[ Intensive agricultural landscape with the Tunisian mid-west: A tentative of an integrated eco-pommoicole management into Foussana ]
Volume 6, Issue 2, June 2014, Pages 222–231
Ilahi Hayet1, Saadaoui Islem2, Robin Bryant Christopher3, and Rejeb Hichem4
1 Research Unit "Horticulture, Landscape and Environment", University of Sousse, Higher Agonomic Institute of Chott Mariem, BP 47, 4042 Sousse, Tunisia
2 Research Unit "Horticulture, Landscape and Environment", University of Sousse, Higher Agonomic Institute of Chott Mariem, BP 47, 4042 Sousse, Tunisia
3 Laboratoire développement durable et dynamique territoriale, département de Géographie, Université de Montréal/Faculté des Arts et des Sciences, C. P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville Montréal QC H3C 3J7, Canada
4 Research Unit "Horticulture, Landscape and Environment", University of Sousse, Higher Agonomic Institute of Chott Mariem, BP 47, 4042 Sousse, Tunisia
Original language: French
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In countries with arid and semi-arid climate such as Tunisia, the over-exploitation of ground water resources became intolerable, in particular that of the delegation of Foussana located in the mid-west of Tunisia, object of this study. This situation of overexploitation requires the characterization of the agricultural landscape and the characterization of water resources using a Geographical Information System SIG: ArcGis 9.3. The approach followed in this work is articulate on the installation of an agricultural and hydrological database; these plans of information were combined by methods of multicriterion analysis through the software ArcMap 9.3 to produce cards sets of themes which make it possible to describe the agricultural landscape in this area and to represent the hydrological potentialities of Foussana. Spatialization presents one of the best approaches to characterize the landscape of the area. Thus, this work enabled us to traverse the territories while revealing the wealth in water resources which present a factor supporting the differentiation of the agrarian landscapes in a typology of "rainfed agriculture" (83.4%) and of "modernized agriculture" (16.5%) requires large amounts of water. The irrigated area accounts 179.6 ha (between cultivations of cereals, arboriculture, truck farming and fodder) in 1980, to attain 4620 ha in 2010, for example the apple orchard landscape very demanding of water factor, which accounts for 50% of arboriculture sector in the study zone.
Author Keywords: Intensive farming, water resources, hydrological potential, irrigated perimeters, apple orchards landscape.
Volume 6, Issue 2, June 2014, Pages 222–231
Ilahi Hayet1, Saadaoui Islem2, Robin Bryant Christopher3, and Rejeb Hichem4
1 Research Unit "Horticulture, Landscape and Environment", University of Sousse, Higher Agonomic Institute of Chott Mariem, BP 47, 4042 Sousse, Tunisia
2 Research Unit "Horticulture, Landscape and Environment", University of Sousse, Higher Agonomic Institute of Chott Mariem, BP 47, 4042 Sousse, Tunisia
3 Laboratoire développement durable et dynamique territoriale, département de Géographie, Université de Montréal/Faculté des Arts et des Sciences, C. P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville Montréal QC H3C 3J7, Canada
4 Research Unit "Horticulture, Landscape and Environment", University of Sousse, Higher Agonomic Institute of Chott Mariem, BP 47, 4042 Sousse, Tunisia
Original language: French
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
In countries with arid and semi-arid climate such as Tunisia, the over-exploitation of ground water resources became intolerable, in particular that of the delegation of Foussana located in the mid-west of Tunisia, object of this study. This situation of overexploitation requires the characterization of the agricultural landscape and the characterization of water resources using a Geographical Information System SIG: ArcGis 9.3. The approach followed in this work is articulate on the installation of an agricultural and hydrological database; these plans of information were combined by methods of multicriterion analysis through the software ArcMap 9.3 to produce cards sets of themes which make it possible to describe the agricultural landscape in this area and to represent the hydrological potentialities of Foussana. Spatialization presents one of the best approaches to characterize the landscape of the area. Thus, this work enabled us to traverse the territories while revealing the wealth in water resources which present a factor supporting the differentiation of the agrarian landscapes in a typology of "rainfed agriculture" (83.4%) and of "modernized agriculture" (16.5%) requires large amounts of water. The irrigated area accounts 179.6 ha (between cultivations of cereals, arboriculture, truck farming and fodder) in 1980, to attain 4620 ha in 2010, for example the apple orchard landscape very demanding of water factor, which accounts for 50% of arboriculture sector in the study zone.
Author Keywords: Intensive farming, water resources, hydrological potential, irrigated perimeters, apple orchards landscape.
Abstract: (french)
Dans des pays à climat aride et semi-aride tels que la Tunisie, la surexploitation des ressources en eau, est devenue intolérable pour certaines nappes notamment celle de la délégation de Foussana située au centre-ouest tunisien, objet de cette étude. Cette situation de surexploitation nécessite la caractérisation du paysage du secteur agricole de Foussana et la caractérisation des ressources en eau moyennant un Système d'Informations Géographiques SIG l'ArcGis 9,3. La démarche suivie dans ce travail s'articule sur la mise en place d'une base de données agricole et hydrologique, ces plans d'information ont été combinés par des méthodes d'analyse multicritère à travers le logiciel Arc Map 9.3 pour produire des cartes thématiques qui permettent de décrire le paysage agricole dans cette région et de représenter le potentiel hydrologique de Foussana. La spatialisation présente une meilleure approche pour caractériser le paysage de la région. Ainsi, ce travail nous a permis de parcourir les territoires tout en révélant la richesse en ressources hydriques qui présente un facteur favorisant la différenciation des paysages agraires en une typologie « agriculture pluviale » (83.4 %) et en « agriculture modernisée » (16.5 %) très consommatrice en eau. Les superficies irriguées ont évolué de 179.6 ha (entre céréalicultures, arboriculture, maraîchage et fourrage) en 1980 pour atteindre 4620 ha l'année 2010, un bon exemple du paysage pommoïcole très exigeant en eau, qui représente 50% du secteur arboricole de la zone d'étude.
Author Keywords: Agriculture intensive, ressources hydriques, potentiel hydrologique, périmètres irrigués, paysage pommoicole.
How to Cite this Article
Ilahi Hayet, Saadaoui Islem, Robin Bryant Christopher, and Rejeb Hichem, “Paysage agricole intensif au centre-ouest tunisien : Essai d'une gestion intégrée éco-pommoïcole à Foussana,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 222–231, June 2014.