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Brief about the talk: Agricultural development is broadly regarded as a feasible ‎and viable approach for easing poverty as many of the ‎poverty-stricken people in MENA region depend on ‎agriculture for their livelihoods. However, crop and livestock ‎production are generally coupled with degradation of natural ‎resources, and high rates of population growth and growing ‎food insecurity are making socio-economic development ‎problem worse in the region.‎

Relieving poverty, pursuing agricultural development, and ‎safeguarding food security for increasing populations in this ‎region will progressively depend on intensification of land-‎use, as much of the arable land has already been utilized. ‎Examples of crop alternatives and development options will ‎be given for illustration.‎

Speaker’s short biography: Si Bennasseur Alaoui is a ‎professor at the Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary ‎Medicine Hassan II (IAV), at the Production, Protection and ‎Biotechnology Department. He obtained the diploma of ‎Advanced Agronomy from the National Agronomic Institute ‎Paris-Grignon (INA-PG), France in 1982, the diploma of State ‎Engineer in Agronomy from IAV in 1983, and a PhD from the ‎University of Minnesota, USA in 1993. He has published ‎several scientific and technical articles and booklets on the ‎main crops. He also developed several software packages, on ‎CD-ROM, to aid in the technical decision making, for winter ‎cereals, food legumes, sugar crops and fodder crops. He ‎contributed to several books, and he is the author of the book ‎‎"Crop Rotations and Green Manure", and co-author of the ‎book "Organic Farming Sectors: Issues and Promises for ‎Morocco and Africa", to which was awarded the First Prize of ‎the “Grand Prix” Hassan II for Innovation and Research in the ‎agricultural field for 2019. Prof. Alaoui was involved in ‎several rural development programs in Morocco and abroad ‎for cropping systems diversification and improvement of ‎farmer’s income, and for the contribution to poverty ‎reduction. His current research focuses on alternative ‎agricultural practices, including organic farming, and ‎adaptation to climate change. He was a consultant to FAO ‎‎(Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen), IFAD (Morocco, Yemen), ‎ISESCO (Ivory Coast), GIZ (Benin, Kenya, Morocco, and ‎Tunisia), MAMADA, MAPM, "Domaines Agricoles" in ‎Morocco, and OSS (Tunisia). Prof. Alaoui was co-founder and ‎Chairman (2009 to 2013) of the Moroccan Society of ‎Agronomy (SMA).