La Fattoria

Farm Portraits - Centre National d'Agroécologie - Urbane - Chadi and Selma

Mixed farming-livestock Agroecology Market Garden Orchard Fertility management in market gardening Permaculture

Chadi and Selma, farmers in Casablanca-Settat, Morocco, cultivate their lands and raise their poultry according to agroecology principles. Here is the portrait of their farm.

Context

The farm

Farmers' names: Selma and Chadi
Farm name: La Fattoria Farm
Location: Sidi Yaaqoub, Morocco
Date of installation: 2021
Cultivated area: 0.22 ha.
Soil texture: Sandy loam
Number of people working on the farm (FTE) : 3 full-time people (Chadi, Selma and one worker) plus daily labor as needed (0.5 FTE)
Climate: According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, Rabat has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers (Csa). Temperatures generally range between 13 °C and 24 °C throughout the year, with extremes rarely dropping to 5 °C or rising to 39 °C. Average annual rainfall is about 383 mm, spread over 52 rainy days per year.

Plant productions

Diverse orchard, 3000m², cultivated with drip irrigation.

Market garden crops associated with cereals, 2000m²: garlic, squashes, solanaceae, cucurbitaceae, small area of peppers (100 m²). All these crops are planted in association with cover crops composed of sorghum and sunflower.

Nursery, 500m²: including two eucalyptus trees that provide shade for plants waiting to be planted, as well as a greenhouse shelter for storing young plants and seedlings.

Note: A progressive association between the orchard and the market gardening is underway, aiming to cultivate spaces at the foot of fruit trees in the orchard to better utilize the cultivated area.

Animal production

20 chickens
10 ducks

Note: Food autonomy achieved for ducks: with 1/3 azolla (for more on Azolla cultivation see Mouzouna farm), 1/3 pasture and waste (including snails), 1/3 grains.

Study, training and life path

Selma and Chadi previously worked in communication and television respectively. Initially, they had no agricultural knowledge. They therefore undertook self-training via the Internet by watching videos from Ver de Terre Production and the MOOC from the Institut Agro Montpellier.
For their installations they participated in the training of the "NABTA" project, aimed at supporting project leaders focused on biodiversity.
Currently, they continue to train online, regularly following the work of Atelier Paysan and other self-construction resources.

Marketing

Direct sale of baskets delivered in Casablanca (6 baskets per week, 8-12 kg per basket, starting at 100 Dirhams).
For communication with customers, they use WhatsApp Business.
Selma highlights the strong demand for agroecological products in Casablanca (linked to rapid urbanization which tends to overtake peri-urban farms, reducing supply).

Farm history

The property where they are located was initially not intended for agriculture. The couple gradually settled there.
During the COVID crisis, the couple worked remotely from the property, which was then their secondary home, where they maintained a vegetable garden. This experience triggered their desire to live full-time in the countryside.
In 2021, they started cultivation, supported by Si Mohamed, a local worker.
The production surplus during COVID pushed them to start marketing, almost against their will.
In 2023, after enjoying their lockdowns, they settled permanently, quit their jobs and fully dedicated themselves to the farm.

Motivations and objectives

Create a training center in agroecology.
Produce and process environmentally friendly agricultural products for sale to Casablanca residents.
Develop projects with neighbors: cultivate a 3 Ha plot belonging to a neighbor in exchange for a share of the harvest.
Equip the farm with a sonic extraction machine to produce jams without added sugar.
Implement a phyto-purification system for waste from fruit and vegetable processing (e.g., peelings).
Engage in a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) with a collective specification.
A project to create an online sales point on the Dababastore platform is under study but still in the reflection phase.

Agronomic aspect

Soil fertility management

Manure input: Manure is collected free of charge from neighbors raising sheep and goats. On average, 3 carts of 2 m³ are brought each year, totaling 6 m³/year. This collaboration is part of a service exchange: neighbors can graze their animals on the farm in exchange for manure supply.
Composting: A compost is produced in small quantities, mainly from household green waste.

Additional inputs: Ashes from incineration of small snails and plant debris are also used as amendments. Positive results have been observed, notably on yellowing squashes, which seem to develop better after this input.

Water management

System entirely drip irrigation (except for three sugarcane plants irrigated manually).
Rainwater harvesting via roofs.
Two wells:
- The old well at 60 m, providing about 500 liters every 3 days.
- A second well dug last September, 123 m deep. The aquifer renews slowly and is heavily used by surrounding farmers.
  Water retention basin covered with a tarp
Water storage is done via a retention basin covered with a tarp on top to limit evaporation.

Management and planning

A six-month crop plan is established, allowing anticipation of major rotations and labor needs.
This plan is adjusted every two weeks to integrate secondary tasks and adapt to unforeseen events.
Certain strategic crops, such as solanaceae and cucurbitaceae, are maintained each year to ensure customer loyalty.

Weed management

The main weeds encountered are dock and bindweed.

Weed management on the farm does not rely on systematic weeding but uses alternative practices such as manual mowing, with plant material returned to the soil using the "chop and drop" method, or grazing. This dual approach limits competition without disturbing soil balance.

