Territorial Embeddedness or Technological Dependence? Rethinking Agroecological Resilience Through Traditional Mountain Farming Systems in Semi-Arid Morocco

Agroecology is increasingly considered a potential pathway for addressing the interconnected challenges of climate adaptation, food security, biodiversity conservation, and rural sustainability. However, how agroecological practices coexist with technological and external-input-based management remains insufficiently documented in semi-arid smallholder farming systems. This study assessed agroecological practice integration and management heterogeneity in Skoura M’Daz (SMDZ), a semi-arid mountain region of the Middle Atlas, Morocco. Structured surveys were conducted with 70 farmers across 22 villages and complemented by field observations. A six-component Agroecological Practice Intensity Index (AEPI; range 0–6) was developed to quantify the integration of selected agroecological practices, together with an Input Intensity Score (IIS) describing reliance on selected external-input and technology-mediated practices. The mean AEPI was 3.94/6 (65.7% of the maximum possible score), and 87% of farms implemented at least three of the six AEPI components. Agroforestry (71.4%), crop rotation (74.3%), and organic or mixed fertilization (91.4%) were widely represented among surveyed farms. Rural farms had a higher mean AEPI than urban/peri-urban farms (4.23 vs. 3.66); the difference reached the conventional significance threshold with Welch’s t-test (p = 0.0417) but not with the complementary Mann–Whitney test (p = 0.0664), indicating suggestive rather than unequivocal evidence of a territorial contrast. Rural location remained positively associated with the AEPI in multivariable analysis, including after adjustment for formal education in a sensitivity model. The full AEPI was negatively correlated with IIS (Spearman ρ = −0.252, p = 0.0354); however, leave-one-component-out analysis showed that this relationship was sensitive to index construction and partly reflected structural overlap between the two indices. An a priori AEPI–IIS classification identified four management configurations, with Agroecological Custodians representing the largest group. Farmers reported multiple perceived benefits associated with agroecological practices, particularly for soil fertility, crop yield stability, water availability, production costs, and drought response, while also identifying constraints related to water access, technical assistance, financial support, and extension services. Because this study is cross-sectional and observational, the reported relationships represent statistical associations rather than causal effects, and neither the AEPI nor farmers’ perceptions provide direct measurements of ecological performance or resilience. Overall, the findings document substantial agroecological practice integration and heterogeneous combinations of ecological and technology-mediated management within SMDZ, providing a context-specific basis for future longitudinal and biophysical research on the sustainability and resilience of semi-arid mountain farming systems.