Agriculture in Motion: Intertwined Geographical and Socio-professional Mobilities in North Africa’s Groundwater Economy

Yıl 2018, , 33 - 45, 01.01.2018

Marcel Kuper Mohamed Naouri Tarik Hartani

https://doi.org/10.32325/iaad.2018.31

Öz

In this paper, we examine the greenhouse horticulture in Algeria’s Sahara, which is one illustrative example of the agricultural transitions that have taken place in North Africa on the new irrigation frontiers created through groundwater use. The entrepreneurial farming systems in the region are characterized by considerable mobility. Geographic mobilities of people, ideas, capital, information, and objects and socio-professional mobilities are intrinsically intertwined, whereby skilled sharecroppers and laborers move sometimes over hundreds of kilometers, attracted by the opportunities of quick monetary gains and by the opportunities of rapid socio-professional upward mobility. This paper analyzes, first the different forms of socio-professional and geographical mobilities associated with the groundwater-based farming systems in Algeria’s Sahara, with a particular focus on mobile young farmers; then focuses on the multiple borders that these young farmers crossed on their trajectory; and their return journey after they quit the Sahara

Anahtar Kelimeler

Agriculture, irrigation, groundwater, mobility, North Africa

Devinen Tarım: Kuzey Afrika’nın Yeraltı Suyu Ekonomisinde İç İçe Geçmiş Coğrafi ve Sosyo-profesyonel Hareketlilikler

Öz

Bu makalede, Kuzey Afrika’nın yeraltı suyu kullanımıyla oluşturulan sulama sınırlarındaki tarımsal dönüşümlerin aydınlatıcı örneklerinden biri olan Cezayir Sahra’sındaki sera bahçeciliği incelenmektedir. Bölgedeki girişimci tarım sistemleri, dikkate değer bir hareketlilik ile nitelenmektedir. İnsanların, fikirlerin, sermayenin, bilginin ve nesnelerin coğrafi hareketliliği ve sosyo-profesyonel hareketlilikler, ortakçı çiftçiler ve işçilerin, hızlı parasal kazançların ve sosyo-profesyonel yükselme olanaklarının çekiciliğine kapılarak bazen yüzlerce kilometre yer değiştirmeleri vasıtasıyla, özünde iç içe geçmiş durumdadırlar. Bu makale, hareketli genç çiftçileri odağına alarak, Cezayir Sahra’sındaki yeraltı suyu merkezli tarımsal sistemlerle ilişkili sosyo-profesyonel ve coğrafi hareketliliklerin farklı formlarını, bu genç çiftçilerin güzergahlarında geçtikleri çoklu sınırları ve Sahra’yı bırakmaları ardından yaptıkları geri dönüş yolculuklarını analiz etmektedir

