# Making sense of on-going dynamics and innovations in oases and newly irrigated areas of North African arid regions: towards more sustainable development pathways

Zakaria Kadiri, Ahmed Benmihoub, Stefano Farolfi, Faten Khamassi, Nicolas Faysse

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Zakaria Kadiri, Ahmed Benmihoub, Stefano Farolfi, Faten Khamassi, Nicolas Faysse. Making sense of on-going dynamics and innovations in oases and newly irrigated areas of North African arid regions: towards more sustainable development pathways. New Medit, 2022, 5, 10.30682/nm2205n. cirad-03945495

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# Making sense of on-going dynamics and innovations in oases and newly irrigated areas of North African arid regions: towards more sustainable development pathways

ZAKARIA KADIRI*, AHMED BENMIHOUB**, STEFANO FAROLFI***, FATEN KHAMASSI****, NICOLAS FAYSSE*****

DOI: 10.30682/nm2205n

## Introduction

Irrigated agroecosystems in arid North African regions have undergone major transformations in recent decades. Among these systems, oases, often created centuries ago, were marked by well-structured social organisations for water and land management. Most of these oases used a three-level cultivation system, mainly date palms at the top, arboriculture in the middle and seasonal crops at the bottom (Veyrac-Ben Ahmed and Abdedayem, 2017). Water management and farming practices in these oases have undergone many changes (Moussaoui, 2021) along with profound socioeconomic changes, particularly due to the migration of oasis inhabitants (De Haas, 2006) and the development of tourism (Battesti, 2009). More generally, the effects of globalisation are clearly visible in the oases (Lavie and Marshall, 2017). These changes are often analysed through

the prism of the rupture versus the continuity of modes of production and lifestyle (Bouaziz et al., 2018; Lavie and Marshall, 2017). Indeed, changes have been a source of development opportunities and have enabled the renewal of oases – disproving predictions of their collapse (Veyrac-Ben Ahmed and Abdedayem, 2017). However, change also implies risks, including unsustainable use of soil and water, declining biodiversity, and increasing social inequalities (Santoro, 2022).

Alongside the age-old oasis irrigation systems, newly irrigated areas began emerging from the 1980s in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (hereafter North Africa). They emerged from farmers’ private initiatives or in the framework of public policies (Amichi et al., 2020; Daoudi et al., 2021; De Haas, 2006; Elder, 2022; Mekki et al., 2013). Saharan agriculture “… has conquered new lands, has renewed its methods, and presents itself as a vast

<footnote>* Hassan II University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco.</footnote>

<footnote>** Centre for Research in Applied Economics for Development (CREAD), Algiers, Algeria.</footnote>

<footnote>*** Joint Research Unit “Water Management, Actors, Territories” (UMR G-Eau), CIRAD, University of Montpellier, France.</footnote>

<footnote>**** University of Carthage, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT).</footnote>

<footnote>***** Joint Research Unit “Water Management, Actors, Territories” (UMR G-Eau), CIRAD, University of Montpellier, France; University of Carthage, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT).</footnote>

<footnote>Corresponding author: zakariaa.kadirii@gmail.com</footnote>
pioneer front, multiform and multi-local” (Côte, 2022). In many arid regions of North Africa, these newly irrigated areas, often termed extensions, are now much larger than traditional oases.

The two types of irrigated areas, the age-old ones and the new ones, are sometimes contrasted using dualities, such as “complex agrosystems” versus “monocropping” or “family farming” versus “investor-owned farming” (Veyrac-Ben Ahmed and Abdedayem, 2017). In practice, interactions between the two spaces can be intense. For instance, many of the farmers who invest in newly irrigated areas come from oases and reproduce water management and farming practices used in the oases (Hamamouche et al., 2018).

Actors of North African arid regions have experimented a large set of innovations which also contributed to above-mentioned irrigated agroecosystem dynamics. The innovations included: 1) water use and management (e.g., groundwater recharge, reuse of treated waste water, drip irrigation, Naouri et al., 2017); 2) farming practices (e.g., agro-ecology or organic practices) and agricultural value chains (e.g., certification, Hamamouche, 2017); 3) new modes of governance and organisation of territories (e.g., local development organisations, new modes of intervention of public actors and donors, Hamamouche et al., 2022).

There is a need to understand the dynamics of these irrigated agroecosystems, particularly because the diversity of emerging forms of agriculture blurs past typologies, and the pace of change remains unabated. There is also a need for a better understanding of the way agricultural innovation systems operate today, as the relations between public and private actors and access to information have evolved considerably in recent decades. The aim of this special issue is to contribute to understanding these changes, with special attention paid to the way actors of these agroecosystems describe them, formulate related problems and introduce innovations to face existing problems and to tap new opportunities. Some of the questions at the core of this issue are: How are the changes undergone by these spaces manifest and what are the socio-economic and agricultural trajectories

of the actors who bring them about? What are the new socio-economic, agricultural and spatial logics that are driving changes and innovations in these areas? How are productive resources (water, land, capital) exploited and managed in the different agroecosystems?

