Thesis - Final (V6)

IVM Institute for Environmental Studies
Greenhouses in the Mediterranean Area:

A comparative analysis of policies related to greenhouse
cultivation technology in Morocco and Italy
Final thesis of: Michele Marini (2582867)
Supervisor: Žiga Malek
Word count: 14876

Word limit: 15000
The following research has been conducted between April and June 2016
The author is grateful to all the people that, with their help and suggestions, made this
Master’s thesis possible

Table of contents
Abstract 5
1 Introduction 7
1.1 Goals and research questions 12
2 Conceptual background and theoretical fundation 13
3 Materials and Methods 15

3.1 Methodology Framework 15
3.1.1 Data gathering – Step 1 16
3.1.2 Data elaboration – Step 2 16
3.1.3 Data analysis, comparison and results – Step 3 17
3.2 Study area 1: Province of Pistoia - Tuscany - Italy 18
3.3 Floriculture and ornamental plants 19
3.4 Study area 2: Province of Agadir - Souss Massa Draâ region -
Morocco 25
3.5 Horticultural production 26
3.6 Socio-economic characteristics of farmers 33
3.7 Policy framework for greenhouses 35
4 Results - Socio-economic characteristics of farmers 37

4.1 Farm size or household size 37
4.2 Age of the farm manager 39
4.3 Education level of the farm manager 40
4.4 Income of the farm manager 41
4.5 Access to land 42
4.6 Group membership 42
4.7 Farmer's attitudes toward the environment 43
5 Results - Policy framework for greenhouses 45

5.1 Policy framework for greenhouses - Pistoia 47
5.2 Policy framework for environmental issues - Pistoia 48
5.2.1 Use of water for irrigation 49
5.2.2 Use of pesticides 49
5.2.3 Use of fertilizers 50
5.2.4 Greenhouse plastic waste 50

5.3 Policy framework for greenhouses - Agadir 50
5.4 Policy framework for environmental issues - Agadir 54
5.4.1 Use of water for irrigation 55
5.4.2 Use of pesticides 56
5.4.3 Use of fertilizers 56
5.4.4 Greenhouse plastic waste 56
5.5 Location factors and GIS analysis 57
6 Discussion 60
6.1 Limitations of the study 64
7 Conclusions and perspectives 65
10 References 67
Annex A Questionnaire 77
A.1 List of interviewees 79
Annex B Description of local factors 81

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Abstract
Over the latest decades, greenhouse agriculture became of vital importance for food
security, employment and economic development in the Mediterranean Countries (MCs) and
in supplying the growing demand of fresh fruits and vegetable (FFV) products of the European
markets. Greenhouse agriculture, as a significant part of Mediterranean agriculture, covers
an extent of 200,000 ha in Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Egypt, Israel,
Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Syria, and Lebanon. Many driving factors, such as rising population
and food demand, contributed to the expansion of an intensive greenhouse production in
the MCs. In comparison with a normal open crop field production, a greenhouse cultivation
can produce more with less use of input resources, and in areas with harsh climatic
conditions. Due to an intensive use of natural resources, in some of these areas, greenhouse
cultivation started to exert a strong environmental pressure on their surrounding landscapes.
Several policies have been proposed in the MCs to solve these problems, although it is largely
unknown if these are leading toward a more sustainable agriculture. This research analyses
and compares the political and socio-economic characteristics of the farmers behind
greenhouse cultivation technology in one province of Morocco, Agadir, and one in Italy,
Pistoia, in terms of supporting greenhouse cultivation technology and in mitigating their
environmental impact. Although various policies and measures have been taken to solve the
environmental problems associated with greenhouses, the socio-economic characteristics of
greenhouse farmers can play an important role in the effectiveness of those measures. A
comparison between policies, socio-economic characteristics of farmers and geographic
factors has been performed between Pistoia and Agadir. The results of this study show that
political driving forces and geographic location factors have been consistent in incentivizing
the establishment of protected cultivation in both areas. However, while in Agadir the
policies implemented have resulted more suitable with the socio-economic characteristics of
the greenhouse farmers, in Pistoia the policies have been mostly ineffective as in disaccord
with the latter. The environmental policies undertaken by each province have been to some
extent useful in solving environmental problems. Nevertheless, while in Agadir the large
expansion and concentration of greenhouse crops could also increase the environmental
problems, in Pistoia this could become less of a problem over the future.
Keywords: Mediterranean Basin, protected cultivation, greenhouse cultivation technology,

Geographic Information System (GIS), land change, socio-economic and political drivers,
environmental policies

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1 Introduction
In recent decades, there has been a widespread and increasing expansion of protected
agricultural areas (i.e. greenhouses) in the Mediterranean Basin countries (Sabir and Singh,
2013; Paradossi et al., 2004) (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The Mediterranean Basin
As a significant part of Mediterranean agriculture, greenhouses cover around 200,000

ha (Tüzel et al., 2009; Montero et al., 2012). The four main areas under greenhouse
cultivation are in Spain and Italy within Europe, and in Turkey and Morocco outside of Europe
(Tüzel et al., 2009). Currently, the expansion is expected to increase at moderate rates (Espi,
2006) in coming years (Aguilar et al., 2014).
Among other driving forces of protected agriculture growth are: population growth
linked with food security (Hanafi and Papasolomontos, 1999); rising demand for high-quality
horticultural products and ornamental plants (Paradossi et al., 2004); economic driving forces
(Hersperger and Bürgi, 2009); improvements in technology (Bürgi et al., 2004); and climate
change (Thomas, 2008). Cultivated products range from fruits and vegetables to ornamental
plants. Much of the greenhouse production is for the domestic market, while in some areas,
it is largely exported to other European countries or toward international markets (Garcia-
Martinez et al., 2010).

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This rising export process interests Mediterranean countries with or without food
security needs, as it largely depends on external dynamic and complex processes and driving
forces (e.g. food demand), that also differ within different countries in the area (Busch, 2006;
Ericksen, 2008).
As a form of high output agriculture, protected agriculture can be very efficient to
supply the rising demand of international markets. Due to its intrinsic features, with the same
amount of investment, greenhouse cultivation can usually produce more than an open crop
field (Montero et al., 2012; Jensen and Malter, 1995). Growing a product in a greenhouse
means adopting a technology (or a climate-smart agriculture practice) that allows farmers to
enhance both the quality and quantity of crop production, at a more intense level than a
normal open crop field system (Mwangi, 2012; FAO, 2016). Therefore, this mainly depends
on the technologies adopted (Paradossi et al., 2004; Sabir and Singh, 2013), it also depends
on other important factors such as topography, microclimate, presence, and availability of
infrastructures and so on (Baudion and FAO, 2013; Jensen and Malter, 1995).
In comparison with other locations around the world, most Mediterranean countries
have introduced greenhouse cultivation by adopting simple and cheap technological
solutions (i.e. plastic coverings and basic irrigation methods) and in areas where land
biophysical factors are relatively extreme, such as in desert areas. This allowed further
establishing economic development in many underdeveloped areas of the region, therefore
by offering to farmers an efficient way to adapt their crop production methods.
Even though greenhouse cultivation can be very efficient, the increasing extension of
protected cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin has become an intense land use process
that strongly affects the use of natural resources (Stanghellini et al., 2003).
Despite the economic benefits that greenhouse production provides, the increasing
extension of protected cultivation in the Mediterranean basin has become an intense land
use process that strongly affects the use of natural resources (Stanghellini et al., 2003).
Greenhouse cultivation occurs where natural resources are commonly scarce, both
quantitatively and qualitatively. For most of these countries, the impacts on the environment
are already particularly worrisome, and range from a massive use of plastic for greenhouses,
which affects the soil in terms of water absorption and evapotranspiration, to the
overexploitation of aquifer water, water-salt intrusion, release of pesticides in water, and an
intense request for energy, especially for water provisioning (Wolosin, 2008; De Pascale and
Maggio, 2004).

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For instance, in many South Mediterranean countries with scarce water resources,
there is excessive water salinity for agricultural purposes (Choukr-Allah Redouane, 1990;
Fader et al., 2016; Vidal, 2001). All of these factors combined can lead to land degradation
processes, high energy and water consumption, pesticide contamination, and biodiversity
loss as well as to complex and multiple micro-, meso- and macro-scale environmental effects
(Picuno et al., 2011; Levin et al., 2007).
These aspects question on how to make protected agriculture more sustainable in the
Mediterranean area (Salazar and Rios, 2010; Stanghellini et al., 2003). Solutions should come
from policies and regulative frameworks (e.g. laws, instruments, regulations, measures or
agreements) that can enhance or hinder the future expansion of sustainable greenhouse
farming to limit or avoid negative consequences for the environment. One solution is to
incentivize technologies that are more efficient (De Pascale and Maggio, 2004). Another is
integrated land planning, where open crop field agriculture is complemented by protected
agriculture (Picuno et al., 2011).
It is necessary to promote policies and regulations to address the excessive use of
resources and to regulate conflicting demands from different sectors of the economy (Blinda,
2012; Vidal, 2001). For instance, many policies have been proposed in various Mediterranean
countries to solve water problems in agriculture such as scarcity, shortage, pollution and low
quality (He et al., 2006; Pedrick, 2012; Blinda, 2012).
Another important aspect to consider is specific socio-economic characteristics of land
managers (e.g. local farmers). These can influence the decision whether to install a
greenhouse cultivation as well as to deal in solving the related environmental issues (e.g. by
installing water and energy savings technologies). Furthermore, they can influence policy
responses from policy makers (Gertel et al., 2014). There are observable relations between
political processes and actor’s characteristics and their cumulative effect on the land
manager’s decision. For instance, policies can prove effective in incentivizing greenhouse
cultivation when the land manager is young or has a determined level of education, or has
the capability to invest his own capital. There is a lack of research on how specific socio-
economic characteristics of land managers (i.e. farmers) can incentivize or constraint the
implementation of climate-smart agriculture such as greenhouse agriculture (Fader et al.,
2016). Future research will be necessary to assess how these factors interact in different
areas of the Mediterranean. This could help to understand how to better promote
sustainable agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin.

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The objective of this study is to understand these effects in two contrasting study areas:
The province of Agadir (from now on Agadir) in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco and the
province of Pistoia (from now on Pistoia) in the Tuscany region of Italy (Figure 1).
These areas are strongly representative of the current greenhouse cultivation trend in
the Mediterranean basin. Morocco is the most significant and fastest growing crop producer
in North Africa and is currently particularly involved in producing exotic fruits and vegetables
in order to satisfy the demand of European countries (Hanafi and Papasolomontos, 1999;
Janick and Ait-Oubahou, 1989). Pistoia is the largest producer of ornamental plants and
flowers in Italy, which has, together with Spain, the largest protected cultivated area in the
Mediterranean (Tüzel et al., 2009; ARPAT, 2001). For both, protected agriculture is intensive
and the production is largely exported.
Figure 2: Location of Agadir (A) and Pistoia (B)
Morocco and Italy differ in terms of climatic conditions, agricultural economy, and
political systems. These countries have contrasting socio-economic (developing vs.
developed) and bio-physical characteristics (arid vs. humid), as well as different policy

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settings (EU with its open market and common agricultural policy vs. Morocco with
limitations to accessing the market).
The main objective of this study is to analyze the role of socio-economic characteristics
of farmers (e.g. age, education level, income level, economic attitudes), and political driving
forces (e.g. laws, instruments, regulations, measures or agreements) in constraining or
incentivizing the land-use decision maker regarding adopting greenhouse cultivation and
environmentally sustainable policies. A comparative analysis assessment between several
Mediterranean countries will indicate to what extent the decisions to establish greenhouses
as well as to deal with the social and environmental problems related can be explained by
political and socio-economic driving forces. A subsequent characterization of emerging
patterns to spatially explicit driving socio-economic factors will be presented to make a
better comparison, general conclusions and eventually to stimulate policy recommendations.

