No abstract

No abstract

Two contrasting views prevail on groundwater use in situations of predominantly state-led irrigation development. The first considers 'groundwater as liberation', i.e., how, by capturing the irrigation initiative, farmers liberated themselves from 'state' water, enabling more intensive and productive agriculture. The second view -'groundwater as anarchy' -considers groundwater as a M. Kuper (*) Cirad,

In many countries, farmers are turning to groundwater to make up for surface water scarcity and to deal with increasing water demand, even inside large-scale irrigation schemes. In many situations, this leads to the mining of groundwater resources, which in turn threatens the sustainability of the farms that depend on this resource. The purpose of this study was to find ways to provide the necessary information to stakeholders to enable them to construct rules for sustainable groundwater management. The dynamics of water resources and water use practices were analysed and management indicators were designed for two irrigation schemes in North Africa: Tadla (Morocco) and Mitidja West (Algeria). The results showed, firstly, that available groundwater has decreased; secondly, that farming systems depend to an increasing extent on groundwater resources, and thirdly, that individual and collective access to groundwater depends on informal arrangements. We developed and tested a platform for dialogue for water management focused on exploring plausible scenarios of agricultural development in relation to the use of groundwater. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. RÉ SUMÉDans beaucoup de régions irriguées du monde, traditionnellement alimentées par des eaux de surface, le recours aux nappes souterraines est de plus en plus important suite à des pénuries d'eau de surface et à l'augmentation de la demande en eau. Cela induit une surexploitation de ces ressources menaçant en conséquence la durabilité des exploitations agricoles. L'objectif de l'étude est de développer des méthodes pour produire de l'information pour les acteurs et les utilisateurs des nappes pour leur permettre d'élaborer des règles de gestion. La dynamique des nappes et les pratiques des irrigants ont été analysées dans deux périmètres irrigués: Tadla (Maroc) et Mitidja Ouest (Algérie). Les résultats montrent que (1) la disponibilité en eau souterraine est en diminution, (2) les systèmes de production dépendent fortement des nappes, et (3) Vers une nouvelle approche de la gestion des ressources en eau souterraine: transformer l'information pour construire des regles de gestion.

Moroccan agriculture is currently undergoing major political, socioeconomic, and environmental transitions. Smallholder farmers involved in large-scale irrigation schemes need to modernize their systems to face these challenges. In this study, a participatory process incorporating different simulation and gaming tools was designed and applied to accompany farmer groups in designing joint irrigation projects, generally drip irrigation systems. A role-playing game was used in the first phase of the process to raise awareness among farmers about the scope and contents of a joint irrigation project and list the different knowledge gaps. During the second phase, a policy simulation exercise based on the actual field situation enabled farmer groups to design their own joint drip irrigation project. As a result, several farmer groups produced a feasibility study for their joint drip irrigation system. Our experience highlighted the complementarity of these tools in a process of change. The abstract role-playing game provided valid learning experience while the realistic simulation supported concrete decision making.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Much attention has been paid to the issue of groundwater depletion linked to intensive groundwater-based agriculture in (semi-)arid areas. Often referred to as the “overexploitation” of aquifers, groundwater depletion is generally attributed to the entire agricultural sector without distinguishing between different uses and users. Although it expresses a general concern for future users, the ambiguous term of “overexploitation” does not acknowledge the contested nature of groundwater use and emerging inequalities. Also, the impact of inequality on groundwater depletion is rarely questioned. The aim of this article is to investigate how and by whom groundwater is depleted, and in turn, how unequal access to groundwater fuels the socioeconomic differentiation of farms and groundwater depletion. Based on a detailed analysis of groundwater use from a user perspective in two irrigated areas in North Africa (Morocco and Algeria), this study shows how the context of groundwater depletion exacerbates—and is exacerbated by—existing inequalities. The paper concludes that knowing how much is withdrawn, where, and by whom provides helpful information for more informed groundwater management by a better understanding of the response of users to declining groundwater conditions and the interests and incentives of different social categories of famers to contribute to groundwater management. (Résumé d'auteur

When large‐scale irrigation schemes were created, establishing viable, and closely supervised, medium‐sized family farms was considered essential to reap the benefits of state investments. This centralized development model was progressively dismantled, especially as farmers installed private tubewells relying less on surface water. Our aim is to analyse development pathways of family farms in the Tadla irrigation scheme (Morocco). Results showed that pathways were linked to groundwater access, but also to (informal) land markets, and off‐farm revenues. Groundwater enabled farmers to overcome reductions in surface water, and diversify crops. This concerned mainly the 36% large and medium‐sized farms. Such farmers also managed to increase their cropped area through land markets, as renting in land, and producing market crops, require capital. Groundwater showed limited redistributive capacities, as only 20% of small‐scale farmers obtained direct access. Farmers' off‐farm revenues sustained livelihoods, especially in dry years, but were generally not reinvested in agriculture. Over the past 40 years, groundwater has been mainly mobilized from phreatic aquifers, recharged by rainfall and surface irrigation. Their use seems sustainable, but farmers are exploring deeper aquifers while the administration encourages conversion to micro‐irrigation, thus reducing aquifer recharge and complicating the future of the groundwater economy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.