Soil Erosion Assessment and Farmers’ Perception in South Mediterranean Basins: A Moroccan Case Study

In Morocco, it is a challenge to mitigate the socio-economic and environmental impacts of soil erosion by improving management and planning decisions. The country is economically dependent on agriculture, which contributes around 20% of gross domestic product. Agriculture is subject to many constraints such as irregular rainfall and drought periods, limited water resources, land abandonment and degradation of water and soil conservation infrastructure. Here, a comprehensive soil erosion study is realized in the Rif basin: Morphometric analysis and RUSLE soil loss modelling in five divergent watersheds, erosion features evaluation through a combination of Sentinel high-resolution imagery and field monitoring, and surveys to assess farmers’ perception and practices. The results show that the interaction between natural and anthropogenic factors provokes abundant high erosion rates (up to 50 t/ha/y). Contrariwise, farmers generally do not perceive the lack of adapted labour actions as a determinant factor. The whole basin is of increased erosion risk, thence, shortcoming, conservative and corrective actions are strongly recommended.