Editing French protectorate in Morocco (section)

=====Agriculture=====
[[File:فلاح_في_حقل_الشعير_في_الشاوية_المغربية.jpg|thumb|A farmer in a field of [[barley]] in the [[Chaouia (Morocco)|Chaouia]], published 15 August 1917 in the magazine ''France-Maroc'']]

Learning from experiences in [[French Algeria|Algeria]], where imprudent land appropriation, as Professor Susan Gilson Miller puts it, "reduced much of the native peasantry to a rootless proletariat,"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Susan Gilson |title=A history of modern Morocco |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780521008990 |page=113}}</ref> Lyautey solicited a select group of 692 "gentlemen-farmers"—instead of what he called the "riff-raff" of southern Europe—capable of serving as "examples" to {{Lang|fr|les indigènes}} and imparting French influence in the rural colonization of Morocco from 1917 to 1925.<ref name=":02" /> The objective was to secure a steady supply of grain for [[Metropolitan France]] and to transform Morocco once again into the "granary of Rome" by planting cereals primarily in the regions of [[Chaouia (Morocco)|Chaouia]], [[Gharb-Chrarda-Béni Hssen|Gharb]], and [[Marrakesh-Tensift-El Haouz|Hawz]]—despite the fact that the region is prone to drought. After a period of minimal profits and a massive locust swarm in 1930, agricultural production shifted toward irrigated, higher-value crops such as citrus fruits and vegetables.<ref name=":02" /> The industrialization of agriculture required capital that many Moroccan farmers did not have, leading to a [[Rural flight|rural exodus]] as many headed to find work [[Urbanization|in the city]].<ref name=":02" />