Urban agriculture between territorial anchoring and challenges of urbanisation: case of Guersif City (Eastern Morocco)

Faced with the rise of a neoliberal economy, urban agriculture is being put into contention with other, more profitable activities. Preserving urban agriculture in Guersif represents a real challenge for the city's various stakeholders. This article attempts to account for the decline in agricultural land in the town of Guersif, which is subject to galloping urbanisation, especially following the promotion of the town to the status of provincial capital following Morocco's administrative division in 2009. Based on sociological surveys of urban farmers, consumers, and local decision makers in Guersif, and assisted by technical data from the 1954 topographical map and sentinel-2 satellite images, this study identifies and quantifies the rate of loss of agricultural land between 1954 and 2021.