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1.1 Goals and research questions
The first part of the thesis is an analysis of historical trends of the agricultural policy of
the two areas. It addresses specific socio-economic characteristics of farmers in order to
explain the decision to establish a protected cultivation and the decision to deal with
subsequent environment-related problems.
Specific goals were: 1) Identifying both socio-economic characteristics of farmers and
the current agricultural and political driving forces that are responsible for these trends and
patterns; 2) Analyzing to what extent the land manager’s decision to establish greenhouse
cultivations and to solve environmental-related problems is explained by these driving forces
and characteristics.
The main research question was:
- What are the role of political driving forces and socio-economic characteristics of
land managers (e.g. farmers) in constraining or incentivizing the land manager’s
decision to adopt protected cultivation and in dealing with greenhouse
environmental problems?
The aim of the second part of the study is to provide a characterization of emerging
patterns in relation to spatially explicit bio-physical driving forces such as soil type, terrain
characteristics, and climate and institutional (socio-economic) variables. The specific goal is
to explore whether and how bio-physical and institutional driving forces support or do not
support, the land manager in establishing greenhouse cultivation.
The question which was addressed is:
- Can we relate greenhouse cultivation decision making to a set of geographic

variables that explain the environmental and socio-economic context of the selected
locations?
In the third part, this thesis aims to assess, confront and compare those different trends
for Pistoia and Agadir, and more in general, for Morocco and Italy.

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2 Conceptual background and theoretical foundation
Figure 2: Theoretical research model for greenhouse cultivation

Source: Based on Hersperger et al., 2010
Multiple biophysical and political driving forces coupled with various and specific farmer
characteristics trigger the establishment of greenhouse cultivation technology (Figure 2). In
this study, I adopted one model from the theory of land change in order to analyze the entire
system of greenhouse cultivation: The Driving Force – Actor – Land Change (DF-A-C) model
(Hersperger et al., 2010).
The study of land change categorizes land change driving forces into two main groups:
Socio-economic driving forces, and institutional and biophysical driving forces (Briassoulis,
2000). Socio-economic driving forces contain economic, political, social and cultural factors
and multiple and various dynamic processes. Biophysical and institutional driving forces
include the natural environment and specific location factors such as climate, topography,
landform, soil type or quality, accessibility and availability of natural resources, population

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density, urban and rural population, market accessibility and influence (Briassoulis, 2000;
Gennaio, 2008; van Vliet et al., 2015; Mwangi, 2012).
Within the model, the political driving forces (b) were considered separately from socio-
economic driving forces, and have a direct effect on the land manager decision (d). This
relation is also adopted by Gennaio (2008), however, my thesis is different about two
components of the system. First, since this study is not intended to find the causes of the
origins of policy-decision, the policy-decision subsystem component, which explains how
policies are conceived, is not considered. Second, the proximate causes of land use change
are not considered in the model chain since “it is not always possible to identify proximate
causes for agricultural change itself” (van Vliet et al., 2015, p. 32).
Furthermore, as greenhouse cultivation essentially constitutes an improved form of
agricultural technology (Giacomelli et al., 2007), the land manager’s decision (d) will also
strongly depend on his own socio-economic characteristics (c). Among these are: The age of
the farm manager, farm size, education level, income level, land access and tenure, group
membership and attitudes toward the environment (Mwangi, 2012; Bonabana-Wabbi,
2002).
Through this model, it is possible to capture causal relations between political driving
forces and socio-economic characteristics which lead to the decision to establish greenhouse
cultivation. For example, policies can prove effective in incentivizing greenhouse cultivation
when the land manager is young or has a level of education, or has the capability to invest
his own capital.
The model also explains how biophysical and institutional driving forces (a) can have a
direct impact on the land manager decision (d) (Gennaio, 2008). For example, the decision to
choose a greenhouse production system can be highly influenced by geographic and
environmental variables of the specific location. Environmental and institutional
characteristics of different geographic locations influence agricultural land change to
greenhouse cultivation.
Greenhouse cultivation can have consequences for the environment (f), thus creating
socio-ecological feedbacks and human-nature feedbacks that require adequate
consideration (Hull et al., 2015; van Vliet et al., 2015). Such land change feedbacks trigger
policy responses from policy makers (b) (Lambin and Meyfroidt, 2010) and changes the
farmer’s attitudes and perceptions toward the environment (c) (van Vliet et al., 2015).
This model permits the separation of links between policy and socio-economic driving
effects, and geographic and institutional characteristics that affect land change, which helps

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us to analyze more specific interdependencies among the political, social, economic and
ecological dimensions of greenhouse cultivation.
3 Materials and Methods
3.1 Methodology Framework
This study used both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and fits into the broad
area of qualitative geographic information science (Betsill et al., 2014; Sui and DeLyser,
2012).
The methodological procedure, which is the same for both case studies has three main
steps: Data gathering (step 1), data elaboration (step 2) and data analysis (step 3) (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Methodological Framework of the study

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3.1.1 Data gathering – Step 1
In order to gather qualitative and quantitative data, I defined the scale of investigation
following a standard procedure developed by Bürgi et al., (2004).
For the spatial scale, I collected information regarding Pistoia and Agadir at the
municipal level. Although such information may be very specific, this study considered the
possibility of using the same data to generalize the analysis of the greenhouse trend, applying
it to districts as well as to regions for both case studies.
This analysis focuses on the time span from the 1990s until recent years. This decision
was motivated by two main reasons. First, only from the 1990s onward has there been a
considerable increase in greenhouse production in Agadir, and in general in the Souss-Massa-
Draâ region (Sippel, 2015). Second, since greenhouse cultivation in the Mediterranean may
be dated back to the early decades of the last century (Paradossi et al., 2004) and actors and
policies changed over time (Hersperger and Bürgi, 2009), I decided to consider two decades
in order to keep the level of policy analysis feasible.
According to the institutional scale, I made a selection of political driving forces on the
basis of expert interviews and literature analysis (Annex A).
I collected qualitative data, such as political and socio-economic information, through a
semi-structured interview approach, an extensive scientific literature review, and database
analysis. A few selected experts were interviewed: Researchers from agricultural and
institutional centers; local-level decision makers, such as people responsible for agricultural
policy; and local farmers (Annex A.1). In addition, I performed an analysis of databases such
as Eurostat, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Bank
(WB) and national statistics such as Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT) in Italy.
3.1.2 Data elaboration – Step 2
Initially, quantitative and qualitative data were elaborated separately to improve the
uniformity of these two types of information.
Regarding qualitative data, I was able to define the main important political driving
forces and socio-economic characteristics of farmers.
For quantitative data, a spatial analysis was done using a Geographic Information
System (GIS). This spatial analysis was done by selecting the major protected agricultural
areas which are most representative of greenhouse trends within the two case studies. Data

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for different quantitative variables based on recent scientific literature was selected for the
locations of the study areas (Table 13 – Annex B).
In order to omit the errors based on the location, I resampled the data to a 2 km spatial
resolution to obtain an average of the whole landscape.
3.1.3 Data analysis, comparison and results – Step 3
For the last step of the analysis, I integrated qualitative data in order to identify and
understand the main observable relations between political processes and actor’s
characteristics and their cumulative effect on the land manager’s decision. Next, I used a
historical narrative approach for qualitative data to explain the links between changes in
government policies and socio-economic characteristics of farmers and the land manager’s
decision about greenhouse cultivation over time.
This allowed to identify the link between the narrative findings with geospatial results
in the quantitative analysis and analyze how these decisions manifested spatially.
For both case studies, quantitative and qualitative data linkage was compared by using
comparable spatial, temporal and institutional scales in order to maintain study coherence
(Bürgi et al., 2004).

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3.2 Study area 1: Province of Pistoia – Tuscany –Italy
The city of Pistoia (43°43’N 10°24’E) is located in the north-central part of Tuscany
region, in the north-central part of Italy (Figure 4).
Pistoia is also the provincial capital of the homonymous province in Tuscany. The
provincial territory of Pistoia has a total area of 964.98 km2 with an elevation that ranges
from 13 to 1,940m above sea level (Clima e Dati Geografici Provincia di Pistoia, 2016). In this
area, the climate is temperate, typical sublittoral (or Apennine) Mediterranean climate. This
is influenced by the location at the northwest end of the valley, and the nearby Apennine
hills and the Pistoia mountains. The yearly average temperature is 14.3° and the monthly
averages range between 5 and 23,6° C (Clima e Dati Geografici Provincia di Pistoia, 2016). In
winter, Pistoia is one of the coldest provinces in Tuscany with a relatively cold and dry season.
In summer time, the climate is humid and characterized by good ventilation, reducing the
effects of high temperatures. The annual precipitation average is 883 mm, with the highest
monthly average in November and the lowest in July. The landscape is mostly characterized
by hills, with a few wide valleys. The hilly areas include parts of the Valdinievole and Pistoia,
in addition to the Montalbano area; the hills are composed of sandstones and scaly clay. The
two significant valleys are: The Ombrone valley and the Valdinievole, which, from a geological
point of view, are mainly made up of alluvial deposits. Soils are characterized by alternate
layers of clays, silts, sands and gravel typical of alluvial soils. The average composition is about
65% sand, 24% silt and 11% clay with pH close to neutral (Vezzosi, 1990). The cropland
composition helps to ensure a high level of fertility in a territory rich in waterways,
particularly streams. Those of the southern slope flow into the Padule of Fucecchio; those on
the east flow into the Ombrone which is a tributary of the Arno river.

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Figure 4: Overview map of greenhouses 5 kilometers South-East of Pistoia
3.3 Floriculture and ornamental plants
The Tuscany region is recognized as a global leader in the production of floriculture and
ornamental plants.
The whole floriculture sector originated mainly within the district of Pistoia which today
is representative for the entire region. This is true regarding both the amount of land thus
dedicated and to the variety of plants and flowers produced and commercialized (Provincia
di Pistoia, 2006). In Pistoia, favorable climatic conditions allowed an increase in the
concentration of nurseries and cropland extent. The area today produces a large assortment
of species and varieties of plants from all parts of the world: from tropical or subtropical
species, which are grown in protected environments, to Mediterranean species, as well as
plants from cold climates. Thus, these products are able to meet an extremely diversified
consumer demand in Europe.
In Pistoia, the nursery production has very old roots (Scaramuzzi, 1998). We can assume
that the first nursery originated in the mid-1800s, with a gradual transition from the botanical
collections of noble and middle-class families to the collections destined for the markets.
Ever since, the continuous search for extra markets as well as the introduction of new
varieties of plants has led to an increase in the commercialization of plants, triggering a rapid

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expansion. In the first two decades of the 20th century, the nursery areas increased from
about 50 to 200 hectares. A phase of great development occurred after the first World War:
The land under nursery cultivation doubled from 200 ha in 1920 to 400 ha in 1948 (Provincia
di Pistoia, 2006). In the fifties and later there was a growing development in the export of
plants: From 1950 to 1969 the territorial expansion passed from 500 ha in 1956 to over 3000
ha in the late 1960s. In the 1970s and the 1980s the sector achieved its most innovative stage:
New cultivation practices were implemented, in particular, the technique of growing
ornamental plants and flowers in containers, followed by the initial establishment of
greenhouse cultivation (Scaramuzzi, 1998; Vezzosi, 2005).
Today, 31% of the entire territory is dedicated to agriculture and about 20% (5300 ha)
to nursery and floriculture. Almost 70% of all floriculture in Tuscany is concentrated in Pistoia
and encompasses over 5300 hectares of land divided between flowers, with around 180 ha,
and nursery production with about 4120 ha (Regione Toscana, 2003) (Figure 3).
Nearly 93% of the production takes place in open crop fields and the main areas of
production are in the municipalities of Pistoia, Serravalle Pistoiese, Agliana, Quarrata, and
Montale. Greenhouse cultivations cover about 550 hectares and most of them, about 78%,
are especially concentrated within the remaining 17 municipalities of the district (Provincia
di Pistoia, 2006) (Figure 6).