Most of the studies that led to the articles in this special issue were conducted in the framework of the Massire<fnref n="1" /> research project (2019-2024) in Drâa Tafilalet Region in Morocco, Ghardaïa Region in Algeria, and Kebili and Medenine Regions in Tunisia. The aims of the Massire project are to: 1) identify, characterise and test innovations related to water governance, agricultural systems and rural development; 2) strengthen the capacities of stakeholders and exchange networks for the design and implementation of these innovations. Two studies reported in this special issue were implemented in the same regions but in different institutional settings. The study by Farolfi et al. (2022) was carried out as part of the project ‘Innovation and socio-economic development for a sustainable oasis’ (IDES) while the study by Saidani et al. (2022) was part of the Massire project and the Transformation to Groundwater Sustainability project.

## Four topics

The articles in this special issue are organised in four topics: evolving agroecosystems, water use and governance, innovation and entrepreneurial systems, and emerging value chains.

### Changing agroecosystems

Benmoussa et al. (2022) characterise the dynamics of irrigated systems based on palm groves in Kebili Region, Tunisia, where traditional oases have been three-layered, whereas, at the outset, the newly irrigated areas only had one layer comprised of the Deglet Noor date cultivar. The study shows that this typology no longer applies. Newly irrigated areas may contain higher crop diversity than expected and may be organised in two or layers like in the oases. In contrast, high crop diversity and the

<footnote n="1">¹ www.massire.net.</footnote>
three layers were found to be less frequent than ex-
pected in traditional oases. Water availability and
irrigation frequency emerge as key factors in the
layout of irrigated areas in Kebili Region.

Mekki et al. (2022) assess changes in the ag-
ricultural landscape in the same Kebili Region.
These authors also provide an overview of the so-
cio-economic and environmental drivers of these
changes, and analyse local actors’ perceptions
of these changes. The study highlights the need
for contextualised analysis of the heterogeneous
trajectories of extension areas to inform a much-
needed multi-stakeholder dialogue on the future
of the extensions.

Er-rayhany et al. (2022) describe the range of different farm profiles in newly irrigated areas in the Todgha Valley of Drâa Tafilalet Region, Morocco. Their paper identifies three types of farms. The first refers to small farms where people move to obtain housing and to look for new work opportunities on other farms. The second type is comprised of medium-sized farms where farmers seek to reproduce the three-layered crop production system used in traditional oases but where the fields are larger. The third type is comprised of large farms where investors practice capital-intensive agricultural production.

Sraïri and Naqash (2022) analyse the uses of
available labour and capital in oases in the same
Drâa-Tafilalet Region. This study points out that
date palm cropping can exist in positive syner-
gy with other farm activities in farming systems
which combine crop production and livestock
breeding. Date wastes and cereal straw are used
to feed the livestock. The livestock supplies the
farmers with manure, but also with milk and
meat, whose sale enables the purchase of agri-
cultural inputs. Farming practices that tap these
positive synergies are time consuming, conse-
quently labour availability is the key to fostering
a circular economy.

Water use and governance

Farolfi *et al.* (2022) describe the sustainabil-
ity concerns currently facing traditional oases
in Kebili Region, mainly due to increasing dif-
ficulty in accessing irrigation water. This situa-
tion requires alternative water management ap-

proaches in which local actors collaborate and
contribute to the design of new rules. Farmers in
the Jemna oasis are clearly aware of the limited
availability and poor quality of the groundwa-
ter resource but do not believe these problems
cause conflict among farmers. Rather, they con-
sider that collaboration among farmers will be
more effective in solving possible conflicts and
ensuring better water management in the oasis
than rules and regulations issued by existing or-
ganisations. These observations have important
implications for policy-making, as the farmers’
willingness to collaborate is crucial for a new
approach to water management in oases.

Saidani et al. (2022) analyse the practices used by farmers located in traditional oases and in the extension areas of the M’zab Valley in Ghardaïa Region, Algeria, to secure access to irrigation water. Farmers apply centuries-old know-how from the traditional oases to install devices to facilitate groundwater recharge in the extensions. Reinventing circular practices in these agricultural extensions will enable more environmentally sustainable forms of agriculture.

Innovation systems and entrepreneurial
systems

Ould Rebai *et al.* (2022) report on the diffusion of a low-cost artisanal pivot irrigation technique from the Suf Valley, Algeria, to other Saharan regions and even to Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The diffusion of the pivot technique was enabled by extending the innovation system to trusted innovation intermediaries in new settings. These intermediaries played an active role in adapting the technology and provide advice and maintenance services to farmers. However, manufacturers maintain tight control over production and after-sales services in the new settings. This model allows the manufacturers to secure intellectual property and maintain a monopoly.

