The Ghout Agricultural System: Between Survival and Disappearance

The Ghout is a traditional agrosystem classified among the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems by the FAO. This Saharan artificial ecosystem was created through manual digging of the soil to approach the level of groundwater; date palm trees are planted at about 1 m depth and benefit from water without irrigation. The Ghout, composed of three stratum (palm trees, fruit trees and shrubs, and herbaceous plants), had remarkable floristic and faunal biodiversity. Since the 1980s, this agricultural system has been persistently degraded due to anthropogenic origins in the municipality of El Oued, mainly as a result of urban expansion and fluctuations in the water table level. Until the early 2000s, the phenomenon of rising water levels caused the drowning of palm trees and the disappearance of Ghouts; this was the consequence of the lack of an effective sewage system. However, since the 2010s, the lowering of groundwater levels to a depth exceeding 9 m has led to the drying up of Ghouts; it is due to the high demand for irrigation water. In addition, other factors have contributed to the disappearance of this innovative system, such as the inheritance and amortization of gardens leading to low production, which has resulted in the abandonment of these areas and the lack of interest from the youth to work in this heritage. The degradation of agrobiodiversity and varietal diversity of the date palm are among the characteristics recorded during the last decade, where the two cultivars Deglet Nour and Ghars dominate the Ghouts. Despite these drawbacks, in recent years, the emergence of digging the Ghouts has been recorded in the northeast and southwest of the province of El Oued.