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Figure 6: Floriculture in greenhouses in Pistoia

Source: Own pictures, 2016
Overall, the evolution and the future expansion trends of the entire ornamental sector
are closely linked with the processes of globalization. Therefore, what happens at the local
level (i.e. Pistoia) largely depends upon the trends of multiple global, European and national
markets. This is particularly true for the floriculture sector since flowers can be easily
exported (Belletti et al., 2007).
Italy is one of the top producers of flowers and plants in Europe, with more than 15% of
the flower production and 14% of the ornamental plant production. Furthermore, Italy is a
net exporter of these products especially in Europe, in the amount of 25% of the value of its
entire annual nursery and flower production (Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and
Forestry Policies, 2014). For these reasons, the trend of the European industry of ornamental
plants exerts a large influence on the Italian sector.
In Italy, during the ‘90s and ‘80s, the ornamental sector saw an economic boom and
registered a positive trend both for flowers and nurseries. At the end of the ‘90s, this

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tendency becomes divergent: Although nursery products in Italy and especially in Tuscany
followed a positive trend, the floriculture sector started to manifest severe difficulties (Figure
7 and 8).
Figure 7: Evolution of the flower production (millions of euros at current prices)

Source: ISMEA, 2005
Figure 8: Evolution of production of trees and small bushes (millions of euros at current prices)
Source: Elaboration of ISMEA on the basis of ISTAT
The latter was due to the effects of a reduction of the demand for “luxury goods”, which
includes flower products, and to the market dynamics caused by the effects of globalization.

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Indeed, the whole Italian floriculture sector showed a constant decrease in demand both for
flowers and nursery products, which was accentuated due to the European economic crisis
of 2008-2012.
From the supply side, the effects of globalization such as the competition among global
producers contributed to the reduction of floriculture product prices. Furthermore, in Italy,
the production costs remained steady or increased over time. This was reflected by the entire
industry in Pistoia, which witnessed a considerable decrease in the number of producers, and
land surface as well as in capital investments (Environmental researcher; Italian Ministry of
Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, 2014) (Figure 9 and 10).
Figure 9: Trend in Pistoia’s land extension from 1990 to 2010

Source: ISTAT, 2013
Figure 10: Number of firms in the sector from 1990 to 2010

Source: ISTAT, 2013

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Current estimates, however, underline that for the first time in decades, the total
production value of floriculture is slowly recovering in Italy and the export is increasing again
both in quantity and in quality (De Giorgi, 2015). This is also true for Tuscany (Luccaindiretta,
2016).
The agricultural sector exerts an important effect on environmental problems especially
when exercised at high levels of intensity and specialization. In Pistoia, the level of
agricultural intensification through greenhouse cultivation is closely and directly linked with
the floricultural and nursery sector. Over time, the intense, rapid and unsustainable
exploitation of environmental resources led to several problems determined by three major
factors of environmental pressure: The elevated use of surface and ground water for
irrigation; the elevated use of pesticides and fertilizers which increases contamination risk
for surface and ground water; and the increase in the use of plastic coverage materials which
limits water infiltration and consequently the replenishment of ground water (Casini et al.,
2012; Daniele et al., 2011; Belletti et al., 2007; Provincia di Pistoia, 1997; ARPAT 2001).

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3.4 Study area 2: Province of Agadir – Souss Massa Draâ region - Morocco
The city of Agadir (30°26’N 9°36’W) is located in the North-West part of the Souss-Massa
region, in the southwest of Morocco. Agadir is part of the Agadir-Ida Ou Tanane prefecture
and the capital of the Souss-Massa region (Figure 5).
It overlooks the Atlantic Ocean at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of where
the Sous river meets the ocean. The entire region has a total area of 51,642 km2 and the
territory is characterized by three main plains: The Souss plain (4,500 km2), the Chtouka plain
(1,260 km2) and the Tiznit plain (1,200km2) (Gwillim, 2015; Redouane et al., 2015). Elevation
ranges from sea level to 700m asl in the plain (Bouchaou et al., 2011). The climate is
Mediterranean: Arid to semi-arid, characterized by hot and dry summers, mild winters and
yearly average temperatures that vary from 14 to 22,2°C (Institutt, 2016). Especially in
summer the humidity is generally low but increases during the morning and in the night. This
particular climate is conferred by the presence of the High-Atlas Mountains on the north, the
Anti-Atlas Mountains on the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. Precipitation is
very low and irregular, ranging from 250mm in the plain to 600mm in the mountains with
most precipitation occurring in December and the least in July (Baroud, 2002). The area we
are considering, the extremities of which are surrounded by the Atlas Mountains, runs along
a wide and flat basin called the Souss-Massa basin, which contains the largest and most
important groundwater supply of the entire region. From a geological point of view, the soil
composition is highly diversified and characterized by sand, sandstone and silt with generally
little clay and humus (Tagma et al., 2009). Also, the composition of the soil has high pH values,
with scarce organic material and fertilizing elements.

26
Figure 5: Overview map of greenhouses nearly 20 kilometers South of Agadir
3.5 Horticultural production
For some horticultural products, such as tomatoes and citrus fruits, Morocco is
considered one of most important producers and exporters worldwide. (FAOSTAT, 2011; EC,
2015).
Within Morocco, the Souss-Massa region with the Souss-Massa plain, is one of the
largest and most intensive agricultural productive areas for horticultural products. The
majority of today’s export production from Morocco and North Africa is concentrated in this
area (about 95% of Morocco’s total exports) (Sippel, 2015).
Only in recent years did Souss-Massa start to play an important agricultural role. Before
the 1940s, the land in this area could not support any type of agriculture, due to scarce
rainfall and an absence of efficient irrigation methods (UNEP, 2008). After Morocco became
independent from France in 1956, a renewed effort was directed toward the establishment
of an irrigated agricultural production in areas such as the Souss plain, with the purpose of
maximizing agricultural growth and promoting export crops (Swearingen, 1988; UKessays,
2015). To support this plan, in the 1970s the King of Morocco endorsed the construction of a
large system of infrastructure and water reservoirs in order to irrigate more than 18,000
hectares of land in the plain (UNEP, 2008). Such measures allowed a steady increase in land

27
dedicated mainly to horticultural products such as tomatoes, bananas and citrus fruits
(Codron et al., 2014; Sippel, 2015).
The first greenhouse was introduced during the 1970s, but it was not until the 1990s
that greenhouse cultivation become the most common method of agricultural production in
the area. Nowadays, greenhouses cover a substantial portion of the plain’s cropland, mostly
producing vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and bananas (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Bananas growing in greenhouses in Souss-Massa, Agadir

Between 1998 and 2009, the agricultural sector in the Souss plain realized the highest
regional agricultural value in Morocco. Today, the sector holds the highest per capita GDP of
Morocco and it is playing a key role in the economic development of the Souss region (Du
Maroc, 2011).

28
Every year, this region produces about 1.2 million vegetables, such as 800,000 tons of
tomatoes (Apefel(a), 2012; ORMVA/SM, 2013). This accounts for 65% of national tomato
production and 80% of national greenhouse production (Codron et al., 2014, EACCE 2012).
Almost 90% of national vegetable exports originate from this region and between 50
and 60% of the tomatoes produced here are exported to Europe, which accounts for about
85-90% of Moroccan exports (FAOSTAT, 2013; Apefel, 2013; Sippel, 2015; Ait El Mekki and
Ghanmat, 2015).
Today, increasing the export of vegetables and fruits, in quantity and quality, largely
depends upon greenhouse cultivations. These increase the productivity of cropland, also with
an all year production, including winter.
According to recent data, the amount of land dedicated to greenhouses in Morocco
accelerated in the last decades, passing from 3,316 ha in 1990 to 7,223 ha in 2000, up to
about 12,800 ha in 2012 (Figure 12).
As far as tomatoes are concerned, although the land dedicated to agriculture has
diminished, the production remained constantly high over time. This is a consequence of an
increase in the productivity of tomatoes per cultivated hectare (EACCE 2013) (Figure 13). This
is also true in the Souss region since, although the number of hectares of open field
cultivations remained the same between 2010 and 2012, the number of hectares of
greenhouse cultivation did largely increase (Apefel(b), 2012) (Figure 14).
As for tomato exports, these all come from greenhouse cultivation, with an export value
that reached almost 400 million dollars (Figure 15).
In Souss-Massa, there was 5,500 ha of tomato cultivation in greenhouses. Overall, the
Souss-region represents more than 60% of greenhouse cultivation in Morocco with 7,986 ha
in 2015 (Hirich et al., 2015).

29
Figure 12: Hectares/greenhouses years from 1985 to 2012

Source: ORMVA/SM, 2013
Figure 13: Development of the area and production of tomatoes from 2008 to 2013
Source: Ministere de l’Economie et des Finances, 2014

30
Figure 14: Tons of tomatoes exported from Morocco in quantity from 1990 to 2011
Source: FAOSTAT, 2011
Figure 15: Value in thousand dollars from 1990 to 2011

Source: FAOSTAT, 2011
As far as the banana is concerned, Morocco is the World’s largest greenhouse producer
with about 4,500 hectares (98% of the entire production) that are highly concentrated in the
Souss-Massa plain (60 to 70% of the total production) (Gubbuk and Pekmezci, 2004;
Boubaker et al., 2008).
Introduced during the 1980s, the production of bananas started to increase especially
during the 1990s, going from 5 ha in 1982 to over 3,000 ha in 1993 (El-Otmani et al., 1998).
Today, this production serves the national market, and therefore largely depends on it. The

31
total production is about 300,000 tons every year and the trend is increasing on average
6.76% (FAOSTAT, 2013). However, in comparison with tomatoes, the grow of yield per unit
of cultivated area is much lower.
In Souss-Massa the level of agricultural intensification is directly linked with the trends
in the horticultural sector, and greenhouse cultivation is part of that trend. Over time in this
area, the intense, rapid and unsustainable exploitation of environmental resources led to the
emergence of several problems. These are determined by three major factors of
environmental pressure: the elevated use of superficial and deep aquifer water for irrigation
(Lavieeco, 2010); the elevated use of pesticides and fertilizers to eliminate fungal diseases
(Salghi et al., 2012; Tagma et al., 2009), which increases contamination risks for superficial
and groundwater system; and the massive use of plastic coverage materials. This has two
consequences: limiting water infiltration and consequently the replenishment of aquifer
water, and generating waste and greenhouse residues that remain scattered on the
surrounding landscape (Figure 16).
Figure 16: Greenhouse plastic waste around Souss plain


32
Table 1: Summary of the current and expected trends in Pistoia and Agadir

33
3.6 Socio-economic characteristics of farmers
This section describes the roles of the key socio-economic characteristics of farmers,
and how these influence the decision whether or not to establish a greenhouse cultivation,
as well as to eventually invest in solving the related environmental problems.
Growing a product in a greenhouse means adopting a technology that allows farmers
to enhance both the quality and quantity of crop production, at a more intense level than a
normal open crop field system (Mwangi, 2012). Various factors can influence the use of
technology, and many of them also influence the choice to install greenhouse technology
(Giacomelli et al., 2007). According to Bonabana-Wabbi (2002), factors range from
government policies, technological change, market forces, environmental concerns,
demographic factors, institutional factors and delivery mechanisms. Currently, there are
many ways to classify factors influencing technology choice and many studies in the field
adopt a selection of factors based on the needs of the researcher (Bonabana-Wabbi, 2002).
Several studies on the implementation of greenhouse technology attribute the choice of this
production system to multiple socio-economic and institutional characteristics of farmers
(Kurgat, 2013; Mwangi, 2012). In our case, this research considered the following set of
factors: Farm size, the age of the farm manager, education level, income, access to land, and
group membership. Within this analysis, all the factors were weighted with equal
importance. However, the relevance of each factor may vary as their correlation with the
decision to implement a greenhouse technology is not often clear (Nchinda et al., 2010;
Tiamiyu et al., 2009).
Additionally, the socio-economic characteristics of farmers may also act as an incentive
or a disincentive toward the likelihood of investing to solve environmental problems related
to greenhouse production. This section seeks to assess the farmer’s attitude toward
environmental-friendly practices as an important factor that can mediate the environmental
impact of a greenhouse production system (Kristensen et al., 2004; van Vliet et al., 2015).
Farm size or household size - Farm size is the total cropland divided by the total number
of farms.
At the empirical level, the overall role of farm size in the adoption of new technology
has not always been clear. While some studies found positive correlations between farm size
and technology adoption (Anik and Salam, 2015; Mauceri et al., 2005), others did not (Yaron
et al., 1992). For instance, Mauceri et al (2005) found that large households adopt new

