards, over 43,000 hectares as a pilot experience. The potential cultivation area of domestic argan is approximatively 3 million hectares. The NAMA will increase carbon storage in soil and biomass, and contribute to improve soil conservation and fertility. It will dir...
Le présent travail s’inscrit dans le cadre du Projet « Adaptation au Changement Climatique de l’Agriculture du Maghreb » (ACCAGRIMAG), financé par le Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) qui est représenté par l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
Le projet vise à :
• Améliorer et diffuser les connaissances sur les impacts du c...
Programme de Renforcement de capacités sur les faibles émissions au Maroc Projet LECB-PI 00078560 Étude de stratégie d'atténuation des émissions des gaz à effet de serre dans le cadre du Plan Maroc Vert Janvier 2015
Le présent travail s’inscrit dans le cadre du Projet « Adaptation au Changement Climatique de l’Agriculture du Maghreb » (ACCAGRIMAG), financé par le Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) qui est représenté par l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
Le projet vise à :
• Améliorer et diffuser les connaissances sur les impacts du c...
Le Ministère Délégué, appuyé par le Ministère de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche Maritime qui est représenté par l’ADA, souhaite en conséquence développer des NAMAs pour le secteur agricole afin de tirer profit des opportunités offertes par le mécanisme de la CCNUCC.
L’étude pour l’élaboration d’une liste restreinte de NAMAs potentielles (Mission 3) a...
The bioeconomy: A challenge for the development in the South and in the Mediterranean Matera and Metaponto,
http://ies-webarchive-ext.jrc.it/mars/mars/News-Events/EuromedCropmon.html
Le présent travail s’inscrit dans le cadre du Projet « Adaptation au Changement Climatique de l’Agriculture du Maghreb » (ACCAGRIMAG), financé par le Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) qui est représenté par l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
Le projet vise à :
• Améliorer et diffuser les connaissances sur les impacts du c...
L’étude de stratégie d’atténuation des gaz à effet de serre (GES), dans le cadre du Plan Maroc Vert, est réalisée pour le compte du Ministère Délégué auprès du Ministre de l’Energie, des Mines, de l’Eau et de l’Environnement, Chargé de l’Environnement en partenariat avec le Ministère de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche Maritime (MAPM) représenté par l’...
La FAO/AgWA (Agriculture Water For Africa) a formulé le projet GCP/INT/166/SWI « Renforcement de l’efficience de l’usage de l’eau et de sa productivité au niveau Africain et au niveau global ». Ce projet a pour objectif global de réduire la faim et la pauvreté dans des pays pilotes sélectionnés : Burkina Faso, Maroc et Ouganda. Le projet se focalis...
L’étude de stratégie d’atténuation des gaz à effet de serre (GES), dans le cadre du Plan Maroc Vert, est réalisée pour le compte du Ministère Délégué auprès du Ministre de l’Energie, des Mines, de l’Eau et de l’Environnement, Chargé de l’Environnement en partenariat avec le Ministère de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche Maritime (MAPM) représenté par l’...
In Morocco, cereals (bread wheat, durum wheat and barley) constitute the basis for food security and are cultivated mostly under rainfed conditions. Area of the three main cereals in Morocco (soft wheat, durum wheat and barley) was estimated based on two methods: Area frame sampling and remote sensing methods. Five test provinces of Morocco were se...
The overall goal of the E-Agri proposal to support to the uptake of European ICT research results in developing economies. The objective can be realized by setting up an advanced European E-agriculture service in two developing economies, Morocco and China, by means of crop monitoring and yield forecasting. In the work package 2 of the E-Agri proje...
Wheat production in Morocco is crucial for economy and food security. However, wheat production is difficult because the semi-arid climate causes very variable wheat yields. To solve this issue, we need better prediction of the impact of drought on wheat yields to adapt cropping management to the semi-arid climate. Here, we adapted the models WOFOS...
The present document provides a summary of research work carried out, at National Institute for Agronomic Research of Morocco (in French, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - INRA), since early 1990s, in the area of operational agrometeorology oriented toward forecasting crop harvests. Forecasting the production of crops early before har...
During the 2012-2013 cropping season, cumulated rainfall was high, as compared to long term average (>30%), in most of the main agricultural areas. However, rainfall was average along the coast, in Essaouira, Safi, Agadir, Tangier and Tetouan provinces and, slightly lower than the average in Al Hoceima and Nador provinces. Cumulated rainfall at nat...
In Morocco, cereals (bread wheat, durum wheat and barley) constitute the basis for food security and are cultivated mostly under rain-fed conditions (in more than 92% of cereal lands). Cereal yield forecasting has already been addressed successfully in Morocco, thanks to previous studies and the E-AGRI project, while area estimates of the cereals a...
In Morocco, wheat production shows a high inter-annual variability due to uncertain rainfall. In view of the importance of this resource to the country's economy, it is important to gain a better understanding of the natural large-scale climate oscillation governing this variability. In this study, we analyzed de-trended (1) time series of common w...
Morocco has an agricultural production system for cereals which is dominated by rainfed, low yielding cereal production which is highly vulnerable to fluctuations in rainfall. Crop yield forecasting systems could play a significant role to reduce the vulnerability of the Moroccan agriculture to weather risks in the framework of a food security stra...
