How can information and communication effects on small farmers’ engagement in groundwater management: Case of SAISS Aquifers, Morocco

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Water scarcity, unequal water distribution and overexploitation make of groundwater a strategic resource to protect and preserve for future generations, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Groundwater governance faces many issues and challenges and many governance gaps exist almost everywhere around the world. It has experienced many models and approaches worldwide over the past century. In literature, there are several research papers and reports talking about the importance of data and information in implementing effective governance. Nevertheless, few are showing their impact on stakeholders’ engagement, such as in the implementation of the groundwater engagements or contracts as a form of participatory governance. This paper aims to show the impact of information, trust in relationships and communication on the small farmers’ commitment in participatory governance. This had been experimented in six rural communes in Saiss Plain in two steps. The first step consisted on collecting and analyzing small farmers’ requirements on information and communication in five communes quite similar in characteristics, through a survey, in order to assess their ability to commit and cooperate under a participatory governance framework in developing Mediterranean countries. The second one consists on showing a concrete case of information need on groundwater found in another commune in Saiss and the impact of the trust in relationships, the good communication, the will to develop the socio-economic situation and the leadership through the case of a small group of young farmers associated in cooperative in the enhancement of the information dissemination and the farmers’ awareness regarding rural development and environment protection. The study shows that there is a weakness in information transmission and communication around groundwater. The paper recommends a new communication channel to give relevant information to farmers and to assist them to collaborate in order to preserve groundwater through NGOs and farmers organizations.