34
technologies more frequently than smaller households. Other studies revealed that the
differences in farm size can also explain why new technologies are adopted at different
speeds (Bonabana-Wabbi, 2002; Gabre-Madhin and Haggblade, 2003).
Divergent results mainly occur as the role of farm size affects and are in turn affected
by several variables (Bonabana-Wabbi, 2002). In this sense, the farmer’s attitudes towards
risks between investing “traditional and modern technology play a large role in determining
the role of farm size in technology adoption.” (Just and Zilberman, 1983, p. 325).
Age of the farm manager - The age of the farm manager represents a factor which can
both positively and negatively influence the adoption of greenhouse technology (Mwangi,
2012; Tiamiyu et al., 2009).
The age factor is usually linked with other factors such as experience in farming and
economic status as well as the level of education, lifestyle and social position. For instance,
less experienced younger farmers are usually more willing to adopt new technologies (i.e.
protected cultivation) as they could be more willing to take risks than an older farmer with
greater experience in farming. However, younger generations of farmers may not have the
possibility of investing an initial significant sum of money in comparison with older farmers
(Mwangi, 2012). The age factor thus essentially depends upon the aforementioned factors.
Education level of the farm manager - When the education level improves, the farmer
has more development capabilities, putting into practice or accessing new farming
technologies (Abdulai and Huffman, 2005). The education level improves when both the
quality of educational systems and the ability to access them increase.
In case of greenhouse technology, a higher level of farmer education serves as a crucial
factor in reducing the perceived complexity of this system and thereby increasing its
adoption (Bonabana-Wabbi, 2002). Although in the Mediterranean area greenhouse
technology is generally less complex, still the adoption of a more profitable and improved
greenhouses systems will likely depend on education level (Mwangi, 2012).
Income of the farm manager - A few studies seems to find a positive correlation
between the income level of farms and the tendency to adopt greenhouse technology
(Mwangi, 2012). Usually, as the income of the farm manager increases, the probability of
adopting greenhouse technology grows. To start a greenhouse farm, an initial sizeable
investment is needed. In this regard, the availability of credit, as well as its accessibility, is
also necessary (De Pascale et al., 2006).
Access to land - Land access may be through land ownership or land use rights (Sippel,
2015). Land access can influence the decision to adopt greenhouse technology. For instance,

35
when the land is leased the profits are lower and this can reduce the attractiveness of this
technology.
Group membership - A group membership is a farmer’s group where individual farmers
share ideas with the purpose of enhancing their performances in agriculture and improving
their welfare (Mwaura, 2014). It can be also a means to increase cooperation among farmers
(Loevinsohn, 1994). Such a group approach can be crucial in enabling farmers to start,
improve or increase the implementation of technologies such as greenhouse systems, as well
as helping them deal with related problems.
Farmer’s attitudes toward the environment - The farmer’s attitude toward
environmental-friendly practices may also act as an incentive or a disincentive toward the
likelihood of investing to solve environmental problems related to greenhouse production.
3.7 Policy framework for greenhouses
Political driving forces such as policies, laws, and agreements influence decisions about
accepting greenhouse farming systems because laws and regulations provide the basic
framework for making these decisions.
This research does not consider how policies for greenhouse cultivation originate,
although it is possible to recognize that the initial political decision to accept greenhouse
production systems depends on economic and societal needs expressed through political
driving forces (Bürgi et al., 2004).
Policies for greenhouse farming not only influence the initial decision of the farmer but
also aim to regulate the development of greenhouse cultivation in space and time (Kurgat,
2013). Government policies can enhance or hinder the future expansion of greenhouse
farming: For instance, by subsidizing farming inputs to reduce the cost of production or,
conversely, through discouraging production by applying a tax rate.
Political driving forces may also help to limit or avoid (or not) environmental
consequences of greenhouses. A state or a local government can intervene through a policy
response which can encourage or discourage local cultivators to act against a negative
externality.

37
4 Results – Socio-economic characteristics of farmers
4.1 Farm size or household size
Pistoia
In recent decades, the average agricultural farm size sharply increased in Italy, reaching
almost 8 hectares on average (ISTAT, 2013).
In Italy, unlike Morocco, the floricultural sector is less imbalanced; nevertheless, 90% of
farms are less than 5 ha and represent 58% of the entire territory while units larger than 5
ha represent 11% of all farms and make up 40% of the entire territory (Table 2).
Additionally, 70% of farmers with less than 5 ha of land cultivate between 0 and 2 ha.
Within this class of utile agricultural area covered, the majority of farmers also cultivate by
means of greenhouses (ISTAT, 2000).
The average farm size in the floricultural sector is 0.8 ha, while for the nursery sector
2.2 ha is the national average. Overall, the trend in farm size has differed for the floriculture
and nursery sectors in Italy. While for floriculture farm dimension has remained constant
over the years, for the ornamental plant and nursery sector, households have increased in
size (ISMEA, 2011). This is especially true for Tuscany and Pistoia. From the beginning of the
twenty-first century, the floricultural and nursery sector started a process of downsizing with
enlargement of the farm sizes which were better integrated into the market and the loss of
the smaller and weaker ones. In percentage, although the utile agricultural area covered
decreased, a larger and more consistent number of farms closed over the 1990-2010 period
(ISTAT, 2013). Farm size has increased for the nursery sector while, for floriculture, farm size
has remained steady over time. (Environmental researcher and policy expert) Overall, in
Pistoia’s province, 80% of greenhouse cultivation are between 1 and 2 hectares (ISTAT, 2013).
Number of farms 14,093
Utile agricultural area covered
12,724 ha
(UAA)
Farm size %farms %area
Farm size from 0 - 1 ha 51% 19%
Farm size smaller than 5 ha 89% 58%
Farm size larger than 100 ha 0,20% 3%
Table 2: Ornamental plants and flowers in Italy, 2010

38
Source: ISTAT, 2013
Agadir
In Morocco, the average size of farms is about 2 ha and 70% of farmers, around 600,000
units, work farms that are less than 5 ha (Table 3).
Number of farms 1,496,349

Utile agricultural area covered
8,7 million ha
(UAA)
Farm size %farms %area
Farm size smaller than 5 ha 71% 24%
Farm size larger than 100 ha 0,21% 9%
Table 3: Structure of the agricultural sector in Morocco

Source: Hassan, 2007
Despite representing less than 4% of the workforce, farmers with more than 20 ha
appropriated a third of the total UAA. Similarly, farmers with more than 100 ha represent
0.2% of the workforce and hold 9% of the UAA. This means that although small farmers with
less than 5 ha are the majority in Morocco, they hold a small proportion of total cropland.
Most of Moroccan cropland belongs to large and medium-high corporate farmers. These
latter have larger infrastructures, with the capability of producing extensively for
international markets. They have greater access to credit as well as more propensity to
undertake investments in modernization which increases production (Hassan, 2007).
Between 1974 and 1996, the medium-high farm size increased on average while small
farms with less than 5 ha witnessed a steady decrease in area. A hypothesis is that the
reduction of the size of the small farms has been due to the increase of population (Ghanem,
2015).
In 2008 the average cropland per farmer in the Souss-Massa region was 4.6 hectares for
open air crop land and 12.0 plus 3.9 hectares of greenhouses for a common greenhouse
farmer (Sippel, 2015). For the export tomato sector, the average greenhouse farm is 54 ha,
indicating that the majority of export tomato farms are large corporate farms (Codron et al.,
2014).

39
4.2 Age of the farm manager
Pistoia
In Italy, almost half of all the farmer-managers are between 55 and 74 years old (ISTAT,
2013). On average, the majority who own a greenhouse cultivation are more than 40 years
old, and the largest age-class with greenhouse production is more than 65 years old. The
latest censuses show that these figures changed little between 2000 and 2010, with only an
increase in the number of greenhouse farmers between 40 and 50 years of age (ISTAT, 2013;
ISTAT 2000).
In Pistoia, almost half of the farmer-managers are between 55 and 74 years old: 25%
are between 40 and 50 years of age and 20% are over 75. The number of young farmers
remained steady in Pistoia until 2010, but in the latest 5 years there has been a generational
change and more young farmers entered agriculture in Pistoia (Environmental researcher
and policy expert).
Agadir
In the last ten years, the young population employed in the rural areas has steadily
decreased in Morocco: population in the 15-45 age group decreased while that in the 45-60
age group increased sharply, along with the inactive population (Ministere de l'Economie et
des Finances, 2013). As this trend suggests, younger generations will continue to move
toward urban areas in the near future, while middle-aged people will likely remain in rural
areas, maintaining or changing their farming activity.
The Souss region is also witnessing a similar trend. The average age for farmers is slightly
above 50 years. More specifically, it’s 50.4 years on average for an open crop field farmer
and 51.1 years for a greenhouse farmer (Sippel, 2015). Another important phenomenon
which needs adequate consideration is that in Souss-Massa there is a category of young
entrepreneurs investing in greenhouses, who come from outside the Souss region.

40
4.3 Education level of the farm manager
Pistoia
According to ISTAT, in Italy between 2000 and 2010, education level has largely
improved in rural areas. Although there are one million fewer farms, there has been a strong
increase in farmer-managers with degrees.
In Pistoia, the education level in agriculture is above the national average. Between
2000 and 2010 there has been a large general improvement in the level of education (Table
4).
No Elementary Primary Secondary Agrarian Agrarian

University
title school school school secondary university
Year 2000 3,9 54 20 14,2 2,2 4 0,3
Year 2010 1,5 35 32,4 20,3 4,2 6 0,7
Table 4: Percentage of farm-manager education level in Pistoia 2000-2013

Source: ISTAT (2000 and 2013)
In comparison to the 1980s, when young farm managers mostly finished primary school
only, a generational change has occurred and today the younger farmers completed
secondary school as a standard level. In addition, several young farmers who remained in
agriculture also obtained a degree in agrarian subjects. From the 1990s until today, the
general level of education and knowledge in agriculture has improved and this trend is
thought to be increasing in the future (Environmental researcher and policy expert).
Agadir
Morocco is expanding access to education in rural areas: The number of children who
are attending primary, secondary schools and universities is steadily rising (Ait El Mekki and
Ghanmat, 2015; Ministere de l'Economie et des Finances, 2013). However, the overall quality
of education remains low and unsatisfactory in rural areas for economic or cultural reasons
(Ghanem, 2015).
In Souss-Massa, between 15 and 22% of farm heads (who own a greenhouse) have a
university education, while more than 70% of farm managers (who lead the workforce) have
a university education (Codron et al., 2014). Such data is consistent with greenhouse farmers

41
in Souss that own large productions and hold a high degree of education (often in agricultural
engineering) (Chemnitz, 2005; Sippel, 2015).
4.4 Income of the farm manager
Pistoia
In 2012 in Tuscany the average GDP per capita was above the Italian average, amounting
to € 28,100. Currently, Pistoia city has the highest average GDP per capita (€ 13,382)
compared to the other provinces of Pistoia. In the latter, agricultural income has diminished
in recent years although this trend is not clearly observable, due to the existence of a
substantial informal economy. What is noticeable is that in recent years and in conjunction
with the introduction of the euro currency, the cost of raw materials has increased whereas
the prices of the finished products have fallen or remained constant. As a result, the profit
margin has decreased, as has farm income in Pistoia (Environmental researcher and policy
expert).
Agadir
In the Souss-Massa region, the average level of income is one of the highest in Morocco.
In 2009, the region registered a GDP per capita of 2,106 € on average (Du Maroc, 2011), with
an annual average increase of 3.6% between 2001 and 2008. Currently, for an average
household, the monthly income is 480 €, as compared to 350 € in rural areas. In the latter
areas, 41% of the income comes from farming activities. In regards with other important
indicators, such as the Annual Average Expenditure per Household (AAEH) and the Annual
Average Expenditure per Person (AAEP), the registered trend has been more than positive,
especially for rural areas (Ait El Mekki and Ghanmat, 2015). Although it remains one of the
highest in Morocco, the poverty rate in Souss-Massa is currently falling in rural areas
(Ministere de l'Economie et des Finances, 2010; IMF, 2013). In spite of that, it is worth noting
that the level of income inequality in the country and in the region is still high and increasing
(Ait El Mekki and Ghanmat, 2015; Bouoiyour et al., 2014).
On average, a greenhouse farmer earns more than an open crop field farmer and the
latter usually struggle to access to credit. In the last ten years, investment was ten times
higher for a large-scale greenhouse farm than for a common open crop field (Sippel, 2015;
Houdret, 2012).

