Technical and Practical Innovations to Reduce Soil and Water Losses by Improving Soil Physical Properties

Sophia Bahddou

In Morocco, soil erosion is a serious agro-environmental threat, considered as major constraint to plant and crop productivity. This project is directed at reducing soil and water losses in Morocco by developing novel methodological approaches and practical measures that will improve soil physical properties. This approach uses a better mechanistic understanding of the processes of erosion by water and wind, and their impacts on soil and water resources.

Learning Objectives: 

  • Understand the overall context of the research emphasizing the issue of soil erosion caused by rainfall and wind.
  • Define the methodologies to understand the processes of soil erosion and its impact on soil and water resources.
  • Design practical measures and techniques to minimise soil degradation caused by erosion.

Presented by Sophia Bahddou – Ph.D. student, Cranfield University

Sophia Bahddou is a Ph.D. student in the School of Water, Energy and Environment at Cranfield University in the UK. Her research is in collaboration with Rothamsted Research in the UK and the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco. She is investigating the reduction of soil and water losses in Morocco by developing novel methodological approaches and practical measures that will improve soil physical properties using a better mechanistic understanding of the processes of erosion by water and wind, and their impacts on soil and water resources. Before joining the UK, Sophia pursued 5-year rural engineering studies in the Water, Environment and Infrastructures department at Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary in Morocco. She then moved to Spain to pursue a 2-year MSc in Integrated Planning for Rural Development and Environmental Management at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ) of the International Centre of Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM). Her Master thesis was about water and energy savings in collective pressurized irrigation networks through improvements in the management of on-farm irrigation, which was carried out at the Irrigation, Agronomy and Environment department of the Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD-CSIC) in Zaragoza