Assessment of the agricultural productivity of a traditional agricultural system in Tunisia

摘要

The study focused on Jessour,a traditional farming system in south Tunisia,which uses water collected from far away in mountainous areas after precipitation there.The study analyzed and estimated the actual agricultural productivity,the productive potential,and the prospects for utilization of the system.Data on crop yields,operation and maintenance cost and farm system expansion and upgrading were collected by a questionnaire to the farmers through a survey.The result shows that Jessour system can permit olive and olive oil production,cereal crops,vegetables,and fruits for domestic consumption throughout the year.However,the crop yields from Jessour are extremely unstable under unsettled meteorological conditions,which have become frequent in recent years.The result also showed that more and more farmers are cultivating fodder crops in upstream catchment area to make up for reduced crop yields in recent years.However,cultivation of catchment area is difficult because of the unfavorable conditions to collect water.Therefore,farmers are cultivating drought resistant plants such as barley and legumes.Cultivation of upstream catchment area may however impact negatively on downstream farmland cultivation.