42
4.5 Access to land
Pistoia
In 2000, there was 90% of private land property (16,254 farms), whereas, in 2013, 73%
was privately owned (6,895 farms surveyed). Additionally, leased land was 2.5% in 2000,
whereas in 2010 this figure was 6.3% (ISTAT, 2000; ISTAT, 2013). This latter figure is especially
true for the nursery sector which witnessed an increase in leased land in recent years.
Furthermore, the cost of land has diminished. As the floricultural sector is still experiencing
economic difficulties in Pistoia, the cost of land is lower than in the previous ten years
(Environmental researcher).
Agadir
In Agadir, 54% of land is privately owned while 70% of the farmers own at least a part
of their land (SUSTAINMED, 2012). Within the Souss-Massa region, there is a large
difference in land access between farmers engaged in open crop field agriculture and
farmers who produce with greenhouses. While the former has on average access to only
between 3.6 and 8.1 hectares of land, the latter has use of about 16.8 hectares (Sippel,
2015).
In a wide part of the region, there is restricted access to land because of an unclear
ownership structure with the absence of land property titles. In addition, the price of the
land has increased greatly over time (Houdret, 2012). Thus, leased land is expected to
increase in Souss-Massa soon.
4.6 Group membership
Pistoia
The tendency for cooperation among farmers is increasing in Pistoia.

Most direct cultivators are part of a few cooperatives such as “Toscoflora” in Tuscany.
These cooperatives operate as a second market channel to commercialize the production.
Besides the direct commercialization, in which the production is directly sold in one of the
regional markets, cooperatives work as intermediaries between the farmers and the buyers.
Normally, farmers in Pistoia produce independently without sharing their strategic and
individual knowledge, trying to maintain a direct relationship with their clients. They usually

43
decide to use cooperative systems as a means of support in case they see they have scarcity
of production (Greenhouse farmer and policy expert).
Agadir
Overall, producer organizations and cooperatives in Morocco are still weak and unable
to help and support small landholders. The government needs to increase support all of these
membership groups of farmers in the future (Ghanem, 2015; Sippel, 2015). However, the
structure of the Moroccan tomato export sector is highly integrated. The majority of
greenhouse growers (59%) are organized in farmer cooperatives that are very efficient to
help farmers in the marketing process (SUSTAINMED, 2012; Chenmitz, 2005).
4.7 Farmer’s attitudes toward the environment
Pistoia
Overall, the farmer’s attitudes toward the environment have improved in Pistoia. There
is much more care taken because of the laws: For instance, the control of the use of pesticides
and fertilizers is mandatory. Also, public opinion is taking a serious part in public debates in
Italian media. For example, the recent decision whether or not to extend the nursery licenses
provoked a strong public negative reaction with regards to the use of chemical pesticides due
to health risks to farmers and the general population. Afterwards, these substances can have
high negative costs in terms of water and ground contamination. Finally, there is increased
attention towards the excessive exploitation of ground water in the area (Environmental
researcher). However, it is important to notice that farmer’s attitudes still prioritize
opportunity costs considerations before considering the environmental sustainability
dimension (Greenhouse farmer).
Agadir
In Morocco, there has been a growing awareness in attitudes toward the environment
in recent years thanks to a general improvement of the level of education, especially among
younger generations. Furthermore, the level of control undertaken by environmental
agencies has increased, especially in limiting issues of pollution caused by black plastic
residues from greenhouses and the intense use of pesticides, with water contamination
(Environmental researcher).

44
Greenhouse
farmer's Pistoia's province Agadir's province
characteristics
Future
Future
Current trend expected Current trend
expected trend
trend
Increase for
Small: 80% of the nursery sector
large: 54 ha on
Farm size total farms are while steady Increase
average
smaller than 2 ha trend for
floriculture
Increase of Increase of
Age of the farm More than 40 young 51,1 years on young foreing
manager years on average greenhouse average greenhouse
owners owners
Between 15 and 22%
of farm heads and
Education level Almost 30% have
more than 70% of
of the farm secondary school Increasing Increasing
farm managers
manager or university title
have a university
education
Income of the Increasing (also
High on average Decreasing High on average
farm manager inequality)
54% private land
Access to 73% private land
Decreasing property. Large Stable
land/ land tenure property
access to land
Group
Low on average Increasing High on average Increasing
Membership
Actions taken to
comply with
Increasing,
environmental
Farmer's Mostly to comply thanks to
legislation but
attitudes toward Increasing with environmental general
farmer's attitudes
the environment legislation improvement of
based on cost-
education
opportunity
considerations
Table 5: Brief summary of current and future expected trend of greenhouse farmer’s
characteristics

45
5 Results - Policy framework for greenhouses
5.1 Policy framework for greenhouses – Pistoia
This research analyzes political driving forces for protected cultivation in Pistoia
following two main levels of policy frameworks (Table 6).
Regional European
institutional institutional
Time line Brief description
framework - Laws framework - Funding
and regulation mechanisms
Rules related to
Before 1990 LR 10/ 1979
agricultural areas
European Agricultural
Rules for the Guarantee Fund
LR 10/ 1979
government of the (EAGF)
Between 1990 - 2007 LR 5/ 1995
territory and
LR 1/ 2005
agricultural areas
Rules for the
Between 2007 - 2013 LR 1/ 2005 government of the
European Agricultural
territory
Fund for Rural
Rules for the
Development (EAFRD)
Between 2013 - 2020 LR 65/ 2014 government of the
territory
Table 6: Policy framework greenhouse cultivation – European and National (regional) –Pistoia –
Italy
The first level concerns the legislative and regulative processes that discipline the
greenhouse implementation and management at the regional level (Tuscany) and the local
level (Pistoia).
From the establishment of the Tuscany Region in 1970 (Luca, 2001), the entire
legislative discipline of greenhouse cultivation is regulated by Tuscan Regional Law 10 of 1979
(LR 10/79) and subsequent modifications. The Law regulates urban landscape planning and
rules related to agricultural areas; Article 7 sets out which technical parameters need to be
respected for the establishment of greenhouses (LR 10/79, 1979).
According to the Regional Law, the Provinces of Tuscany and the single municipalities
are required to implement the “Piani Regolatori Generali” (PGRs). These are ten year urban
plans that define and regulate the use of agricultural territories. For the Regional Law of 1979
(and subsequent modifications) these PGRs also administrate and regulate the local use and

46
disposal of greenhouses. As a result, while the framework and technical parameters of

greenhouses are common to all the Tuscany region, the implementation and the specific
territorial planning for greenhouse cultivation is done at the municipal level. Accordingly, for
example, there are some areas and municipalities where the use of greenhouses has been
prohibited (e.g. Chiesina Uzzanese, province of Pistoia) since it was held that the floricultural
and nursery cultivation under greenhouses could have a strong visual impact on Tuscany’s
rural landscape.
A second level of political driving forces for protected cultivation is the European
institutional framework.
Through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU is able to allocate funds and
therefore financial incentives toward rural areas. Within the CAP, agricultural funds are
provided by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), instituted in 1962 and
followed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in 2005.
Within all the regions in Italy, the EAGF and the EAFRD funds are managed by the Rural
Development Programs (RDPs) which are five-year rural development programs that, among
other functions, finances direct payments to farmers.
According to a policy expert, the Tuscan Regional Law of 1979 and subsequent
modifications are often made in agreement with the RDPs (Policy expert). For instance, the
LR 10/79 distinguished between two types of greenhouses, fixed or seasonal. The fixed
greenhouse requires a construction permit which is more expensive and therefore is less
common in the district of Pistoia. For the seasonal greenhouse, which may stay on the ground
for 2 years, the latest Regional Law of 2014 (LR 65/2014) introduced the possibility of
extending this period for more than 2 subsequent years (LR 65/2014, 2014). Interestingly,
since the 2014-2020 RDP only provides funding to cover the farmer’s purchase of equipment
and materials for the implementation of greenhouses that are at least 5 years’ old, the
legislator (with the LR 65/2014) gave priority to the needs of the farmers.
Nevertheless, the RDP of Tuscany tends to prioritize its financial incentives toward
agricultural sectors which are considered to be in difficulty or agricultural activities in
disadvantaged areas (Policy expert). The floricultural and nursery sectors with greenhouses
in flat areas do not have territorial disadvantages and, since it is considered a high-income
activity, there are difficulties in obtaining these funds. These companies rarely receive funds.
Furthermore, with the “Pacchetto Giovani 2015”, although the possibility of receiving funds
was conceived for young farmers that want to purchase and install mobile and fixed

47
greenhouses, the system of points assigned too low a score to floriculture and the nursery
sectors, thereby limiting the possibility of receiving these funds (Policy expert).
According to an environmental researcher, the RDP system has mostly awarded large
farmers. During the economic crisis, large farms were able to remain in the market more
easily than small ones. In addition, the entrance of young farmers, substituting head farmers
of large farms, could have provided access to more funds with their participation in the PSRs.
This led the large farmers to improve their market position and to receive even more funds
from the subsequent RDP tenders. Consequently, this mechanism has increased the
mobilization of funds mostly toward large farms in recent years (Environmental researcher).
Another important mechanism in obtaining European funds in agriculture (also for
greenhouses) is the Progetti integrati di Filiera (PIF) (Integrated Supply Chain Project). These
projects aggregated a number of actors who are part of an agricultural sector, permitting the
activation of a series of operations under the RDPs: For instance, access to business
investment funds and promotion of new technologies. Within the PIFs these actors need to
be linked together by a solid relationship of trust. These can be valid instruments to favor
processes of consolidation and of reorganization of the floricultural and nursery sectors.
However, although for the nursery sectors a few PIFs have been established, in the
floricultural sector these projects have not yet been activated due to the lack of spirit of
cooperation among this type of farmers (Policy expert).
5.2 Policy framework for environmental issues – Pistoia
The recent Italian agricultural policy for environmental sustainability can be seen as an
adaptation of the environmental policy of the CAP which in 1999, through the Helsinki
European Council, integrated its environmental dimension and strategy including objectives
for water, land use and soil, climate change and air quality, landscape and biodiversity
(Arovuori et al., 2015).
Within the CAP, the second pillar aims to support structural and rural development at
the national level, essentially through implementing environmental policies by means of the
RDPs. Through the RPDs, the Italian government provides financial incentives to the regions
and municipalities that want to apply sustainable environmental farming practices, thus also
encouraging farmers to improve their environmental sustainability standards. In Italy, since
the national environmental policy is not mandatory (Biasetti, 2013), in practical terms, RPDs
are considered the most effective procedure to incentivize environmental policies for

48
floriculture and the nursery sector from the national to the local levels (Provincia di Pistoia,
2006). However, in the previous RDP (2000-2006) and in the RDP for 2007-2013, a great deal
of specific actions in favor of the floriculture and nursery sectors have not been foreseen.
Besides, national legislation is also playing an important role in safeguarding natural
resources and encouraging a more sustainable approach in agriculture. The Italian normative
framework derives almost exclusively from European legislation (Italian Ministry of
Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, 2014) (Table 7).
National
Environmental Legilatory Brief
Brief description legislatory
issues provision EU description
provision
2000/ 60/ CE Water framework DL 152/ 2006 Environmental
Water
directive regulations
2009/ 128/ CE Framework to DL 150/ 2012 Italian version of
achieve a the EU
Pesticides
sustainable normative
use of pesticides framework
91/ 676/ CEE Protection of DL 152/ 99 Italian version of
waters against the norm of the
Fertilizers pollution caused by EU
nitrates from
agricultural sources
UNI EN 1303- Normative UNI EN 13031/ 2004 Italian version of
1/ 2001 framework that the EU
regulates the normative
design and framework
standardizes the
construction of
Greenhouse greenhouses in
plastic films Europe
EN 13206/ 2001 Establishes the EN 13206/ 2002 Italian version of
characteristics and the norm of the
requirements of EU
certified plastic
films
Table 7: Policy framework for environmental protection in agriculture – Italy
5.2.1 Use of water for irrigation
Following the 2000 European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE) and the 1991
Nitrates Directive (91/676/CEE), the Italian Government adopted Law Decree n°152/2006. As
a result, in Pistoia, various public policy measures have been proposed to reduce agricultural
water usage, both at the demand and supply level (Casini et al., 2012; Daniele et al., 2011;
Provincia di Pistoia, 2006). These policies (such as a price policy for water usage) may prove

49
to be very important in encouraging farmers to adopt a more efficient use of water. However,
these measures have not yet been adopted in Tuscany. For instance, farmers still pay a yearly
fixed tax for water use, which obviously does not incentivize water-saving. As a matter of
fact, a policy proposal to install water counter systems in agriculture is still under evaluation
in Tuscany. Moreover, although the funds provided with the 2007-2013 RDP incentivized the
change from irrigation systems with high water consumption to systems with low water
consumption, such as drip irrigation systems, the subsequent RDP (2014-2020) does not
provide any form of water-saving incentives.
Although the farmer’s attitudes toward water saving is improving (Casini et al., 2012),
current water policies do not efficiently encourage water saving programs (Policy expert).
5.2.2 Use of pesticides
The use of pesticides in Pistoia has decreased massively due to concern for worker
health and risks related to soil pollution. The European policy that has been applied in Italy
is based on Law Decrees 35/2004 and 152/2006, which introduced a restrictive policy with
regard to the quantity and to the typology of products used. This is especially true in the
floriculture and nursery sectors in Pistoia, which are highly dependent on the use of
pesticides and phytosanitary products.
Today, there is a good degree of awareness among farmers in Pistoia. The policy
instrument of “Lotta Integrata” aims to contain the use of pesticides, and to avoid the use of
specific dangerous products. Furthermore, the “Piano d’Azione Nazionale” (PAN) introduced
the obligatory use of phytosanitary licenses for farmers as well as a plan for monitoring and
limiting the use of these substances (Policy researcher).
5.2.3 Use of fertilizers
The Italian legislation and especially the floriculture and nursery sectors have slowly
adopted the EU Law 91/76 of 1991. In Italy, DL 152/99 and DL 152/2006 provided for the
possibility to set out guidelines in order to construct programs that include prohibitions on
the use of fertilizers as well as regulations for their use and storage (Brunori and Bozzoli,
2004). These norms and regulations are considered effective in handling this issue
(Greenreport, 2013). In addition, the ARPAT (Tuscan regional agency for environmental
protection) is scrupulously monitoring fertilizer use (ARPAT, 2013).

50
5.2.4 Greenhouse plastic waste
Currently, the EN 1303-1 norm (2001) is the normative framework that regulates the
design and standardizes the construction of greenhouses in Europe. In Italy, this regulation
has been adapted with the EN 13031 norm (2004). Of particular importance is the UNI
13206:2002 norm, which establishes the characteristics and requirements of certified plastic
films. In accordance with this norm, the recycling and reuse potential of the plastic film must
be considered by the farmer in order not to cause environmental damage. Nevertheless, the
removal and subsequent recycling of this material is very expensive both economically (the
farmer has to pay a high recycling tax) and for the environment (use of water to clean the
plastic before recycling). Furthermore, as described by a local farmer, the use of
biodegradable plastic material, which is widely commercialized today, is still not common in
the Mediterranean countries due to extremely high costs (Viola et al., 2009).
5.3 Policy framework for greenhouses – Agadir
As mentioned before, for Souss-Massa the tomato sector has been stimulated by the
great increase in trade in the recent decades, especially between Morocco and Europe. In
Morocco, tomatoes are mainly produced inside greenhouses and subsequently shipped to
Europe. By using greenhouses, tomatoes can be produced counter-seasonally and therefore
supply the European markets in wintertime, when European production cannot supply its
internal demand.
Quite differently, banana production has experienced a different trend which is exempt
from the export sector and only relies on its internal demand for consumption.
For these reasons, this analysis considered it necessary to take a panoramic view of both
the national institutional framework for Morocco as well as the regional institutional
framework between the EU and Morocco (Table 8). This was done in order to capture the
effect of political driving forces on the decision to establish and develop greenhouses for
tomatoes and bananas and furthermore to document the effect of government initiatives in
dealing with the three major factors of environmental pressure from greenhouses: The use
of superficial and deep aquifer water for irrigation, the elevated use of pesticides and
fertilizers, and the use of plastic coverage materials.

51
Table 8: Policy framework agriculture – National and Regional –Souss Massa Drâa

52
Regarding the banana sector, greenhouse expansion occurred during the Moroccan
period of state reforms between 1960 and 1980. The state supervised and organized the
agricultural cultivation of land, distributed bonuses and subsidies to intensify the production,
ensured a de facto tax exemption of the sector, granted credits, etc. (Akesbi, 2014)
Therefore, the government also used to incentivize banana-producing greenhouses by
providing aid for “relaxation of custom duties and import taxes for all equipment affecting
greenhouse installation, including micro irrigation and the developing of financing to cover
7% of the investment cost.” (Janick and Ait-Oubahou, 1989, p. 1).
Furthermore, there was tax exemption for this sector which encouraged production
(Sippel, 2015). Without this support from the state, the sector would not likely have been
established. However, the banana sector was largely abandoned when the import ban was
lifted in 1995 with the accession of Morocco to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Although many investors abandoned the production of bananas, shifting toward the (more
profitable) tomato export sector, the production still remains considerable today (Sippel,
2015).
As far as the vegetable sector is concerned, a large expansion of tomato greenhouses
occurred during the 1990s in Souss. The effects of various policies spurred middle-sized and
large landholders in reconfiguring their tomato production toward counter-seasonal
production. Within this sector, both national policies and regional (EU-Morocco) trade
policies played an important role in pursuing a national neoliberal ideology that promoted
increasing export production and foreign (mostly European) investments in greenhouse
cultivation (Barbesgaard et al., 2014).
The general export-orientated strategy of the country has been in place since the
colonial period when France’s aim was to exploit Morocco to supply their national
agricultural needs.
After Morocco obtained its independence in 1956, the subsequent land redistribution
prioritized the allocation of land to the large and wealthy landholders, who control a large
part of the vegetable production for export.
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the agricultural policy in Morocco become strongly
interventionist. The Moroccan State gave full assistance to the agriculture sector with both
the creation of large infrastructures for land irrigation and with the establishment of the
Commercialization and Exportation Office (OCE). The OCE encouraged tomato export
producers and greenhouse establishment, for instance by incentivizing the import of
greenhouse equipment (Barbesgaard et al., 2014).

53
In 1976, the Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Morocco further stimulated
the adoption of tomato greenhouse cultivation. The European Commission allowed a tariff
concession on tomato imports in the EU through a mechanism of seasonal reference prices.
Since this mechanism limits tomato imports during warm and hot seasons, the “Moroccan
producers responded by shifting from open-field production towards counter-seasonal
production in greenhouses.” (Barbesgaard et al., 2014, p. 208).
During the period of the Structural Adjustment Program, initiated in 1983, the State
withdrew its interventionism in agriculture and the liberalization of trade was strongly
limited. This period coincided with an increased demand for vegetables and fruits for the
Northern countries, driven by the demand of large supermarket-owning firms in Europe.
To satisfy this trend, the OCE was replaced by the Autonomous Export Coordination and
Control Organization (EACCE) a state-owned apparatus which controls and coordinates
quality and standards for vegetable exports. As a matter of fact, greenhouse production was
pivotal in supplying a production which is increasing both in quality and quantity. In addition,
with the establishment of the Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) in 1986, the agricultural
sector started to receive incentive subsidies to encourage investment in modern production
techniques (OBG, 2016; Azzouzi et al., 2006). Today this support is questionable given that
the procedures for obtaining credits or subsidies are often lengthy and complex at the
administrative level. Moreover, before obtaining the loans farmers often farmers must
anticipate their own expense for modern production techniques (Addison et al., 2012;
Houdret, 2012).
However, when Morocco joined the WTO in 1995, the subsequent Agreement on
Agriculture forced Morocco to reduce its internal support for agriculture and export subsidies
(Barbesgaard et al., 2014). Furthermore, the reduction of the Most Favored Nation 1 tariffs
increased competition in the agricultural market in Europe. This forced greenhouse
producers to intensify and shift their production toward places where the production costs
as well as the availability of natural resources were favorable (Choukr-Allah Redouane, 1990).
Supported by an investment-encouraging Moroccan agricultural policy, between 1990 and
2000 Souss-Massa become the most important export production zone in Morocco and
tomato greenhouse (Sippel, 2015).
1 The Most Favoured Nation is a status accorded by one state to another in international trade. For instance,
within the country where the trade occurs, a country with this given status must not be treated differently
(less trade advantages) from another country with the same status.

54
Recently, the Green Morocco Plan2 (GMP) of 2008 is playing an important role in
promoting this export-orientated strategy through reinforcing large investor operators to
invest in greenhouse production, a process which is also encouraged by the ADF and other
funds such as the Credit Jeunes Promoteurs 3 (Houdret, 2012; Sippel, 2015).
5.4 Policy framework for environmental issues – Agadir
In Morocco, the concept of sustainable development and safeguarding the environment

started to receive more emphasis in 1995 through the National Strategy for Sustainable
Development, followed by the National Action Plan for the Environment in 2002. However,
these plans did not reach the intended results and thus subsequently were abandoned
(OECD, 2001). A coherent and centralized national strategy was missing. As a result, in 2009,
an Environmental Charter was launched by King Muhammad VI with the purpose of
decentralizing the policy framework and the institutional arrangement in favor of the local
authorities (Kniivilä et al., 2013). The latter were therefore able to develop environmental-
related initiative and programs. A strategy of participatory approach was further pursued by
the Department of Environment, helping various regional and local counterparts to develop
partnership agreements among private and public actors (PPPs). This was probably the most
effective (policy) modality under which Morocco could successfully achieve a positive impact
on environmental sustainability over time (Arovuori et al., 2015). Although this is not always
the case and, for instance, the sustainable use of water resources remains questionable for
the PPP project of water reallocation in the region of Souss-Massa (Houdret, 2012). In
addition, the Department also elaborated several programs with the purpose of reinforcing
environmental achievements. The Green Morocco Plan is an example within the agricultural
sector. According to available analyses, the Plan endorses a list of sectors considered to have
high added value, such as vegetable and horticulture export sectors (Akesbi, 2014; Sippel,
2015). Thus, for the GMP, the greenhouse sector in Souss-Massa is the main area to improve
in terms of environmental sustainability.
2
The Green Morocco Plan aims to rehabilitate and enhance the agricultural productivity of Morocco by
rendering it the main engine of growth and poverty reduction by 2020. It focuses on two key pillars:
developing large-scale and competitive modern agriculture with high-value added production, and reducing
agricultural poverty by improving the income of small-scale and the most vulnerable farmers (Ait El Mekki
and Ghanmat, 2015).
3 The Credit Jeuenes Promoteurs finance young and well-educated entrepreneurs who want to start a
project or a business activity in Morocco

55
Besides such initiatives and programs, Morocco also has a legislative and regulatory
provision which determines the forms and modalities of state intervention to safeguard the
use of environmental resources. However, this discipline is still under development today.
For this additional reason, the environmental legislation is often considered by various
observers as weak and difficult to enforce in many regions of Morocco (Kniivilä et al., 2013;
OECD, 2001) (Table 9).
Environmental National Brief description Specific Main
issues legilatory national regulative
Water act: Regulates
Green Morocco
Water Law No. 10-95 the entire water N/ D
Plan 2008
sector
Regulates the use of
Pesticides Law No. 42-95 pesticides in N/ D ONSSA
agriculture
Green Morocco
Fertilizers N/ D N/ D OCP, ONSSA
Plan 2008
Law on the use of
Greenhouse degradable or
Law No. 22-10 N/ D N/ D
Plastic waste biodegradable plastic
bags
N/D = Not defined
Table 9: Policy framework for environmental protection in agriculture – Souss Massa Drâa –
Morocco
5.4.1 Use of water for irrigation
From 1995 onwards the entire water sector in Morocco has been regulated by Law 10-
95 of 1995, also known as the “Water act” which instituted the framework for creating and
managing the necessary policy instruments and programs for its implementation.
To address the environmental pressure of water use in agriculture, Morocco adopted
the GMP as the main strategy to implement water conservation measures for a more
sustainable use to guarantee the protection of this natural resource in the coming years.
However, in terms of rational use of water, this strategy is having contrasting results. Within
this Plan, the ADF is encouraging farmers to both improve their access to the water resources
of the plain and to increase water conservation. For example, subsidies are given to buy
equipment for pumping ground water, but also to construct ponds for water storage and for
implementing drip irrigation (covering from 50 to 90% of the total cost) (Houdret, 2012).

56
5.4.2 Use of pesticides
Law No. 42/95 of 1997 regulates the use of pesticides in agriculture, from
commercialization to use and waste disposal, in ways that respect the environment. Since
2009, the National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA) is the main institution responsible for the
monitoring and inspection of pesticide products. More than often, however, farmers find
easy ways to escape from the regulation, which is supposed to be imposed by the ONSSA
(OECD, 2001). For the tomato export sector, the use of pesticides has grown into a major
concern in North European countries due to the human safety risks (Magali et al., 2013). This
led the EU to ensure a strict policy regulation by performing pesticide residue analysis
(Aubert et al., 2013). To respect these standards, large greenhouse producers in Souss-Massa
have adopted new technologies such as Integrated Pest Management controls, thus greatly
reducing the use of pesticides (Baudion and FAO, 2013). Furthermore, the EACCE performs
various laboratory analyses free of charge (Aloui and Kenny, 2005). Nevertheless, as some
tomato importer countries lack any standards, pesticides are still widely used in tomato
greenhouse production (FAO-GEF, 2014; Salghi et al., 2012).
5.4.3 Use of fertilizers
In Morocco, the use of fertilizers and phosphate products is largely encouraged by the
government phosphates authority (OCP), to improve agricultural productivity and crop
yields. Although representing 5% of cropland, about 32% of the total amount of fertilizers
are dedicated to citrus fruits and export vegetable products (OECD, 2001). Through the GPM,
the government has granted subsidies for farmers helping them in optimizing the use of
these substances, for instance, by covering half of the costs of soil analysis in laboratories.
However, the trend for greenhouses in Souss is an increase in the use of fertilizers, a sign that
the policy is incentivizing the use of fertilizers instead of reducing it (Tagma et al., 2009). In
addition, although still extremely limited, the government is promoting various initiatives
and meetings to raise awareness about the environmental issues linked with the elevated
use of fertilizers.
5.4.4 Greenhouse plastic waste
Awareness in Morocco concerning plastic waste and its negative effects on the
environment is constantly increasing. A law for plastic bags has been in force since 2010,
although it does not consider the use of black plastic waste from greenhouses. Today, police

57
controls (by the Gendarmerie Royale) and inspections of greenhouses are increasing
(Environmental researcher). The latest law proposed to regulate the use of plastic will likely
also regard agricultural waste (AnsaMed, 2016).
5.5 Location factors and GIS analysis
By using a Geographic Information System, 18 biophysical and institutional factors have

been identified both for the province of Pistoia and the province of Agadir (Table 10).
Overall, institutional and climate factors are considerably divergent respecting soil and
terrain characteristics. In regard to climate factors, solar radiation and temperature are the
main factors needed to evaluate the suitability of a region for greenhouses. For Pistoia, the
low winter temperatures are a relevant constraint for farmers, who must heat greenhouses
for four months a year. This is not true in Agadir, where climate control is not needed. While
the province of Agadir receives a level of solar radiation which is consistently above the
radiation threshold, in Pistoia solar radiation remains low in winter (Figure 17).
Precipitation in Agadir is extremely scarce, whereas in Pistoia, precipitation levels are
relatively high. Potential evapotranspiration is 400 mm higher in Agadir and greatly
contributes to reducing the quantity of rain absorbed by the soil. Furthermore, the aridity
index, which quantifies the precipitation deficit over atmospheric water demand, was under
the suitability level for rain-fed agriculture (0,65) in Agadir (Zomer et al., 2008). This may help
to explain why greenhouses have been adopted in Agadir.

58
Table 10: Biophysical and institutional factors at confront for Agadir’s province and Pistoia’s
province
Regarding soil composition: Clay and sand and the drainage coefficient, which depends
on these, are similar. The pH is well above the undesirable level (> 7.5) in the province of
Agadir (Baudion and FAO, 2013). The organic content is two times higher in Pistoia, where
the soil is an excellent source of nutrients (MOSES, 2012).
Although the population density is similar in the two provinces, Pistoia is in an area with
a dominant urban population. Both market accessibility and market influence are between
four and five times higher in the province of Pistoia, which indicates better investment
potential in agriculture, which is not the case for the province of Agadir.

59
a: Pistoia
b: Agadir
Figure 17 (a) and (b): Estimation of climate suitability of Pistoia (a) and Agadir (b) for
cultivation of vegetable species in greenhouses, from the monthly average values of ambient
temperature and solar radiation
Source: Own elaboration, data from (Baudion and FAO, 2013), SoDa (2004) and
Meteorologisk Institutt (2016)

60
6 Discussion
Since 1990, there has been a considerable increase in greenhouse cultivation in Pistoia
and Agadir. In both districts, the trend is widely influenced by the phenomenon of
globalization within the agricultural sectors. For instance, in Pistoia, between 2000 and 2010,
the demand for floricultural and nursery products decreased due to the European economic
crisis. Besides, the floriculture economy is still suffering today. As the increase in production
costs and competition from abroad is not followed by an increase in the agricultural product’s
prices, this sector struggles in supplying the European and national demand.
In Agadir, the trend of greenhouse cultivation has fostered a strong increase since 1990.
In most part, this is influenced by the European trade, which forces greenhouse growers to
supply the demand of fresh fruits and vegetables. For this reason, Agadir is constantly
increasing the extension and concentration of greenhouse cultivation on its territories.
Table 11 summarizes the main findings of the relationship between socio-economic
characteristics of farmers and policies behind the establishment of greenhouse cultivation,
by specifying to what extent socio-economic factors of farmers are suitable and in agreement
with those policies.
Both provinces implement policies to sustain the adoption of greenhouses. In the
Moroccan province, these policies directly support the expansion of greenhouse cultivation
and, for the most part, incentive foreign companies and farm-managers to invest in
greenhouses. In the Italian province, the policy effect is often neutralized because incentives
are largely spread to all the agricultural sectors.

61
Province of Pistoia Province of Agadir

Effect of Effect of
Greenhouse farmer's policies Greenhouse farmer's policies
socio-economic combined with socio-economic combined with
characteristics socio-economic characteristics socio-economic
characteristics characteristics
Farm size small (< 2 ha) Farm size large (> 20 ha)
Age of the farm manager Age of the farm manager
> 40 on average > 50 on average
30%farm managers have 70%farm managers have
secondary or university a university education
title
Average farm manager Farm manager's income
income high higher than average
73%private property land 54%private property land
Group memberships low Group memberships high
on average on average
Legend:
Incentive effect
Neutral effect
Constraint effect
Table 11: Effect of policies and socio-economic characteristics of farmers toward the decision to
establish protected cultivation
In Pistoia, the RDPs (Rural Development Programs) provide their funds to large-scale
farms, although the small-scale greenhouse farms are the majority. On the other hand, In
Agadir, the agricultural policies promote large-size farms, and therefore they contribute
toward producing positive effects for all greenhouse farmers.
The factor “age of farm manager” achieves a neutral effect in both districts. Credits are
de-facto provided to a minority young farmers (until 30 or 40 years’ old). However, it is
expected that more credits may be provided to young cultivators over the next years.
Conspicuous grants are also given a range of cultivators with a minimal level education. In
Pistoia, a secondary level of education is necessary but around 70% of the farmers have not
been through secondary education. In Agadir, a significant part of farm managers outside the
Souss region possesses a University degree and several agricultural funds, such as the “Credit
Jeunes Promoteurs”, are provided to them.
Also, the “income level” factor obtains a constraint effect within the small Italian
district. Incentives for high income activities, such as floriculture and nursery, are often
neglected. On the other hand, for the Moroccan district, greenhouse farmers can make out

62
profits that are above the state’s average. However, the initial disposal of a large amount of
capital to buy a greenhouse plant can be seen as a more significant factor than the income
level in Pistoia. This because the ADF (Agricultural Development Fund) can, and only in a
subsequent period, refund part of the investment.
In both provinces, most land is privately owned. In Agadir, the land-leasing activities are
excluding the local farmers without greenhouses plants by forcing them to lease their land.
This is due to the fact that the policies mainly support the export-oriented sectors. Thus, the
land is often leased to the EU farming entrepreneurs who adopt protected cultivations to
produce for the European export. The importance of this access to land factor strictly
depends over these policies, which are currently sustaining protected cultivation. However,
in the Italian province there is not a clear link between the adopted political incentives and
the private ownership factor.
A group of greenhouses farmers’ part of a PIF (Integrated Supply Chain Project) can
receive greenhouse financing plans from the RDPs in Pistoia. However, due to the lack of
spirit of cooperation among farmers, only a few PIFs have been created until recently. By
contrary, there is not a policy supporting greenhouse cooperatives in Agadir as most of the
time it is difficult for a Moroccan greenhouse farmer being part of a cooperative to produce
for the European market. About the farmer’s environmental attitudes in the study areas
these processes are favorable for both provinces indicating that farmers are more aware and
involved to consider their environmental impacts related to the greenhouses.
In this research, summary of the influence of environmental policies in dealing with the
most critical environmental issues has been reported in Table 12. It may result significant
that in Agadir the environmental policies are not sufficiently effective in dealing with the
environmental issues.

63
Effect of policies in
Environmental
dealing with
issues
environmental issues
Province of Province of
Pistoia Agadir
Water use
Pesticides use
Fertilizers use
Plastic use
Legend:
Positive effect
Neutral effect
Negative effect
Table 12: Effect of environmental policies in dealing with environmental issues
In Pistoia, two of the four environmental issues are being effectively addressed, and
currently, with neutral policy effect for water and plastic use. Regarding water use, the recent
law is not incentivizing the farmers to reduce the use of water. Indeed, only the 2007-2013
RDP tender provided funds to install mechanisms to reduce the use of water in agriculture,
but this is not currently the case with the latest 2014-2020 RDP. In the case of plastic use, the
farmers still need to pay a tax in case they want to recycle the plastic film of their greenhouse.
In Agadir, environmental policies are, to a large extent, ineffective. For plastic and
fertilizers use, the policy incentivizes the increasing use of these toxic materials and
substances, creating more pressures to the environment. In addition, the water-use policy is
having a neutral effect because the ADF, together with the GMP (Green Morocco Plan), is
providing funds to acquire equipment to increase the withdrawal of groundwater as well as,
and at the same time, to decrease the consumption of it. Regarding pesticide use, this has
been largely reduced thanks to the EU legislation, although its excessive use remains high in
some parts of the region.
Geographic location factors also play a very important role in the establishment of
protected cultivation. Agadir and Pistoia differ considerably in terms of biophysical and
institutional characteristics. In Agadir, the climatic conditions are overall favorable for
greenhouse installations in terms of temperature and solar radiation. In Pistoia, winter
temperature is limiting for greenhouses plants as they requires energy intensive heating

64
system. As In Pistoia the soil conditions are favorable and rainfalls are frequently abundant,
farmers are able to grow a large amount of plant species in open crop fields and to keep
protected cultivations for growing flowers and climate-sensible species all over the year.
In Agadir, unfavorable soil conditions, chronic absence of rainfall, an extreme level of
aridity associated with a high level of evapotranspiration, all contribute establishing
protected cultivation to recover from for the lack of favorable biophysical conditions of the
area. In addition, climate hazards are occurring more frequently. Periods of intense droughts
are alternated by a period of excessive rainfall. The geographic analysis could not capture
this type of information because the data considered only a yearly average of climatic factors.
Regarding institutional factors, Agadir is characterized by a high rural population, but in
Pistoia the population is predominantly defined as urban. As I assumed, the index of the
poverty level is high in Agadir. This may be the main reason why the analysis has revealed a
low level of market influence in the area. However, this is not the case for the owners of large
greenhouse cultivations because greenhouse farmers dispose of a large amount of
investment potential within the area. In addition, the analysis showed contrasting results
regarding the market accessibility within the Moroccan province. According to several
farmers, the distance from and to commercial infrastructures for a greenhouse tomato
farmer results adequate to the commercial purpose. A reason behind this may be that the
GIS disposes of a global data which can result in poor in capturing and explaining precise local
dynamics and patterns. In general, this was not true for Pistoia where the two latter
indicators have been in agreement with the view of the greenhouse farmers.
6.1 Limitations of the study
One of the most important limits of the research has been the difficulty to statistically
relate the investigated socio-economic factors to greenhouse cultivation. This could improve
the knowledge on the role of each single factors in each case study in incentivizing or
constraining toward implementing a greenhouse technology. Such kind of analysis requires
a lot of data often obtained by means of multiple surveys in the field. Following this line of
reasoning, the socio-economic factors are still to be studied regarding the level of
environmental care of farmers. This analysis considered only the general trend. However, it
would be interesting to see whether the age or the farm size and other factors would have
an influence toward the implementation of environmental policies. Such approach would
also enable the possibility to make recommendations to the policy-makers on which policy

