As part of its biodiversity programme, Living Planet Morocco is working to promote good irrigation practices in the wetlands of the Atlas Cedar Biosphere Reserve (ACBR). The NGO is running a pilot project to transform apple-growing in the Commune of Dayet Aoua towards better management of agricultural water in order to reduce pressure on underground water resources and improve conservation and restoration projects for the Imouzzer Kandar lakes, namely : Dayet Aoua, Dayet Hachlef and Dayet Ifrah.
In partnership with the Office National du Conseil Agricole, the Parc National d’Ifrane and the Direction Provinciale de l’Agriculture in Ifrane, the NGO has rolled out the Sustain Sebou Farming project, which has enabled 5 pilot projects to be set up for the benefit of local apple growers.
3 weather stations have been set up near the Imouzzer Kandar lakes to disseminate daily reference evapotranspiration data (ET0) via SMS subscriptions, dedicated WhatsApp groups and 3 billboards located in high-traffic areas.
A dozen awareness-raising and training workshops have also been organised for local farmers to disseminate good irrigation practice, with the main focus on techniques for improving the efficiency of irrigation networks and methods for calculating irrigation volumes using ET0 data.