Minutes of two workshops held in

Workshop with stakeholders: Two workshops were organized in Morocco in two major producing areas of barley and wheat: one in Settat and the other in Romani.. Key INRA Morocco and other research and development institutions and consultants attended the workshops. The list of participants at Rommani is included in this document and photos of Settat workshop are also included. Emphasis was given to identifying and filling of critical knowledge gaps. These workshops were a good opportunity to review and adjust the strategies and design a research plan for their evaluation, to discuss agronomic strategies and design evaluation methodology, and to evaluate and adapt research trials and discuss model application. These workshops attended by farmers and farmer’s associations, extension people and scientists helped gathering qualitative and quantitative information on cereal crops management. During these workshops, the project was presented and also the objectives of the workshop. In a participatory approach, the participants described the actual crop management with emphasis to cultivars and fertilizers application. Information describing management practices used by farmers with regard to rotations, cultivars used, soil preparation, fertilization, sowing, weed and disease control, and harvesting was gathered.

With regard to fertilizers use and nitrogen, farmers in the Chaouia-Settat region use 200 kg of diammonium phosphate (18N-46P) or 100 kg of composite fertilizer14N-28P-14K prior to planting and 50 kg of urea at tillering-stem elongation for bread and durum wheat, while for barley, in general, no fertilizer is applied. The application of urea at tillering-stem elongation is conditioned by the availability of rains. Farmers in Rommani-Zaers region, a more favorable region, use 200 kg of 19N-38P-0K or 18N-46P-0K prior to planting and urea during crop growth depending on the seasonal rainfall.

With regard to varieties, Marzak, Isly, Sarif, and Karim for durum wheat and Acasd and Lanaceur for barley are the cultivars most widely used in Settat area. In Rommani area, the cultivars used are Karim, Vitron, Sarif and Sebou for durum wheat and local population mainly for barley. Through the discussion, it appeared that there is a lack of information on the new cultivars of barley and durum wheat although the spectra of varieties issued is very wide. The cultivars used for durum wheat are quite old whilst for barley most farmers still grow local populations. For fertilizer management, most farmers do not proceed to any soil analysis or to procure information from research institutions or extension centers. The application of nitrogen is conditioned by seasonal rainfall. There is a lack of flow of information to farmers regarding fertilizer management strategies in different agro-ecological settings. Data and knowledge from research trials, farmer participatory research and breeding programs were used during these workshops and critical missing knowledge was identified during discussion with different stakeholders. The strategies to optimize the use of nitrogen and water wre developed and are being tested in WP12. The experimentations in WP12 aim at evaluating 10 nitrogen management strategies in different agro-ecological settings that will give answers to the preoccupations of farmers, developers and breeders. In fact, many strategies were raised due to the lack of any concrete answer with regard to N application (dose and timing) and prevailing environment (stressful, wet and favorable).

ANNEXES

Annex 1: Program: Presentation of the Watnit MED Project Presentation of the objectives of the workshop and methodology Participatory workshop with farmers on cereal crop management Analysis and discussion (agronomic strategies and evaluation) Research experiment design evaluation (N management strategies) Concluding remarks Annex 2: List of participants in the workshops Name Fonction ‘Commune Rurale’ Sedraoui Mohammed Extension Rommani Hantaoui Najib Extension Settat Hajjaji Larbi Farmer Merchouch Mssrour Bensaid Farmer Merchouch Benslimane Khalid Farmer/seed producer Boumehdi Lhaj Farmer Merchouch Massrour Abdelkader Farmer Merchouch Rachid Lhaj Ali Farmer Merchouch Rachid Bouchaib Farmer Merchouch Bouamer Ben Lmaati Farmer Merchouch Benkamil Ben Ahmed Farmer Merchouch Ben Allam Ali Authority Rommani Friha Abdellah Farmer Rommani Mouziad Said Extension Rommani Jabbar Mohammed Extension Rommani Lahni Mohammed Extension Merchouch Hmina Abdeljalil Farmer Merchouch Lahna Mohammed Farmer Merchouch Rachid Lhoussine Farmer Merchouch Lghazouani Miloud Farmer Merchouch Belhaj Mustapha Director of farmer’s Merchouch Bengmil Abdellah cooperative J. Moul Lablad Daoudi Mohammed Farmer Merchouch Ben Mbarek Lakhdar Farmer Merchouch Lhadi Mohammed Farmer J. Moul Lablad Jalil aoudi Farmer Merchouch Eloumri Mohamed Farmer Hilali Hamida Soil scientist/ INRA Rabat Agronomist: Head of Research Moussadek Rachid & Development Service/ Rabat Moatamid Zakaria INRA Rabat Dahan Rachid Soil scientist/ INRA Settat Elmjahed Khalil Agronomist/INRA Settat Elmzouri Elhoucine Agronomist/INRA Settat Soil fertility and fertilization Boulal Hakim Agronomist: Head of Research Settat Lhaloui Saadia & Development Service/ Settat Beanaouda Hassan INRA Settat Elbrahli Azzedine Agronomist Settat Boughlala Mohamed Plant protection Settat Nsarallah N. Agronomist-climatologist Settat Weed scientist Socio-economist Breeder

Annex 3:

Workshop in Settat: