Boubou Youness, Fastner Kira, Buerkert Andreas
Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics (OPATS), University of Kassel, Steinstrasse 19, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 27;15(1):3433. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-81569-7.
Traditional agricultural activities and rural livelihoods in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains are rapidly changing. This is triggered by increasing rural-urban interactions and new livelihood opportunities in cities. A typical example is the oasis of Tizi N'Oucheg in the country's High Atlas Mountains, which over centuries was largely self-sufficient in food grain and livestock production. Improved infrastructure and better connections to distant urban centers have caused declining livelihood reliance on agricultural activities and enhanced dependence on remittances and the tourism sector in the region. Based on the case of Tizi N'Oucheg, this study aims at assessing the socio-economic and ecological implications of rural-urban transformation for ancient oasis systems in Morocco. Surveys on agricultural practices, census, and meteorological data were combined with GIS (Geographical Information System) -based analyses to examine land use and cropping pattern changes of 625 fields from 1967 to 2022. For the GIS analyses, historical aerial images, multispectral satellite images, and drone-based surveys were used to generate manually classified agricultural fields and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) time series. Our results show a major decline in cultivated land from 13 ha to 6.8 ha over the past 50 years accompanied by an expansion of modern infrastructure since the 2000s. Land management has shifted from labor-intensive multiple cropping and natural fertilization to monocropping of barley for local livestock feeding and increased application of mineral fertilization. The challenging geography of the oasis increased the hardship of practicing traditional agriculture, and therefore largely determines the response of the community to rural-urban transformation. Our data also highlight the increased financial dependence of rural populations on urban centers and the demise of traditional, sustainable agriculture in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains if policies on agricultural development are not adapted to rural circumstances.
摩洛哥高阿特拉斯山脉的传统农业活动和农村生计正在迅速变化。这是由农村与城市之间日益频繁的互动以及城市中出现的新生计机会引发的。一个典型的例子是该国高阿特拉斯山脉的提济努谢格绿洲，几个世纪以来，这里在粮食谷物和牲畜生产方面基本实现了自给自足。基础设施的改善以及与遥远城市中心的更好连接，导致人们对农业活动的生计依赖下降，对汇款和该地区旅游业的依赖增强。基于提济努谢格的案例，本研究旨在评估城乡转型对摩洛哥古代绿洲系统的社会经济和生态影响。将农业实践调查、人口普查和气象数据与基于地理信息系统（GIS）的分析相结合，以研究1967年至2022年期间625块农田的土地利用和种植模式变化。对于GIS分析，使用了历史航空图像、多光谱卫星图像和基于无人机的调查来生成人工分类的农田和归一化植被指数（NDVI）时间序列。我们的结果表明，在过去50年里，耕地面积从13公顷大幅减少到6.8公顷，同时自21世纪以来现代基础设施不断扩张。土地管理已从劳动密集型的复种和天然施肥转向为当地牲畜饲养而进行的大麦单作，以及增加矿物肥料的使用。绿洲具有挑战性的地理环境增加了传统农业实践的难度，因此在很大程度上决定了社区对城乡转型的应对方式。我们的数据还凸显了农村人口对城市中心的财政依赖增加，以及如果农业发展政策不适应农村实际情况，摩洛哥高阿特拉斯山脉传统可持续农业将走向衰落。