Oulmane et al. (2022) analyse how the inno-
vation system has influenced the development
of the dairy sector in Ghardaïa Region, Algeria.
Market restructuring and farmers’ organisations
are the main factors which have a positive in-
fluence on the dairy sector. However, several
factors are obstacles to the functioning of the in-
novation system in this sector, in particular lob-
bying by the dairies and the asymmetry of power
between dairy farmers and agrifood companies,
lack of collaboration and interaction between
actors, lack of coordinated knowledge develop-
ment, and lack of formal financing mechanisms
to invest in livestock.

Hanafi et al. (2022) study to what extent pro-
jects funded with the support of international
cooperation have built the capacities of actors
involved in local entrepreneurial “ecosystems”
in Kebili and Medenine Regions, Tunisia. These
projects generally involve actions based on the
existing ecosystems that are implemented by
public actors responsible for supporting entre-
preneurship. However, they include few actions
designed to build the capacities of these actors,
to evaluate the functioning of entrepreneurial
ecosystems, and to promote coordination be-
tween these projects.

Emerging value chains

Emerging value chains are considered a
promising way to foster local development and
sustainability of agroecosystems in arid North
African regions. Saffron production has been
relaunched in Algeria in the last decade and the
article by Benmihoub et al. (2022) analyses the
emerging saffron value chain in Ghardaïa Re-
gion. This local saffron value chain has sever-
al strengths, including its potential profitability
and the quality of the product, and is capable
of grasping opportunities, e.g., the growing
national demand for healthy natural products.
However, its performance is limited by several
weaknesses (e.g. producers’ skills, marketing)
and threats (fraud or counterfeiting related to
imported saffron), mainly related to the institu-
tional deficiencies.

Koussani et al. (2022) describe the character-
istics of and challenges to expansion of the pro-
duction and marketing of Zarazi table olives in
Medenine Region, Tunisia. The olives are char-
acterised by well-defined traditional production
and processing but are almost only consumed
locally, due mainly to the lack of market out-
lets. So far, local inhabitants and development
actors have paid little attention to this particular

product. Workshops organised in the area helped
shed light on the potential of this value chain and
enabled the identification of possible actions to
promote it.

Lessons learned

*Increased diversity among – not necessarily*
*within – farming systems*

Intensive production of high-value agri-
cultural goods has emerged in all the study
regions. For instance, this is the case of Me-
jhoul dates and watermelons in Drâa Tafilalet
Region, dairy farming and maize in Ghardaïa
Region, and Deglet Noor dates in Kebili Re-
gion. The impact of the increased production
of high-value crops on the diversification of
farming systems is mixed. In Drâa Tafilalet Re-
gion, the expansion of watermelon cultivation
led to a decrease in crop diversity and in live-
stock breeding (Sraïri and Naqash, 2022). Con-
versely, in Kebili Region, water availability is
a major factor enabling crop diversity, which
may be higher in extensions than in traditional
oases (Benmoussa et al., 2022). In extension
areas in Drâa Tafilalet Region and in those lo-
cated in the periphery of traditional oases in
Ghardaïa Region, some farmers replicate the
logics of three-layer cropping and are aware of
the link between cropping and livestock breed-
ing. The articles in this special issue confirm
that the distinction between traditional oases,
characterised by three layers of production and
livestock breeding on the one hand, and exten-
sion areas focusing on monoculture on the oth-
er hand, is no longer applicable (Hamamouche
et al., 2018; Peano et al., 2021).

The interactions between the components of
complex irrigated farming systems in arid North
African regions are not yet well understood. For
instance, this is the case of how irrigation water
supplied to palm trees also benefits crops grow-
ing below the trees, or the agronomic and eco-
nomic impacts of the use of manure. In order to
characterise existing farming systems and pos-
sibly inform a discussion between actors about
their respective functioning and performance,
more detailed research is needed on the interac-
tions between the components of these farming
systems, in terms of biological processes, water
use, labour requirements, and economic values.

Water management from farm to socio-ecosystem level

The articles of this special issue underline the
variety of farm level innovations implemented
to enable a sufficient supply of irrigation wa-
ter. Farms located in extensions adapt the cen-
turies-old practices used in traditional oases to
increase their access to water, e.g. digging ca-
nals to collect flood water for irrigation in Drâa
Tafilalet Region (Er-rayhany et al., 2022), or
systems to enhance groundwater recharge in
Ghardaïa Region (Saidani et al., 2022). What
is more, a series of innovations has been devel-
oped to enhance the efficiency of irrigation prac-
tices at farm level: drip irrigation is now wide-
spread in the study regions in all three countries,
low-cost irrigation pivots are widely used in
Ghardaïa Region, and solar panels are now the
main source of energy for the irrigation of palm
groves in extension areas of Kebili Region.

