This Acorn project, run by our partner High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in Morocco, and currently supports almost 1,000 smallholder farmers.
Rural Moroccan people consist of approximately 34% of the country’s population, with 75% of rural households earn less than the national average. Agriculture is almost the only activity available in rural areas. In the Acorn project regions, the vast majority of smallholder farmers have an annual income lower than $500.
Women and girls, and rural farming families, are the main beneficiaries of the work of HAF. In Morocco, land ownership mostly belong to men, but in many cases, men move to urban areas to seek better job opportunities. This often means that women are left to take care of the land. Rural areas experience high levels of illiteracy, with rural women’s illiteracy close to double that of men. Participation in education of rural girls precipitously drops between primary to secondary schools at a rate three times higher than urban girls and 15% higher than rural boys. In addition to gender role expectations, such as domestic work, marrying early, and fear of ostracization, other contributing factors of lower female school attendance are insufficient dormitories and affordable transportation.
From an environmental standpoint, Morocco has experienced serious wildfires due to extreme weather. Deforestation and resulting high levels of erosion have also lead to devastating landslides. These conditions developed over recent generations has led many Moroccans to relocate their homes, and even entire villages, at the higher elevations due to erosion.
The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has been active in Morocco for many years, working together with various Moroccan governmental institutions to improve the livelihoods of farmers and rural women. HAF is currently partnering with Morocco’s National Agency of Water and Forest to replant 360,000 trees in affected areas through reforestation. In addition, in mountain areas in Morocco that have experienced deforestation, HAF has partner initiatives to replant with native carob trees.
With the Acorn project, HAF brings the added value of planting and monitoring trees for carbon offsetting, with financial benefits going to improve water infrastructure, women’s cooperatives, education, and other community-designed initiatives to ensure long-term well-being. By supporting the communities with clean drinking water projects, more girls in the village are free from the daily task of collecting water in different sources and are therefore able to go to school.
Working with 85 farmer associations and cooperations throughout Morocco, HAF has a strong foundation for farmer data collection, while the associations maintain communication lines with farmers about the Acorn project. This structure ensures that this project is a national one, with the National Agency of Water and Forest, the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, and the Ministry of Agriculture also being involved in providing land for tree nurseries, carbon market authorization, and agroforestry advice and equipment.
The additional income from tree products and carbon credits would enable local farmer communities to partly reinvest in more trees, irrigation infrastructure, and more sustainable agricultural practices.
The project has already undertaken the following activities:
Click the links below to download the project's certification documents.