Agricultural product processing

Chadi and Selma also produce jams and dry some products, such as peppers, thanks to a dedicated processing facility.
This allows them to include processed products in their baskets.

Practices of interest

Snail management

Context

Crops were subjected to high pressure due to the presence of snails, especially on young trees. This infestation caused up to 15% losses on some plantations, compromising the orchard's proper development.

Objective

Reduce the impact of snails on crops by implementing an agroecological regulation strategy combining physical barriers, attraction techniques, manual collection, and valorization of collected snails.

Operation

1. Physical blocking

Copper strips (32 MAD for 10 m, 2 cm wide), placed in spring around trunks.
Copper wires: more suitable for young trees, allow multiple turns.
Placement: On the trunk below the first scaffold branch, in some cases on scaffold branches (e.g., jujube), especially when lower branches are accessible via weed cover (when grasses are tall).
A winter adjustment is planned to avoid wires hindering sap flow if the trunk thickens, although this issue has not yet been observed.

Note: Chadi also uses Ethernet cable wires, which he finds particularly effective; their thinness further hinders snail progression, and their small diameter allows better adherence to trunk irregularities.

2. Techniques to attract snails

Placement of egg cartons on the ground to offer shelters for snails and facilitate collection.
Partial mowing around trees to create attraction zones.
Use of sorghum as a trap crop, attracting snails away from young trees.

3. Manual collection

Morning route: collection on trunks.
Evening route: collection under egg cartons.
On average: 2 to 3 kg of snails/day collected, for 1 hour of work involving 2.5 people.

4. Elimination and valorization

Large snails: given to ducks, potentially marketable (but volumes remain too low for wholesalers).
Medium snails: given to ducks and chickens.
Small snails: burned with wood, producing ash rich in calcium. Production goal: one 30 L bucket of ash from 0.4 m³ of wood and 10 to 15 kg of snails.

5. Possible improvement

Strategic period: after the first rains (late summer - early autumn).
Increase collection effort to 2 h/day during this period to reduce pressure for the rest of the year and then limit to 30 min/day.

Result

Thanks to the progressive implementation of these techniques, snail pressure has significantly decreased. Losses, which reached up to 15%, are now reduced to about 5%.

Advice

For Chadi, it is essential to remain constantly vigilant about snail populations, which can quickly become invasive and difficult to control. As much as possible, it is recommended to establish a rhythm of regular collection, ahead of proliferation peaks, to limit their development from the first appearances.

A self-built shredder adapted to grass and small plant residues

Context and motivation

Faced with the high cost of industrial shredders starting around 4,000 MAD according to Chadi, the farm chose to develop a homemade solution.

Objective

Reduce the labor intensity, especially related to manual chopping with a machete, which required about two hours to shred only 0.25 m³ of plant material.

At the same time, this initiative is part of a desire for material autonomy, cost reduction in operations, and local valorization of plant biomass.

Artisanal fabrication

The self-built shredder was fully operational after one week of work, including research, technical tests, and system tuning.
Main materials are a thick plastic barrel and a motor from a broken pump.
A local welder was hired to build the metal frame, for a modest cost of 250 MAD.
The rotating shaft was equipped with three blades, two of which were finally kept: one blade shaped for shredding straw and the other for slightly woody green waste (e.g., thistle stems).
The bottom of the barrel was first perforated then enlarged to better let straw pass, then equipped with a rubber ring that blocks the outlet hole during the first rotations to prevent straw ejection.

For safety reasons, the bolts fixing the blades were mounted opposite to the motor rotation direction to avoid accidental loosening.

Operation

Shredding is done in three successive 1-minute cycles, totaling about 3 minutes per batch of plant material. During the first two passes, the barrel outlet is fully closed with the ring so that the plant material remains confined and well shredded. Only on the third pass is the opening gradually released, allowing efficient evacuation of the shredded material.

The system's rotation speed is estimated at 100 revolutions per minute.

Note: In addition to this homemade tool, a second shredder was purchased externally. It is intended for specific uses: shredding green wood (branches less than 2 cm).

Result

This innovation has made the farm more autonomous, while avoiding a heavy financial investment in professional equipment initially.
Using the shredder allows a considerable time saving compared to manual chopping of straw, reducing a two-hour task to just a few minutes.

Note: The shredder was recently used (summer 2025) to thresh wheat with very satisfactory results, saving significant time and labor costs.

Advice

For those wishing to be inspired, several points should be noted according to Chadi:

It is essential to use a solid barrel to ensure device durability.
Safety must remain a priority: workshop tests are recommended before any field use.
The shredder generates significant noise, requiring wearing hearing protection to preserve the user's auditory health.
Finally, it is useful to plan several trials to adjust the shredder configuration according to the nature of the plant material to be processed.

Photo gallery of La Fattoria farm

Sources

Interview with Selma and Chadi conducted in 2025.

This page was written in partnership with the Urbane project and with the financial support of the European Union.