Irrigation Systems for Fruit Trees in Africa

The High Atlas Foundation’s Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) team met the members of the Adfal Association in a very remote mountain area. During the trip, the team had to unexpectedly leave the car and walk for 1.5 hours to Timichi village, which sits at an altitude of 1,920 meters, because the dirt road was closed due to the construction of a new and long-anticipated paved road.

Typically, the team facilitates sessions to assist host organizations (HOs) in their prioritization of needs. In the case of Adfal, the HO knew exactly what the community needed: to bring water from one riverbank to the other. At the time of the visit, they had constructed a water stream that runs through the riverbed to irrigate the fields on the opposite riverbank. However, a major issue that remains is that when the river floods, large boulders bury the water stream. It takes the local community three months to remove the huge rocks and dig out the water stream. During this time, the fields are not irrigated, and crops are lost.

To address this ongoing problem, the F2F team committed to finding and designing a solution for the community. F2F Volunteers Mustapha from Morocco and Shaymae from the U.S. met twice before Mustapha visited the Timichi village. In spending time in the village, Mustapha was able to design a suspended aqueduct that will transport the water from one riverbank to the other, even during the flooding season.

Mustapha and Shaymae considered the weight of the full water tubes, the slope to reduce erosion when water reaches the other riverbank, and the strength of the cables that will carry the water tubes. They explained the details and shared the design with the HO, though funding for the project was not secured at the time.

However, just weeks after the assignment was completed, members from the community mobilized, combining their human and financial resources to build the aqueduct. They took the lead to raise funds, and they worked hand-in-hand to build the large pillars to carry the water tubes and install the equipment. When our team spoke to the president of Adfal afterward, he exclaimed: “Now is definitely better than before!” The local people feel confident that their fields will not be deprived of water again. Additionally, the HAF-F2F team is following up with the women of Timichi following a four-day Imagine empowerment workshop, as they are dedicated to their food security goals. This is one of many inspiring examples of how F2F is contributing to Morocco’s sustainable development.