A crop needs more than a drop: Towards a new praxis in irrigation management in North Africa

Abstract

We designed and implemented an action-research programme in large-scale irrigation schemes in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, aiming to develop a regional network of competences by conducting research, training and development activities, and involving local actors. We worked on three issues: (i) the sustainability of North Africa's growing groundwater economy, (ii) the integration of environmental constraints in the management of irrigated agriculture, and(iii) the analysis of new coordination modes of agricultural production and rural development in traditionally centrally managed irrigation schemes. Based on 11 empirical studies, we contributed to operationalizing a new praxis in irrigation management; this learning-oriented and network-based approach enables mobilization of the knowledge of a wide range of actors, as well as linking local knowledge systems to more universal ones. This approach is necessary to support family-based agriculture to continue to face recurrent droughts, feed the urban and rural populations, develop rural territories and integrate the rural youth.

Drought Adaptation in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China: Actions, Planning, Pathways and Barriers

“…Drip irrigation is an effective water-saving method, which was established in Germany more than a century ago [69]. Now, the method is widely used for agricultural production in arid, semi-arid and sub-tropical countries [70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84]. It was introduced to China in 1994 [85], and while the NX region's government has been trying to promote these irrigation methods through financial subsidies, such promotion is very difficult in rural areas for a variety of reasons (see Section 5).…”

Linking research and public engagement: weaving an alternative narrative of Moroccan family farmers’ collective action

“…Following Callon (1999), we used two criteria to choose the actors with whom to build up the relations for the co-construction of knowledge: (1) the innovation shown by the actors in their coordination practices with other actors and the analytical potential of these practices from a theoretical viewpoint, and (2) the possible impacts of the links between the researchers and the actors on counter balancing existing asymmetries and on the reinforcement of spokespersons. For both criteria, it was clearly the farmers' perspective that was by far the most interesting entry point to investigate (Kuper et al 2009b). First, the team studied the informal arrangements between farmers concerning access to land and water.…”

“…During the course of the two projects, the three intertwined types of activities resulted in the weaving of an alternative narrative, based on a coherent set of collective action stories and analyses. This narrative was built through continuous interaction between practice and theory, which was progressively stabilized and can be described as a ''praxis'' (Kuper et al 2009b). The narrative was not only based on analysis of existing farmerled collective actions.…”

“…However, the meetings enabled the research team to test, defend, and legitimate its research posture, and the research entry that was selected, i.e. local dynamics (Kuper et al 2009b).…”

Land use policy and agricultural water management of the previous half of century in Africa

“…It is a big warning for developing countries (Hussain 2007). Although mechanization and use of new technologies have an important role in enhancement of agricultural knowledge and increasing productivity (Kirpich et al 1999), labour force has a vital and irreplaceable role in agricultural scheduling and macroeconomic perspectives (Kuper et al 2009). However, other parameters as well as probable disadvantages of irrigation systems (the sub-main indices) are also affective on agricultural water management that their comprehensive study is not possible due to limited information in Africa.…”