During a recent visit to Morocco, I had the opportunity to visit Jodoor and learn from local entrepreneurs, farmers, and communities who are navigating increasingly challenging agricultural conditions. Their practical experiences offer important insights into how solutions for more resilient food systems can be shaped by local realities.

Jodoor is a Moroccan agricultural start-up co-founded by Amine Derj and Sokayna Bellam. The company designs and deploys hydroponic farming systems that help farmers grow more food with 90 percent less water. At a time when water scarcity is reshaping agriculture across Morocco, Jodoor offers a practical example of how local innovation can respond to one of the country’s most urgent challenges.

Walking through Jodoor’s hydroponic system, I was struck by the simplicity and power of the model: controlled irrigation, healthier production conditions, and more stable jobs. In a country facing deepening water scarcity, this is a glimpse into the future of agriculture.

A new reality for farming

Between 2019 and 2024, Morocco experienced one of its most severe water crises in decades, with rainfall nearly 40 percent below historical averages. What was once seen as a recurring drought challenge is now becoming a structural reality affecting water security, food production, and rural livelihoods.

Agriculture, which accounts for nearly 85 percent of Morocco’s water consumption, sits at the center of this challenge. For farmers, the question is urgent: how do we continue to produce food when water is less predictable and increasingly scarce?

This is the challenge that Jodoor sets out to address. Four years ago, Amine and Sokayna launched their start-up with a clear ambition: to build a more resilient agricultural model adapted to Morocco’s water reality while making modern farming systems more accessible to farmers.

Kawtar Zerouali (UNCDF) and Sokayna Bellam, Co-founder of Jodoor, holding hydroponically grown crops at Jodoor’s production facility in Kénitra, Morocco. Photo: UNCDF.

The missing bridge: finance

What impressed me most was not only the technology but how Jodoor’s story shows that many of the solutions we need already exist locally. They are designed by entrepreneurs who understand the market, the environment, the constraints, and the farmers they serve. Yet too often, these businesses remain stuck between proof of concept and scale.

Across Morocco, agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs), continue to face major barriers in accessing finance. Only 21 percent of firms have access to a bank loan or line of credit, while many report difficulties linked to collateral requirements, complex procedures and unfavorable lending conditions. For early-stage companies like Jodoor working in emerging areas such as nature-positive agriculture, the challenge is even greater. Investors may recognize the potential, but still consider the model too new, too unfamiliar or too risky.

Scaling African born solutions

To address this challenge, UNCDF, through the African Adaptation Initiative Food Security Accelerator, is bridging the financing gap by providing catalytic financing and technical support to Jodoor. Implemented in partnership with the Africa Adaptation Initiative and Sustainable Solutions for Africa, and supported by the United States Department of State and the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the initiative is helping local agribusinesses scale climate adaptation solutions. Through a $500,000 reimbursable grant, Jodoor is expanding its production capacity, strengthening its operations, pursuing certifications, and connecting more farmers to stable markets.

This support has already helped Jodoor strengthen its credibility with investors and mobilize additional financing from private investors and international public sector actors. It demonstrates how catalytic capital can reduce perceived risk and unlock investment in nature-positive sectors that are often overlooked during their early stages.

“Jodoor speaks to an Africa that is not waiting for solutions to be imported but is designing and scaling its own. It shows the power of African youth and entrepreneurs to turn climate pressure into innovation, food security and sovereignty,” said Seyni Nafo, President, African Adaptation Initiative.

Kawtar Zerouali (UNCDF) meets with the Jodoor team at the company’s headquarters in Kénitra, Morocco. Credit: UNCDF.

More than water efficiency

The impact also goes beyond water efficiency. During the visit, I was particularly impressed by how Jodoor is rethinking agricultural work itself. Its systems reduce the physical strain often associated with farming, limit the use of chemical products, and create more stable employment opportunities.

Today, around 30 fixed, non-seasonal jobs are created per hectare, more than 80 percent of which are held by women. Jodoor’s model connects water efficiency with productivity and links agricultural resilience with women’s employment. It shows that food security, environmental sustainability, and inclusive growth do not have to be separate agendas.

“Our goal is not only to grow differently, but to prove that agriculture can be more resilient, more dignified and more inclusive. When farmers can produce with less water and workers can access more stable opportunities, innovation becomes a pathway to a stronger food system,” said Amine Derj, Co-founder of Jodoor.

As I left Jodoor, I kept thinking about a simple but important lesson: the future of farming will not be built only through large-scale policy commitments or global financing pledges. It will mostly be built through local companies that are already testing practical solutions on the ground.

But these companies cannot scale alone; they need the right kind of finance: capital that can move early, take risk, strengthen business fundamentals, and help turn promising models into investable opportunities.

Jodoor’s story is therefore not only about growing more with less water. It is about what becomes possible when local innovation meets catalytic finance. In a world where farmers are increasingly being asked to produce more with fewer resources, these are exactly the kind of solutions we need to identify, support, and scale.