Farmers using irrigated agroecosystems in
North Africa have introduced many innovations
to get sufficient irrigation water based on both
new farming practices and on different forms of
agreements between water providers and irriga-
tors (Daoudi et al., 2017). However, these initia-
tives have not been matched by institutional inno-
vations for the management of water resources at
regional level (Mekki et al., 2022). Groundwater
depletion patterns have emerged in Kebili and
Todgha Regions (Er-rayhany et al., 2022; Mekki
et al., 2022). Stakeholders, including farmers, ac-
knowledge the need for rules to manage ground-
water resources, yet discussions have yet to take
place (Farolfi et al., 2022; Mekki et al., 2022).

A promising yet fragile future for alternative
value chains

High-profile agricultural value chains have
become major pillars of local economies, a good
example being the Deglet Noor value chain in
Kebili Region. However, these value chains are
showing signs of vulnerability. In several are-

as, value chains for water-intensive crops have
to cope with increasing groundwater depletion
patterns. Moreover, some value chains, includ-
ing dairy farming in Ghardaïa Region, require
continuous support from the state to function,
and are vulnerable to a possible decrease in state
support in the future.

Other agricultural value chains may be better
suited to the local environment, have less impact
on it, and could become levers for more sustain-
able development. For instance, saffron produc-
tion is well suited to the climate of Ghardaïa
Region and does not require much water (Ben-
mihoub et al., 2022). Saffron production in
Ghardaïa Region and table olives in Medenine
Region are also of interest because they can be
produced by local inhabitants who have limited
access to land, capital and water, which is the
case of many women and young people in arid
regions in North Africa. However, these alterna-
tive value chains are not "on the radar" of main-
stream public policies, which continue to favour
dominant value chains. Policies are required to
facilitate the development of such alternative
value chains, in particular to promote producer
organisations, product certification, and to facil-
itate access to markets. Yet such support has to
be provided in a way that fosters the autonomy
of the actors of these value chains.

Innovations based on active but informal
cooperation between actors

The studies reported in this special issue unveil
dynamic innovation systems targeting farm pro-
duction techniques and agricultural value chains.
These innovation systems benefit from strong
connections between actors in arid areas and other
actors located in other northern regions of North
African countries. These connections concern the
continuous development and testing of innovations
and the transfer of the resulting innovations *per se*,
e.g. irrigation pivots in Algeria. However, these
innovation systems are not impervious to power
imbalances, for instance milk prices in Ghardaïa
Region (Oulmane et al., 2022) or the diffusion
of know-how to manufacture irrigation pivots in
Algeria (Ould Rebai et al., 2022). Some of these
innovations could be components of pathways to-
wards more sustainable agricultural development; for instance this could be the case of artificial water recharge systems in Ghardaïa Region, provided their implementation is part of a broad catchment level approach (Saidani et al., 2022).

The articles in this special issue report on innovations developed by private actors, sometimes with limited involvement of scientific research institutes. This was the case of the development of irrigation pivots in Algeria. The innovation capacities of private actors are thus frequently not visible to the public administration. In a similar way, actors of these regions have been able to cope with hazards, such as the Covid-19 crisis (Ftouhi et al., 2021). However, these resilience capacities are based solely on their own means and their collective or community initiatives. The Covid-19 crisis has led citizens to question the role that the state should play to help them cope with shocks. Despite these proven capacities, involvement of citizens in public policy design is still very limited. In the four regions studied in this special issue, local development associations are *de facto* active in defining and implementing development activities at the local level but are not acknowledged as fully-fledged partners for policy design and implementation by public authorities (Hamamouche et al., 2022).

## Conclusion

The development and transformation of irrigated agroecosystems in arid North African regions have enabled impressive economic growth in recent decades. However many sustainability issues are emerging: most remain unanswered and some (e.g., the way solar energy can lead to inefficient irrigation practices) have not even been addressed at the time of writing. There is a need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between public and private actors to build a shared vision of the current situation and of ways to address these issues. Such dialogue has to involve the actors of these regions, but also actors at a higher level to ensure changes in public policies. Such dialogue and cooperation can promote the resilience of local territories on the long term.

The Massire project supports multi-actor processes to assess the implementation and possible impacts of a series of innovations, which usually have interrelated technical, economic and social dimensions. These innovations include new techniques to collect and use water, promising value chains, and observatories of regional changes driven by local actors. The active participation of local actors in these processes underlines their interest in collectively “making sense” of on-going dynamics in irrigated agroecosystems and of existing and potential innovations, in order to build more sustainable development pathways.

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