In many developing countries where agricultural groundwater use led to aquifer overexploitation, direct control over farmers' groundwater use is difficult to implement. This calls for the setting up, at least in the short term, of indirect policies, the efficiency of which will depend on farmers' strategies. The different strategies adopted by farmers to cope with the groundwater crisis are analysed in the Chaouia region in Mo...

In Morocco, many farmers rely on groundwater for irrigation. Extensive groundwater exploitation along with the recent droughts, have led to over‐exploitation of this resource. We argue that state regulation is necessary but insufficient to manage groundwater. This article determines farmers' strategies in the exploitation of groundwater and explores the perceptions of farmers of the functioning of aquifers and the use of groun...

The international debate on participatory management and irrigation management transfer has mainly focused on ex‐ante / ex‐post evaluations that rely on quantitative performance indicators to measure the failure or success of management transfer and the functioning of water users' associations (WUAs). This article focuses on the appropriation by farmers of state‐initiated WUAs illustrated by the case of the Moyen Sebou irrigat...