Algeria's Saharan irrigation system threatened by modernisation and desertification

07/03/2007

Algeria's irrigation system in the Saharan regions of Touat and Gourara has stood firm for centuries and bears witness to the numerous civilisations which have inhabited the region's oases. However, the effects of modernisation have compounded the problems of desertification in the "triangle of fire" and this regional heritage is now threatened with extinction.

Text and Photos by Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 07/03/07

An oasis village buried under the sand.

The Algerian regions of Touat and Gourara -- which cover an area the size of France (400,000 sq km) -- are among the hottest places on Earth, with summer temperatures reaching 50° C. The large desert plateaus are circled by the Grand Erg Occidental, an ocean of sand dunes covering more than 2,500sq km.

The oases scattered across this vast territory survive on water from the phreatic layer. These deep groundwater deposits occasionally come to the surface, where residents dig wells into water-bearing hillsides and develop underground networks to irrigate the oases below. This method of irrigation, known as foggaras, was originally created by the Babylonians, Persians and Arabs, and was brought to the Touat and Gourara regions in the 10th century, Common Era.

Historically, the distribution of water through the foggaras was determined according to each landowner's contribution to the construction and maintenance of the irrigation system. Water quotas have been recorded in registers and handed down through the generations for 11 centuries.

The effects of modernization and desertification threaten this ancestral system. During its push for agricultural liberalization in the 1990s, the Algerian government largely abandoned its anti-erosion programmes from the 1960s and 1970s. Many farmers chose to leave the oases, throw themselves into modern agriculture, and dig wells to irrigate large desert expanses.

This trend towards industrial-scale production, particularly of grains and tomatoes, has had an adverse impact on regional water tables. "Unlike traditional agriculture as practised in the oases, situated below the plateaus, modern agriculture takes place on the plateaus, which reduces the flow of underground water," explains Amar Madani, who works in agricultural management.

The foggara system distributes water throughout the gardens.

This problem is further compounded by recent discoveries of vast oil and gas reserves in the desert. A large Chinese oil refinery sprung up in Gourara, and other large-scale projects are under way in the region, including in the salt lake of Timimoune, where companies have found gas. "If ever they set up a factory here, it will spell the end of tourism and agriculture in the oases," local tour guide Belgacem El Hadi says.

Those living in the oases also bear their share of responsibility for the irrigation system's decline. The foggaras today are in poor shape "because of a lack of maintenance", says Bachir Kendil, a resident of Ouled Said, a Timimoune oasis. "Land owners have long preferred to work in commerce or administration and entrust their land to employees who, in turn, prefer to work for themselves on projects to exploit the land."

In 2000, the Algerian government initiated a National Plan for Agricultural Development (PNDA). The plan aims to rehabilitate irrigation systems, to reduce industrial water consumption through the introduction of drip-irrigation systems and to increase agricultural workers' incomes to stem rural flight.

However, oasis residents like Blekhiri Ahmed remain unaware of the programme. "Where has this money gone? I've never seen it, and I've never heard of a programme such as this! The palm trees are dying one after another, the water is becoming more and more scarce, and people here are disenchanted with working on the land."