Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

This paper draws on three case studies of drip irrigation adoption in Morocco to consider the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus concept from a bottom-up perspective.
Findings indicate that small farmers' adoption of drip irrigation is conditional, that water and energy efficiency does not necessarily reduce overall consumption, and that
policies supporting, and adoption of, drip irrigation can create winners and losers. The paper concludes that, although the WEF nexus concept may offer useful insights, its use in policy formulation should be tempered with caution. Technical options that appear beneficial at the conceptual level can have unintended consequences in practice, and policies focused on issues of scarcity and efficiency may exacerbate other dimensions of poverty and inequality.