Miguel Genin, Mohamed Alifriqui, Abdessamad Fakhech, Mohamed Hafidi, Lahcen Ouahmane, Didier Genin. (2017). Back to forests in pre-Saharan Morocco? When prickly pear cultivation and traditional agropastoralism reduction promote argan tree regeneration. Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 1B article id 1618. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1618

Keywords: arid zones; Argania spinosa; agroforestry parklands; desertification; facilitation factors; land use changes; Opuntia ficus-indica

Highlights: There was a significant positive relationship between the age of implanted prickly pear orchards and natural argan tree regeneration; This relationship is mainly associated with interconnected changes in traditional land uses and the activation of facilitation factors such as an enhancement of the soil’s organic matter and nurse plant phenomena; This example constitutes a remarkable alternative model for thinking about agricultural development while combating desertification.

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In the southwestern pre-Saharan arid zone of Morocco, the endemic argan forest (Argania spinosa) had been almost completely destroyed in the 1960s due to intensive coal mining and mixed cereal-livestock farming. These activities turned out to be unviable and a massive rural exodus occurred in the 1970s. Local populations started to develop maintenance-free prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) cultivation at large scale in order to keep their land ownership rights, while reducing their traditional agropastoral activity. We conducted a survey in order to characterize the relationships between the age of prickly pear orchards and argan tree regeneration. We also explored facilitating factors, such as soil organic matter and mycorrhiza. Results showed a high positive correlation (r² = 0.75, p < 0.001) between the age of prickly pear orchards and argan tree resprouts, but with differences depending on a continentality gradient. The soil organic matter content also showed highly significant differences (p < 0.001) depending on the age of the prickly pear plantation, while spora density did not show such differences. The recent high economic value attributed to prickly pear fruits, and to both argan and prickly pear seed oil, has given farmers the opportunity to develop a lucrative agricultural activity, while promoting the recovery of native vegetation. This situation constitutes a remarkable example of speculative agricultural development in a very harsh environment, in phase with ecological priorities for combating desertification. It could represent an alternative to the externally-generated projects sustained by high levels of public funding, with ecological, economic and social impacts which are sometimes questionable.

Genin, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) & Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Population, Environnement, Développement, UMR151 AMU-IRD, Marseille, France E-mail: miguel.genin@gmail.com
Alifriqui, Cadi Ayyad University (UCAM), Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement (CNRST, URAC 32), Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco E-mail: alifriqui@gmail.com
Fakhech, Cadi Ayyad University (UCAM), Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement (CNRST, URAC 32), Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco E-mail: abdessamad.fakhech@edu.uca.ac.ma
Hafidi, Cadi Ayyad University (UCAM), Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement (CNRST, URAC 32), Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco E-mail: hafidi.ucam@gmail.com
Ouahmane, Cadi Ayyad University (UCAM), Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement (CNRST, URAC 32), Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco E-mail: l.ouahmane@gmail.com
Genin, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) & Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Population, Environnement, Développement, UMR151 AMU-IRD, Marseille, France E-mail: didier.genin@univ-amu.fr

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