65
measure could be more effective to obtain the desired scope, which is highly desirable in the
future. A systematic comparison between two contrasting study area revealed how the
decision to establish greenhouse cultivation as well as dealing with the environmental
problems related is very much dependent on very specific and contextual factors of different
regions in the Mediterranean area. Further research will be necessary in order to assess how
these factors interact in different areas of the Mediterranean Basin.
7 Conclusions and perspectives
This research assessed and compared the role of political driving forces and socio-
economic characteristics of the land managers in Pistoia and Agadir in leading toward the
development of protected cultivation, and in dealing with their environmental problems
related. The model Driving Force – Actor – Land Change (DF-A-C) could show how important
are all the components of the system considered in the decision to establish a greenhouse
cultivation and how the feedback created due to an environmental consequence is managed
by the farmer and political driving forces.
The model showed how biophysical and institutional factors are responsible for the
establishment of protected cultivation in the two areas considered. While in Agadir, severe
climatic conditions influence cultivators to move toward a production with greenhouses, in
Pistoia farmers have been able to implement greenhouse cultivation to conduct a winter
production, while, at the same time, maintaining their open crop field cultivations. Political
driving forces were consistent in incentivizing the establishment of protected cultivation in
both case studies. However, while in Agadir the policies are suitable with the socio-economic
characteristics of farmers, in Pistoia these policies are mostly ineffective given that they often
disagree with the latter factors. The reasons behind these results can be manifold. In Agadir,
the political driving forces are playing an influencing role in comparison with the socio-
economic characteristics of the farmers. First, the restrictive biophysical and geographical
factors of the area are encouraging farmers to switch toward greenhouse cultivations.
Second, the specific governmental support toward the vegetable export-oriented sector is
largely directed toward farm managers who are coming from outside the Sous region as well
as to local greenhouse farmers who have the appropriate socio-economic characteristics to
obtain credits and incentives. In Pistoia, the agriculture incentives are for the main part
directed toward the overall agriculture, without effectively supporting the specific

66
floriculture and nursery sectors which are the ones that mostly produce by means of
greenhouses. There are two main reasons that could explain why the policies to incentivize
greenhouse cultivation are not suitable with the socio-economic factors of the Italian
greenhouse farmers. First, since the biophysical factors are not restrictive for open crop field
cultivation, cultivators are not necessarily requiring to install greenhouses to produce.
Second, since the floriculture and nursery products are considered “luxury goods”, they are
receiving less support from the national and regional governmental policies.
Regarding the environmental impacts, cultivators in both areas are interested in solving
the environmental problems linked to the greenhouses production. However, while in Pistoia
the environmental policies are to a certain extent useful in solving these problems, in Agadir
few environmental policies have been implemented, and today, among these, a very few are
effective. Connecting these results with the current trend of expansion of the greenhouses it
is possible to expect that while in Agadir the large expansion and concentration of
greenhouse might lead to increase their environmental problems related, in Pistoia, the
environmental pressures might mitigate more over the future.

67
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Annex A Questionnaire
Semi structured questionnaire for protected agriculture analysis
General purpose
Collect information and opinion from involved informers about protected cultivation in their
area, the drivers behind them and their possible consequences.
More detailed
- Identify the past trends in protected cultivation and the most important processes
(expansion or reduction…)
- Collect opinions and suggestions on the possible socio-economic changes in this area
that could have led to the establishment of protected cultivation.
- Collect opinions and suggestions on possible external decisions and conditions
(policy changes, environmental protection, infrastructural development, political
changes, technology improvements)
General questions:
1. What are the trends in greenhouse cultivations in the area (or the part of the area
you are familiar with)?
• What are the trends for the future? Are there any expansion plans?
2. Why did in your opinion this occur? (can be answered more in detail in later –
dedicated – questions)
3. What were the consequences of these changes? How did they affect the local
community, environment (landscape), economy?
4. Which environmental consequences were the most important ones?
Detailed questions
1. What were the most important changes to:
a) demography (population age structure, migration)

b) agricultural activities (number of farmers, interest for farming)

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c) economic activities (employment, industry, commerce)
Experts might answer all, local officials only the part of their expertise (agriculture,
economy…)
2. Do you think that local environmental characteristics such as accessibility

(remoteness) of the area, steep slopes, altitude, river network, less productive soil,
affected land use changes in the area? (that is why greenhouses were established)
Which were the changes that were an effect of external (global) drivers and
decisions? If not mentioned, ask about possible causes:
• Are greenhouses products exported in large part? How was it before?

• How did the prices of specific crop products influence the production in the
area? Did the area answer opportunities to export the production (to the EU,
other countries)? How was it before?
• Does the technology have a concrete effect on protected agricultural
production? Is this technology coming from abroad? Do you know if it is
patented? How was it before?
• Was there a governmental (regional or EU) plan/decision to promote
greenhouse? Alternatively, who made the decision?
3. Which were the changes that were an effect of external (national/regional) drivers
and decisions?
• Was there an increase on the consumer demand for these products?) How
was it before?
• Is there any incentive from national or regional policy for protected
agriculture? How was it before?
• Was there a shift in public policy? E.g. liberalization, with less agricultural
(e.g. for marginal farmers) and investment (e.g. no public funding) support
from the State? How was it before?
4. Which were the changes that were an effect of external (local) drivers and decisions?
• Is poverty high in these areas? Is there any tensions among farmers and
workers?
• Demography structure
• Is the market access easy? e.g. are the infrastructures well-functioning?
• About property rights who owns the land, who owns than the greenhouses
(all the infrastructures)
5. Can you select for questions 2, 3 and 4 what are in your opinion the most important
ones?

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6. Of the previously discussed possible drivers, which do you think were the prevailing
drivers of land use change?
a) local socio-economic conditions

b) local environmental characteristics
c) external drivers and decisions (or common socio-economic situation in the
region, country)
7. Can you briefly describe about the following socio-economic factors in your
province?
a) Farm size or household size

b) Age of the farm manager
c) Education level of the farm manager
d) Access to land and land property
e) Group membership, if some form of cooperation exists among farmers
f) Farmer’s attitudes toward the environment
Additional questions:
- Related to the consequences: how did they deal with this?

- Water: how did the water/energy use change after greenhouses?
- Are there any other important environmental pressures due to greenhouses?
- Was there anything done about water/energy use? And about the other problems
identified?
- Were there additional measures planned related to water/energy to support further
greenhouse cultivation (new water, irrigation, reservoirs, electric infrastructure)
- Were there any higher level policies (local, regional, national) related to
water/energy use or other environmental consequences?
- Were there other activities that had to be limited to promote greenhouses?
-
Information about the informer
1. Name
2. Position
A.1 List of interviewees
Table 14: List of interviewees

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Annex B Description of local factors
Table 13 shows the biophysical and institutional information identified from the
literature analysis.
Biophysical factors have a crucial role in defining the local suitability for protected
cultivation. Topography or terrain characteristics such as altitude and slope are clearly firsts
in terms of importance. Among climatic variables, solar radiation and temperature are the
main factors needed to evaluate the suitability of a region for greenhouses. Furthermore, to
a lesser degree, also precipitation, potential evapotranspiration and aridity index. Soil
characteristics must have properties appropriates for horticultural, nursery or floriculture
crops. I selected six of them: sand and clay content, content of organic matter, pH, drainage
class and soil depth (Baudion and FAO, 2013).
Institutional or socio-economic factors are also crucial for site selection. I considered
four variables: Population density, density of rural population, market accessibility and
market influence. Population density and rural population clearly indicate which type of
agricultural activities can be expected in an area. The market influence index contributed to
understand the amount of capital available to invest in agricultural production and
technologies (i.e. greenhouses). Furthermore, the index of market accessibility measured the
access to national and international markets accounting for the “travel time” distance of
goods, infrastructure such as proximity to transport networks, access to communication
systems (e.g. telephone) and availability of energy (e.g. electricity) (Peter H Verburg et al.,
2011)

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Location Factor Unit/description Original Date Source

resolution
Institutional Factors:
Population density People/km2 1 km 2010 CIESIN (2015)
Rural population Rural population/km2 1 km 2000 CIESIN et al. (2011)
Market accessibility Index (0-1) 1 km 2000- Verburg et al. (2011b)

2010
Market influence USD/person (ppp) 1 km 2000- Verburg et al. (2011b)

2010
Biophysical Factors:
Soil
Drainage Drainage class 1 km 2010 Hengl et al. (2014)
Sand content Sand mass in % 1 km 2010 Hengl et al. (2014)
Clay content Clay mass in % 1 km 2013 Hengl et al. (2014)
pH log(h+) 1 km 2010 Hengl et al. (2014)
Organic carbon g/kg in the top 50 cm 1 km 2013 Hengl et al. (2014)

content
Soil depth Cm 1 km 2013 Hengl et al. (2014)
Terrain
Altitude m above sea level 1 km 2005 Hijmans et al. (2005)
Slope Slope degrees 1 km 2005 Derived from Hijmans et

al. (2005)
Climate
Precipitation annual precipitation 1 km 2005 Hijmans et al. (2005)

(sum of monthly
means) in mm
Temperature Temperature (mean of 1 km 2005 Hijmans et al. (2005)

monthly means) Celsius
degree
Solar radiation Horizontal surface 1.5 arc minute 2012 Huld et al. (2012)
irradiation (kWh/m2),
1998-2011 mean
Potential annual PET in mm 1 km 2007 Zomer et al. (2008)

Evapotranspiration
(PET)
Aridity index Index to identify arid 1 km 2007 Zomer et al. (2008)

areas

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Table 13: Location factors used in explaining the geographic characteristics of greenhouse areas

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IVM Institute for Environmental Studies

Greenhouses in the Mediterranean Area:

Final thesis of: Michele Marini (2582867)

Supervisor: Žiga Malek

Word count: 14876

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2 Conceptual background and theoretical fundation 13

3 Materials and Methods 15

4 Results - Socio-economic characteristics of farmers 37

5 Results - Policy framework for greenhouses 45

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Keywords: Mediterranean Basin, protected cultivation, greenhouse cultivation technology,

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Figure 1: The Mediterranean Basin

As a significant part of Mediterranean agriculture, greenhouses cover around 200,000

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Figure 2: Location of Agadir (A) and Pistoia (B)

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1.1 Goals and research questions

The main research question was:

The question which was addressed is:

- Can we relate greenhouse cultivation decision making to a set of geographic

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2 Conceptual background and theoretical foundation

Figure 2: Theoretical research model for greenhouse cultivation

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3 Materials and Methods

3.1 Methodology Framework

Figure 3: Methodological Framework of the study

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3.1.1 Data gathering – Step 1

3.1.2 Data elaboration – Step 2

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3.1.3 Data analysis, comparison and results – Step 3

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3.2 Study area 1: Province of Pistoia – Tuscany –Italy

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Figure 4: Overview map of greenhouses 5 kilometers South-East of Pistoia

3.3 Floriculture and ornamental plants

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Figure 6: Floriculture in greenhouses in Pistoia

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Figure 7: Evolution of the flower production (millions of euros at current prices)

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Figure 9: Trend in Pistoia’s land extension from 1990 to 2010

Figure 10: Number of firms in the sector from 1990 to 2010

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Figure 5: Overview map of greenhouses nearly 20 kilometers South of Agadir

3.5 Horticultural production

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Figure 11: Bananas growing in greenhouses in Souss-Massa, Agadir

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Figure 12: Hectares/greenhouses years from 1985 to 2012

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