Overlapping Groundwater Service Markets in a Palm Grove in the Algerian Sahara

Abstract

Groundwater service markets are important and dynamic institutions that provide water to a wide range of farmers in many regions. However, these institutions represent arenas of complex and often antagonistic relations, which determine which farmers gain access to water and how. This study analyses the emergence and functioning of groundwater service markets from a historical perspective to advance the understanding of the role of social power games in shaping these institutions. The study was conducted in the Sidi Okba oasis in the Algerian Sahara, where over recent decades, four (in)formal, often overlapping, groundwater service markets have emerged. These markets were shaped progressively by socio‐ethnic antagonism, state intervention and economic competition between water sellers. By continuously adjusting these institutions, the highly diverse irrigation community prevented the emergence of a monopoly in groundwater sales and maintained the balance of power between water sellers and buyers by countering possible control of groundwater access by a single socio‐ethnic or economic group. The demonstrated ability of the irrigation community to craft rules to ensure these groundwater service markets function should encourage public actors to mobilize this capacity to deal with the drop in water tables, which is one adverse outcome of the ‘success' of these markets. Copyright © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A systems perspective on water markets: barriers, bright spots, and building blocks for the next generation

“…Comparative research has also demonstrated how cultural differences in norms of justice and fairness shape acceptability of water markets [6], how legal conditions affect their suitability [29] and how individuals and communities have balanced benefits and risks of participating in markets [25]. These trends have coincided with efforts to broaden performance measurement beyond important economic studies to account for a range of impacts and outcomes related to justice, sustainability, and health.…”

“…For example, an international team from Kathmandu conducted a rare repeat study of water vending to develop a system-wide picture amidst changes in urbanization, water availability, and infrastructure coverage [10]. Farmer surveys of market participants from Australia to Algeria have generated insight about irrigator behavior in the face of shifting incentives created by markets, including the determinants of water sales, farm exit, and mental health impacts [9,25]. Experimental and quasi-experimental research designs have enabled causal inferences about the effects of different policy levers and technologies, such as in West Bengal, where farmers who owned electric pumps sold more water to smallholders than farmers who owned diesel pumps due to cost differences across technologies [26].…”

INNOVATIONS IN IRRIGATION SYSTEMS IN AFRICA†

“…Two papers deal with groundwater governance issues in Algeria: Hamamouche et al . () analyse the historical conditions of emergence of groundwater service markets; Amichi et al . () demonstrate how individual farmers' initiatives and public investment interact to participate in the pioneering dynamics of an irrigated territory based on groundwater exploitation.…”