How young growers from Morocco are outsmarting climate change

Thanks to a drip irrigation system, which delivers water directly to the plants’ roots, Batrah has branched out into melon, pea and bean production on his 10-hectare (24.7-acre) olive farm, roughly tripling his revenues. PHOTO: COURTESY

Standing amid rows of healthy fava bean plants, El Badaoui Abdelatif explains how his team of young technicians has helped farmers in rural Sidi Badhaj, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, grow more olives — and earn more money — despite a drying climate.

Pruning, the use of electronic equipment and more precise irrigation have increased yields from 20kg (44 lb) per tree to 100kg or more. And the quality of the oil from the olives has improved because farmers take them for pressing within 24 hours of harvest rather than storing them for a month or two, as in the past.