Anahtar Kelimeler

Tarım, sulama, yeraltı suyu, hareketlilik, Kuzey Afrika

Kaynakça

• Amichi, Farida, Sami Bouarfa, Caroline Lejars, Marcel Kuper, Tarik Hartani, Ali Daoudi, Hichem Amichi, and Mohamed Belhamra. “Des serres et des hommes: des exploita- tions motrices de l’expansion territoriale et de l’ascension socio professionnelle sur un front pionnier de l’agriculture saharienne en Algérie.” Cahiers Agricultures 24, no. 1 (2015): 11-19.
• Amichi, Hichem, Zakaria Kadiri, Sami Bouarfa, and Marcel Kuper. “Une génération en quête d’opportunités et de reconnaissance: les jeunes ruraux et leurs trajectoires in- novantes dans l’agriculture irriguée au Maghreb.” Cahiers Agricultures 24, no. 6 (2015): 323-329.
• Amichi, Farida, Sami Bouarfa, Marcel Kuper, and Patrick Caron. “From Oasis Archipe- lago to Pioneering Eldorado in Algeria’s Sahara.” Irrigation and Drainage, forthcoming.
• Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina. “Work Transitions into and out of Involuntary Temporary Employment in a Segmented Market: Evidence from Spain.” ILR Review 53, no. 2 (2000): 309-325.
• Assassi, Sami, Ali Daoudi, and Caroline Lejars. “Les profits ‘excessifs’ des commerçants de fruits et légumes en Algérie: réalité ou préjugé infondé? Le cas de la tomate pri- meur à Biskra.” Cahiers Agricultures 26, no. 2 (2017), 25002.
• Bensaâd, Ali, ed. L’eau et ses enjeux au Sahara. Paris: Karthala Editions, 2011.
• Benziouche, Salah Eddine. “L’agriculture biologique, un outil de développement de la filière dattes dans la région des Ziban en Algérie.” Cahiers Agricultures 26, no. 3 (2017): 35008.
• Bisson, Jean. Mythes et réalités d’un désert convoité: le Sahara. Paris: Editions L’Harmattan, 2003.
• Côte, Marc. “Des oasis aux zones de mise en valeur: L’étonnant renouveau de l’agricultu- re saharienne.” Méditerranée 99, no. 3.4 (2002): 5-14.
• Firth, Stewart. Globalization and Governance in the Pacific Islands: State, Society and Governan- ce in Melanesia. ANU Press, 2013.
• Hamamouche, Meriem Farah, Marcel Kuper, Hichem Amichi, Caroline Lejars, and Tarik Ghodbani. “New Reading of Saharan Agricultural Transformation: Continuities of Ancient Oases and Their Extensions (Algeria).” World Development 107 (2018): 210-223.
• Hannam, Kevin, Mimi Sheller, and John Urry. “Mobilities, Immobilities and Moorings.” Mobilities 1, no. 1 (2006): 1-22.
• Imache, Amar, Tarik Hartani, Sami, Bouarfa, and Marcel Kuper. La Mitidja vingt ans après: Réalités agricoles aux portes d’Alger. Algiers: Alpha Editions; Versailles: Editions Quae, 2011.
• Kuper, Marcel, Nicolas Faysse, Ali Hammani, Tarik Hartani, Serge Marlet, Meriem Fa- rah Hamamouche, and Fatah Ameur. “Liberation or Anarchy? The Janus Nature of Groundwater Use on North Africa’s New Irrigation Frontiers.” In Integrated Groun- dwater Management, edited by Anthony J. Jakeman, Olivier Barreteau, Randall J. Hunt, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo and Andrew Ross, 583-615. Cham: Springer International Pub- lishing, 2016.
• Lejars, Caroline, Ali Daoudi, and Hichem Amichi. “The Key Role of Supply Chain Actors in Groundwater Irrigation Development in North Africa.” Hydrogeology Journal 25, no. 6 (2017): 1593-1606.
• Maclellan, Nic, and Peter Mares. “Labor Mobility in the Pacific: Creating Seasonal Work Programs in Australia.” Globalization and Governance in the Pacific Islands. 2006: 137-171.
• Naouri, Mohamed, Tarik Hartani, and Marcel Kuper. “Mobilités des jeunes ruraux pour intégrer les nouvelles agricultures sahariennes (Biskra, Algérie).” Cahiers Agricultures 24, no. 6 (2015): 379-386.
• Naouri, Mohamed, Tarik Hartani, and Marcel Kuper. “The ‘Innovation Factory’: User-led Incremental Innovation of Drip Irrigation Systems in the Algerian Sahara.” In Drip Ir- rigation for Agriculture: Untold Stories of Efficiency, Innovation and Development, edited by Jean-Philippe Venot, Marcel Kuper and Margreet Zwarteveen, 266-283. London and New York: Routledge, Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management, 2017.
• Okali, Christine, and James Sumberg. “Quick Money and Power: Tomatoes and Liveliho- od Building in Rural Brong Ahafo, Ghana.” IDS Bulletin 43, no. 6 (2012): 44-57.
• Ouendeno, Mohamed Lamine, Ali Daoudi, and Jean-Philippe Colin. “Les trajectoires professionnelles des jeunes dans la néo-agriculture saharienne (Biskra, Algérie) re- visitées par la théorie de l’agricultural ladder.” Cahiers Agricultures 24, no. 6 (2015): 396-403.
• Petit, Olivier, Marcel Kuper, and Fatah Ameur. “From Worker to Peasant and Then to Entrepreneur? Land Reform and Agrarian Change in the Saïss (Morocco).” World De- velopment 105 (2018): 119-131.
• Rebai, Abdelkrim Ould, Tarik Hartani, Mohammed Nacer Chabaca, and Marcel Kuper. “Une innovation incrémentielle: la conception et la diffusion d’un pivot d’irrigation artisanal dans le Souf (Sahara algérien).” Cahiers Agricultures 26, no. 3 (2017): 35005.
• Shah, Tushaar. Taming the Anarchy: Groundwater Governance in South Asia. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute, 2009.
• Sheller, Mimi, and John Urry. “The New Mobilities Paradigm.” Environment and Planning A 38, no. 2 (2006): 207-226.
• Urry, John. Sociology Beyond Societies: Mobilities for the Twenty-first Century. London, New York: Routledge, 2012.