In the framework of the PRIMA SmaCuMed project & on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on March 08, 2023, the FSTE and the Research Team Biodiversity, Environment and Plant Protection and Plant Protection Research Team organized “A study day on the role of oasis women in the rationalization of water use“.
Women play essential socio-economic roles in the oases, contributing effectively to the oasis economy through activities that add value to local products thanks to know-how passed down from generation to generation. They have often developed agro-ecology projects to fight against water scarcity and soil impoverishment. Oasis women have understood that the protection of oases is crucial, not only for their ecological importance, but also for their economic value, since 90% of the economic activity of oases comes from agriculture.
This event has emphasized the fragility of the balance of these oasis ecosystems especially in a changing global context including climate change and those related to human activities inducing a scarcity of water, essential resource for the existence of oases. It also tried to define the role of the oasis woman in the rational use of this resource and this through a participatory diagnosis taking into account all components of the socio-economic life of the oasis.
There were 40 participants including 20 oasis women practicing agriculture, representatives of the Office Nationale de la mise en Valeur Agricole Tafilalet, Agence du Bassin Hydrolique Guir-Ziz- Gheris and the Office National du Conseil Agricole Tafilalet.
The work of this day began by giving a state of the water situation in the region of Tafilalet which clearly shows the scarcity of water in this region. The presentations and discussions focused on several areas related to the theme of water and women, namely:
– Women’s cooperatives and water management of agricultural resources in the Draa Tafilalet region
– Rural woman / lack of water / What outcome?
– Laundry / irrigation water pollution / prospects for improvement
– Deterioration of educational role/woman/water/what role for professional organizations?
– The place of women in the new Moroccan development model
– Roles of women in the development of the Oasis Agrosystem