The oasis extensions: Typology and heterogeneity of profiles in Toudgha

Abstract

Oases in North Africa have undergone significant change over the past 30 years, contributing to the emergence of new issues and practices. Irrigated farms are increasingly developing outside of historical oases, in lands previously reserved for extensive livestock. This article is a contribution to the knowledge of these issues in the Toudgha Valley in south-eastern Morocco. Its objective is to analyse the heterogeneity of these expanding farms without limiting the issues to a model of land grabbing by large investors. Based on a qualitative survey of 49 farms, our results show that there are three types of farms. The first is a small farms where people move to look for housing and new work opportunities at other farms. The second is a medium farms where farmers seek to reproduce three-layered crop production and have more land than in historical oases. The last type is a large farms where investors settle and intensify their production. This typology, far from being fixed, allows us to reflect on the dynamics of these extensions.