Préface
La sécurité alimentaire repose sur une céréaliculture sensible aux aléas climatiques, aussi bien au Maroc que dans le monde. La production céréalière nationale ne couvre pas les besoins alimentaires du pays. Ces besoins sont assurés par les importations qui pèsent lourd sur la balance commerciale. Le poids du déficit est appelé à croitre e...
This report shows the results of the first multi-year spatially distributed sensitivity analysis carried out on two complex agroecological models. Wheat is the staple food of 1.5 billion people worldwide. Projected trends in wheat global demand reveal risks of food security over the next decades. Systems for large-area crop monitoring and yield for...
Cumulated rainfall from 1st September 2011 to 15 April 2012 at national level was very low 221 mm corresponding to 68% of long term average (327 mm) on the same period. Temperatures were exceptionally low from January to February. However, low these temperatures partially mitigated drought and, reduced diseases occurrence. The state of the vegetati...
During the 2012-2013 cropping season, cumulated rainfall was high, as compared to long term average (>30%), in most of the main agricultural areas. However, rainfall was average along the coast, in Essaouira, Safi, Agadir, Tangier and Tetouan provinces and, slightly lower than the average in Al Hoceima and Nador provinces. Cumulated rainfall at nat...
This publication reviews the historical and current literature on land degradation in Morocco and presents the results of a case study in the western part of the country. It is intended as a reflection on the baseline causes for land degradation, so contributing to the development of enabling agricultural policies and the associated institutional d...
Meteorological conditions during the sowing period were favourable in gen-eral over all the country, but particularly in the main provinces where winter ce-reals are produced (from Tanger to Safi along the Atlantic coast, to Nador in the east along the Mediterranean sea and to Meknes/Fez in the Centre). Weather conditions during December and Januar...
Le Projet d’Intégration du Changement Climatique dans la mise en oeuvre du Plan Maroc Vert (PICCPMV), financé par le Fonds Spécial pour les Changements Climatiques (SCCF), vise le renforcement des capacités au niveau institutionnel et au niveau des agriculteurs pour l’adaptation au changement climatique dans cinq régions ciblées du Maroc. Le projet...
Food security is expected to face increasing challenges from climatic risks that are more and more exacerbated by climate change, especially in the developing world. This document lists some of the main capabilities that have been recently developed, especially in the area of operational agroclimatology, for an efficient use of natural resources an...
L’objectif général de la présente étude est de proposer une approche opérationnelle pour l’intégration des mesures d’adaptation au changement climatique dans la planification et la mise en oeuvre des Projets Pilier II du Plan Maroc Vert.
Les objectifs spécifiques sont :
Identifier les Projets Pilier II au niveau desquels seront intégrées des mesu...
Cereal production in the 009- 010 agricultural season was characterized by abundant precipitation. The outcome could have been better if rain had been better distributed. The poor distribution of rain led to different results from one administrative region to another, and from one province to another within the same region. The final results across...
Agrometeorological forecasting covers all aspects of forecasting in agricultural meteorology. Therefore, the scope of agrometeorological forecasting very largely coincides with the scope of agrometeorology itself. In addition, all on-farm and regional agrometeorological planning implies some form of impact forecasting, at least implicitly, so that...
Desertification of Arid Rangelands in Morocco. Rangeland or natural arid pastures of Morocco are ecosystems where there is a natural or seminatural vegetation composed of steppes, shrubs and grassland. They cover about 82% of the Moroccan arid lands. These areas represent livelihoods for thousands of people and protect the country from desertificat...
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries (MPAM) and the World Bank (WB), in collaboration with the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the National Meteorology Authority (DMN) together undertook an original exploratory study to quantify the im...
Negli studi di Land Evaluation, la metodologia della Land Suitability consente di valutare la vocazionalità per la coltivazione di una data coltura in particolari condizioni pedo-climatiche. Tenendo conto dei dati disponibili e attraverso opportune modifiche della metodologia FAO, è stata valutata la vocazionalità della provincia di Settat (Marocco...
The 2008-2009 agricultural season was characterized by abundant and well distributed precipitation. This is expected to be the best season for winter cereals in the last 20 years, both in terms of yield and production. The map corresponds to the grouping into 5 classes of the average dekadal NDVI (See METHODOLOGICAL NOTE) from February untill March...
In Morocco, no operational system actually exists for the early prediction of the grain yields of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). This study proposes empirical ordinary least squares regression models to forecast the yields at provincial and national levels. The predictions were based on dekadal (10-daily) NDVI/AVHRR, dekadal rainfall sums and averag...
Summary Water availability for agricultural activities will decrease in the twenty-first century. As a consequence, agricultural water management will have to improve in order to meet two challenges: satisfy the needs of an increasing world population; and alleviate the climate change impacts. One way to improve agricultural water management consis...
The risk of water shortage to food security in Morocco is increasing due to the dual pressure of drought and domestic and industrial demands. It must be taken into consideration in the water management of both rainfed and irrigated areas. Strategies to reduce agricultural drought risk fall into three categories: i) In irrigated agriculture, water c...
Risk of drought for agriculture in Morocco is increasing due to dual pressure of decreasing and fluctuating precipitations and increasing domestic and industrial needs. This risk has to be considered and managed to insure food security. Early Warning Systems, and particularly agro-meteorological crop yield models, constitute early decision-making t...
Questions
Question (1)
I have a long term times series of rainfall and NDVI, for many administrative units and I want to use them to improve crop yield forecasts, assuming that the crop yield regression models should a priori be related.
