The oases of Jerid: permanent revolutions?

- The Oases of the Jérid: Permanent Revolutions?

– Original title:
Les oasis du Jérid: des révolutions permanentes?
Montpellier, CIRAD-SAR /INRAT, GRIDAO, 1997,
ill., tab., 244 p. + 250 p. Annexes.
PDF File: https://hal.science/halshs-00122843
All data from the annual monitoring of oasis holdings have been deposited on HAL and are available in open access.
On the CIRAD website: http://agritrop.cirad.fr/313496

Note: Since version 3 was deposited on HAL (see above, under “Fichiers annexes”), the updated document is acoompagnied by fifteen Excel files. These annexes contain the full set of quantitative data collected over the course of one agricultural year, documenting the practices of oasis farmers and the functioning of their farms in the Jérid region. This dataset is freely available to anyone wishing to reprocess it, cross-analyze it, or delve deeper into its contents — to anyone who might enjoy making the data speak a little more.

– Report prepared within the framework of the project “Research for the development of oasis agriculture”
– Partner institutions:
INRAT / CRPh - Centre de Recherches Phœnicicoles, Degache -Tunisia
GRIDAO / CIRAD-SAR, Montpellier - France
– Funding:
Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture and the French Foreign Affairs

– Date: April 1997.

A heartfelt thank you to those who made it possible for me to undertake this cooperation mission despite countless obstacles, to the French and Tunisian institutions that enabled it, and to the farmers and friends who welcomed and supported me in Tunisia.
Vincent Battesti, Montpellier, September 20, 1996

– Abstract:
As part of the oasis agriculture development project in the Jérid region (Tunisia), this work proposes the establishment of techno-economic reference data to characterize the various existing production systems. It aims to provide a “snapshot” of the types of farms identified through the project’s typology and zoning framework—both methodological tools developed within the scope of the program.

– Excerpt from the Introduction:

Ambition

The oasis can swiftly crystallize highly contradictory representations. It seems relevant here to begin with the notion of work in order to address the reality of oasis life in the Tunisian Jérid. Work is either downplayed—for instance, by the tourist gaze, which imagines the oasis as a spontaneous, restful landscape devoid of agriculture—or overstated—for example, by administrative bodies, which view it solely as farmland. It thus appears useful to reassert the proper place of labor—of human intervention on land and biological material. The productive form of the oasis survives only through the energy of human labor. Yet it would be misleading to claim that this labor is driven exclusively by productivist logics. In other words, the farmer is not merely seeking to “maximize profit.” What, then, is he doing in his garden?

Whether this labor is more or less effective today than in the past—in both quantitative and qualitative terms—and whether the oasis is indeed experiencing a structural crisis, it remains essential to delve more deeply into the lived reality of the Jérid.

The aim of this work is to offer a study anchored in the present (1994–1996) while avoiding the error—not of lacking historical depth—but of lapsing into a descriptive non-time. Such anchoring is necessary if one is to grasp ongoing transformations. The analysis is constructed in a centrifugal or inductive manner, moving from the specific to gradually outline relevant categories. This approach does not define categories a priori, but allows them to emerge from observed details, ultimately contributing to a broader understanding of the agrarian structure of the Jérid.

We subsequently present techno-socio-economic reference data on the functioning of oasis agriculture—serving as “snapshots” of various types of gardens from different zones—together with an analysis of strategies and trajectories across the different “states” observed. At the level of the study, the strength of a socio-economic monitoring approach lies in its ability to descend to the smallest observable item, which may present its own specific challenges in relation to the broader zonal scale (where the basic geographic unit is either the AIC [1] or the oasis itself). Zoning, however, remains a valuable and indispensable tool.

Context

This research program and its activities were carried out within the framework of the Franco-Tunisian cooperation project (GRIDAO [2] / INRAT [3]) aimed at developing oasis agriculture in the Jérid region (Tunisia). The primary objective of the research was the establishment of techno-economic references (RTE), and more broadly, the identification of oasis production systems in the Jérid. This work was conducted first under the status of “national service cooperation volunteer,” and subsequently as a CIRAD [4] contractor, based at the Date Palm Research Center in Degache (INRAT), from November 1994 to May 1996. It was carried out in parallel with a PhD in social anthropology (Université Paris V – Sorbonne / Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle), focusing on the socioecology of the oasis.

The penultimate steering committee of the project (early 1995) highlighted a significant lack of technical and socio-economic data on oasis farming systems. It was in response to these recommendations that the acquisition of the techno-economic references was undertaken.

Limitations of the Study:

This report forms part of the broader framework of the Franco-Tunisian cooperation project and also of my doctoral research (to be defended in 1997). This dual context explains the deliberate limitations imposed on the scope of the present document. It does not aim to offer an ethnosociological or anthropological analysis, despite the inclusion of numerous personal notes, as these will be more appropriately integrated into the doctoral dissertation, alongside broader socioecological reflections.

Nor does this report propose a geographical analysis of agriculture in the Jérid, since such work has already been carried out within the project framework [5]. The same applies to the question of water in the region’s oases, which has been deliberately left aside here given the existence of numerous dedicated studies:
– on an oasis in the Jérid: JUSSERAND Y. – Gestion de l’eau dans l’oasis de Nefta Beni Ali, Dec. 1994, CIRAD/SAR, Montpellier, INRAT/CRPh, GRIDAO, CNEARC;
– on a neighboring oasis region: BEDOUCHA G. – « L’eau, l’amie du puissant », Une communauté oasienne du Sud tunisien, Paris, coll. Ordres sociaux, Éd. des Archives contemporaines, 1987, published with the support of CNRS and CNL, 427 p.;
– on the Maghreb more broadly: PÉRENNES J.-J. – L’eau et les hommes au Maghreb. Contribution à une politique de l’eau en Méditerranée, Paris, coll. Hommes et sociétés, Karthala, 1993, 646 p.

These studies sometimes rely, in my view, on the overly reductive hypothesis that this scarce resource is the key explanatory axis of oasis functioning. The present report confines itself instead to examining the relationships between local populations and their cultivated spaces, without reiterating the classical generalities on oases.

Conclusion…

The oasis is an exceedingly complex environment, as this study has sought to illustrate.

Its complexity stems from a delicate ecological balance and an increasingly visible integration into market dynamics—a connection that has never been entirely absent, for better or for worse. This complexity involves both biological and inorganic elements, but it is inseparably tied to social (or socioecological) dimensions. The Jérid thus offers an example of a form of agriculture that does not always conform to productivist definitions.

Approaching such a system requires considerable care, so that external or internal changes do not destabilize it, but rather support its resilience and reinforce its foundations.

In this context, the role of diagnostic assessment is crucial. It must be developed with full awareness of the scale effects that may, at times, create illusions or “mirages.” Hierarchy theory appears to offer a particularly useful framework in this regard. This report consistently emphasizes the idea of a permanent revolution, which serves to nuance the notion of crisis and instead highlights the potential for a shared, forward-looking dynamic—one built collectively by all actors rather than grounded in retreat or nostalgic withdrawal.