FARMERS’ DECISIONS IN PASTORAL AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH REPRESENTATIONS OF PLUVIOMETRIC CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN SEMI-DRY ENVIRONMENT IN MOROCCO. THE CASE OF UPPER CHAOUIA
This intervention aims to address the issue of farmers' decisions in agro-pastoral systems and their relationship with the representations of pluviometric climate variability in semi-arid environments in Morocco: the case of Haute Chaouia, because it is considered one of the areas of the bours, which depend mainly on rainfall and are more affected by climatic variability, in particular rainfall. By addressing the subject of research, we will try to answer the following problematic question: How does rainfall climate variability affect farmers' decisions concerning agro-pastoral systems in semi-arid environments in Morocco, a study of case of Haute Chaouia? To answer the problematic question, we will adopt the following statistical hypothesis: There are no statistically significant differences (H0) in the decisions of agro-pastoral farmers in semi-arid environments in Morocco, the case of Haute Chaouia depending on seasonal rainfall variability. Through the subject of the research, we aim to achieve the following objectives: Describe the decisions of farmers, pastoralists and agriculturalists in Haute Chaouia. And the interpretation of the relationship between grazing and farmers' agricultural decisions to represent rainy climate change. In approaching the subject of this research, we have relied on the two most important methods of data collection: an out-of-field method, and a field method through the sample and the form of real research, which is mainly represented in the survey of 460 farmers in the studied soil communities in the province of Settat in the high hills of Chaouia in 2016, which is the true original sample. The research also adopted data processing methods, such as the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the field study in the studied areas of plateaus of the Upper Chaouia plateaus revealed differences in the choice of agricultural pasture. We concluded that agriculture is a major activity in the groups studied, while animal husbandry is considered a complementary and secondary activity in south of upper Chaouia, while agriculture is an integral activity. It has also been shown through the attitudes of farmers on the influence of rainfall variability in the choices of farmers who in agro-pastoral. The subject of the study was built based on the "IMRAD" with four scientific characteristics: Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion.
Keywords: Farmers’ Decisions, Agro-Pastoral Systems, Representation, Pluviometric Climate Variability, Semi-Dry Environment, Morocco, Upper Chaouia.