SYSTEMES DE PRODUCTION DANS L’OASIS D’ASLA (NAAMA, ALGERIE).

Our study deals with the characterization of oasis production systems in the South of Naâma through a typological analysis in order to identify their degree of structuring and the functioning of oasis farmers. Using the regional typology of farms and production and cultivation systems practiced in the atlas oasis of Naâma (South-Western Algeria) can be a scientific means to better understand regional diversity and operating strategies among farmers. To this end, exhaustive surveys have been carried out among oasis farmers with an investigation in the field with a view to integrating the various components of the production system including the cropping system, the breeding system, the means of production and the social aspect. It emerges from the typology carried out at the pre-Saharan oasis of Asla (south of Naâma), that the dominant production system is an oasis mountain agro-system practiced for centuries. This intensive three-stage cultivation system: phoeniciculture, fruit arboriculture and generalization of market gardening and fodder systems. In addition to its date production, since phoeniciculture predominates, the oasis system also offers a favorable environment for carrying out a polyculture of food in underlying strata, associated with family-type farming. It is based on the principles of agroecology and adapted to the aridity constraints of the region’s climate. The present analysis reveals that the production system in the south of Naâma, traditionally aimed at traditional peasant agriculture, has experienced a permanent decline and that it is even threatened with disappearance for the sustainability of this ancestral oasis heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]