This study aims to conduct a comparative study among farmers using different sources of energy to pump water and use it in agriculture. Different hypotheses were tested in order to answer the following questions; (i) is the use of solar energy an economic option in the arid regions? (ii) Among the different sources of energy, which one can improve water economic productivity (WEP)? And, finally, in the perspective of improving the adoption of solar energy, what are the main policy measures to be implemented and adopted by the Green Morocco Plan? Only few studies were conducted on the impact of the usage of solar energy as an alternative to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline and electricity. The official price of gasoline starts increasing and the price of LPG is supported by the state. Indeed LPG is subsidized for domestic household uses in order to enable access for low income people to afford energy services and to alleviate energy poverty and reduce pressure on forests. The preliminary results of the study show that water productivity among farmers and crops is different. Some crops such palm date has the largest value WEP. The use of solar energy in pumping water is still low and more efforts are needed to extend its use by farmers in the provinces of Ouarzazet, Tinghir and Zagora. Water pumping and equipment usage is largely subsidized which can bias the results. For financial analysis, we have removed the subsidy in order to estimate the real value of the internal rate of return and the actual net value of the investment in irrigation.
Volume 11 | 10-Special Issue
Pages: 309-317
DOI: 10.5373/JARDCS/V11SP10/20192806