Worker, Peasant or Entrepreneur? Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Logics and Practices of Family Farmers in Agrarian Reform Cooperatives in the Saiss (Morocco)

Olivier Petit, Valère Martin (), Marcel Kuper (), Fatah Ameur () and Claire Papin-Stammose
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Valère Martin: UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AgroParisTech - IRSTEA - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier
Marcel Kuper: UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AgroParisTech - IRSTEA - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier
Fatah Ameur: UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AgroParisTech - IRSTEA - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier
Claire Papin-Stammose: UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - AgroParisTech - IRSTEA - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier

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Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the emerging entrepreneurial practices and the underlying logic of family farms in two agrarian reform cooperatives in Morocco. These practices can be explained by the constant negotiation of multiple and sometimes even antagonistic logics (peasant, entrepreneurial, proletarian, capitalistic) within these farms in a context of rapid agrarian change and a juxtaposition of different farm types on the same territory. Five factors illustrate this emergence: (1) the access to credit, (2) the functioning of the farm (rotation of the crops, use of inputs, workforce), 3) the access to groundwater resources, (4) the marketing practices adopted by farmers and (5) the informational factors. The porosity of the peasant and entrepreneurial worlds is the main lesson we can draw from our study. There is a subtle process of hybridization between the peasant and entrepreneurial modes of farming, with a wide range of profiles, ranging from a pure 'peasant', to a pure 'entrepreneur' and in between the peasant-entrepreneur and the entrepreneur-peasant. If we only focus on the political discourse, the trend in the development of new modes of farming seems inescapable. Our study stresses the resistance of practices and logics of peasant modes of farming which can mix with a 'modern' vision of agriculture. However, the siren songs of entrepreneurship can lead to bankruptcy, an exit from agriculture, which could have a strong impact on the social cohesion of the Moroccan society, particularly in rural areas.

Keywords: groundwater economy; innovation; modes of farming; entrepreneurial practices and logics; irrigation; Saiss; Morocco (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-10-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-ara and nep-sbm
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01249779v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Innovate to improve Irrigation performances, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, Oct 2015, Montpellier, France

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