More Collectives, Less Differences: Unveiling Unexpected Social Changes in a Groundwater Economy in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

Abstract

Access to the groundwater economy has frequently enabled an economic boom but is also believed to increase inequalities between farmers. The present study analyses social changes in a rural community as it entered and evolved in a groundwater economy, and today increasingly has to cope with groundwater depletion. The case study was conducted in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco, where marked social, economic and political differences habitually separated ethnic fractions. Farmers created several collectives to access groundwater resources and support the marketing of newly irrigated crops. Thanks to this new groundwater economy, the social and economic positions of previously marginalised fractions caught up with those of the historically favoured fractions. The basis on which farmers' collectives were organised had evolved and crossed lines between ethnic fractions. The social configurations at local level, which are often considered to influence agrarian change and actors' relations concerning water resources, actually evolve with them. These configurations have a major influence on the dynamics of farmers' collectives. Therefore, paying attention to evolving social configurations at local level is important if the aim is to involve farmers' collectives in the search for governance models to achieve sustainable groundwater use.