Factors Associated with Perceived Resilience Among Date-palm Farms in the M’Hamid El Ghizlane Oasis, Morocco: A Cross-sectional Study

Oasis farming faces climatic, hydrological, and institutional pressures, yet farmers’ perceived resilience remains poorly documented. This study assessed a nine-item resilience scale and associated factors among date-palm farms in M’Hamid El Ghizlane, Morocco. A cross-sectional survey of randomly selected decision-makers (April–June 2024) obtained 260 responses (response rate: 52%), with potential non-response bias. Reliability and ordinal factor analyses were combined with HC3-robust multiple regression of ten prespecified predictors and sensitivity analyses. The mean score was 18.12/45 (SD = 5.02); 71.9% of farms had low and 28.1% moderate perceived resilience; none was high. Reliability was satisfactory (α = 0.829; ω = 0.915), and the three-factor model showed acceptable sample-specific fit (CFI = 0.989; TLI = 0.983; RMSEA = 0.050; SRMR = 0.045). The regression explained 15.1% of score variance, leaving 84.9% unexplained. Education (B = 1.681, p < 0.001) and age (B = 0.116, p = 0.004) were positively associated with the score. Cooperative membership showed no robust association across sensitivity analyses. Farm size, diversification, modernised irrigation, public support, and climate-risk awareness were not independently associated with the global score. These findings identify local correlates of perceived farm-level resilience without establishing causality or measuring collective oasis resilience.