Fait partie de [OMA31]

1997 - 526 p.

Social dimension of the policy of the use of water

Nasr M.L.Y.

In irrigated agriculture areas where water supply pattern given by irrigation districts (policy maker) does not meet the water demand pattern desired by users to satisfy their crop water requirements, a conflict will arise both between irrigation districts and users and among the users themselves, since irrigation system is defined as a set of physical and social elements. These conflict can be explained through the structural-culture dimension. The structural-cultural is dominated by two main categories, the situations and actions. Situations are composed of the particular setting of the farmer, the culture of the area, and the social structure and processes surrounding the farmer. The actions are the actual and decisions made by the farmers. The factors making up the farmers situation then result in a set of behaviour patterns and decisions. The Egyptian experiences showed that conflicts between social dimension, which determine farmer irrigation behaviour, and policy maker represented by the MPWWR arises because of the differences between the design assumptions of water supply and the farmer demand which is controlled by social behaviour. It was observed that farmers prefer to irrigate at daytime from about 3:00 am to about 12.00 noon, where water supply pattern is assumed that farmers have to irrigate all 24 hours a day. During Islamic occasion -like month of Ramadan- where farmers are fasting, they started irrigation right after the mid-night meal until the early morning hours. Also, the weekly market day at each village affect the farmers irrigation behaviour. They prefer not to irrigate on that day to have a chance for crop marketing and to meet other traded purposes needed for their farm cultivation

Mots-clés    

EAU, EGYPTE, OFFRE ET DEMANDE, POLITIQUE AGRICOLE, STRUCTURE SOCIALE

Citer cet article    

Nasr M.L.Y. Social dimension of the policy of the use of water. In : Dupuy B. (ed.). Aspects économiques de la gestion de l'eau dans le bassin méditerranéen . Bari : CIHEAM, 1997. p. 405-419. (Options Méditerranéennes : Série A. Séminaires Méditerranéens; n. 31). Atelier sur les Aspects Economiques de la Gestion de l'Eau dans le Bassin Méditerranéen, 1995/05/17-19, Marrakech (Morocco). http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/a31/CI971553.pdf