Survival, Change and Decision-Making in Rural Households

Appendix II - Tables

Table 1 | 2 | 3a | 3b | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17a | 17b | 17c | 18

Table 1: land use, Oujda province

Rangeland	Forest	Cultivable	Uncultivable
44.7%	20%	18.7% (of which 5.8% irrigated)	17%

Table 2: population and infrastructure

	Elhouafi	Taghilast	Oulad Lfqir
Population (1994)	94 (16 households)	650 inhabitants (72 households)	1 311 (173 households)
Distances	20 km from the town of Berkane; 3 km from the rural commune of Taforalt	33 km from the rural commune of Laayoune; 100 km from the town of Oujda	2 km from Malqa Elouidane and 33 km from the commune of Taourirt
Electricity	No	No	No
Health centre	Taforalt (at 3 km)	Laayoune (at 33 km)	Taourirt (33 km)
Administrative offices	Taforalt	Laayoune	Taourirt
Souk	Once a week in Taforalt	Once a week in Laayoune	Once a week in Malqa Elouidane and once a week in Taourirt
School	None in village; primary school in Taforalt	Primary school in village (25 pupils)	Primary school in village (105 pupils)
Veterinary services	None within reasonable distance	None within reasonable distance	None within reasonable distance

Table 3a: natural resources – Elhouafi

Resources

Forest

Soil

Trees: olive and almond

Water

Type of change

- Trees are not as green as they once were

- Trees are not so leafy

- Less edible grasses

- Fewer wild animals

- Fissures

- Soil is dry

- Crops do not grow as quickly

Improvement (saplings provided by the Ministry of Agriculture

- Scarce

- Some improvement recently (boreholes dug by the Ministry of Agriculture)

Causes

Drought

Saplings provided by the Ministry of Agriculture

Boreholes dug by the Ministry of Agriculture

Table 3b: Natural resources – Taghilast

Resources

Alfalfa grass

Forest

Rosemary

Soil

Mineral resources

Type of change

Alfalfa grass is no longer green; it is dry

- Forest is degraded

- Ground is bare

- There are no more lions

- It has become dry

- Distillery has been closed

- Once it was more fertile, and yields were higher

- Iron mine used to employ several men from the village; it has now been closed

Causes

Drought (Jafaf)

Drought

- Drought

- Closure of distillery owing to lack of water

- Drought, lack of wells/boreholes

- Mine closed owing to lack of water

Table 4: Oulad Lfqir – pollution of the river oued

Causes

Signs

Consequences

Olive oil factories in Taourirt dump waste into city sewers, which then release the waste into the river (Oued za)

River water is frothy and has a bad smell (the water is "rotten").

One can see olive pips floating on the river

Water sources get clogged up by waste

After irrigation the soil is covered by an acid froth and solid waste

Crops have changed color; they are yellow, not green as before

Yields have decreased

Luzern doesn’t grow as high as it used to

There is less food because of the lower yields

Animals that drink water from the canal fall ill

Bathing or washing in the canal causes skin problems

Table 5: Water and fuel


	Elhouafi	Taghilast	Oulad Lfqir
Water	Two wells: one for animals/laundry; one for humans (dug by Ministry of Agriculture); there used to be a river passing through the douar, which is now dry	Three wells: one is dry; one is for animals/laundry; one is for humans (little water); animals are also watered in Tanzert (3 km); men and women will "do the round of the wells" if necessary.	Wells and sources in village (polluted); animals have to be watered in Melqa El and Oued Maauluya
Fuel	Mainly wood, followed by butane gas, olive pips, almond husks, straw, cowdung, charcoal	Mainly wood, followed by butane gas and alfalfa grass	Olive branches (there is no forest nearby) and butane gas

Table 6: Off-farm occupations/sources of income - Elhouafi (share of total households)

No other occupation	Self-employed	Fqih⁴	Wage-earner	Supported by other households
5/16	3/16⁵	3/16	4/16	1/16

Table 7: Type of assets (share of households)

	Cultivable land (owned or sharecropped	Cattle	Sheep	Goats	Donkeys	Poultry	Other Sources of Income
Elhouafi	12/16	4/16	9/16	4/16	12/16	13/16	11/16 (off-farm activity: self-employed or wage-earner)
Taghilast	14/15	–	4/15	12/15	14/15	13/15	14/15 (collection of rosemary, alfalfa-carpet-making; one person sells medicinal plants)
Oulad L.	14/14	8/14	12/14	4/14	12/14	14/14	5/14 (for occupations see Table 6)

Table 8 - Distribution of land

	Landless households⁶	Rainfed land			Irrigated land
		Average size	Min.	Max.	Average size	Min.	Max.
Elhouafi⁷	4/16	7.1	2	45.5	–	–	–
Taghilast⁸	1/15	5.8	2	20	–	–	–
Oulad Lfqir⁹	–	4.8			2.9	0.5	25

Table 9: Crops grown (share of households)

Crop	Number of households that cultivate the crop
	Elhouafi	Taghilast	Oulad Lfqir
Soft wheat	2/13	8/14	9/14
Durum wheat	8/13	1/14	8/14
Barley	13/13	13/14	7/14
Oats	1/13
Fava beans	13/13		3/14
Chickpeas	2/13
Lentils	8/13
Kikha	2/13
Beans	3/13
Luzern			11/14
Potatoes	1/13
Melon			7/14
Fenugreek
Tomato			3/14
Niora			2/14
Aubergine			2/14

Table 10: Tree cultivation

Type of tree	Elhouafi		Taghilast		Oulad Lfqir
	Households that own	Number of trees	Households that own	Number of trees	Households that own	Number of trees
Fig	8/16	33(min. 2, max. 10)	1/14	3	3/14	17 (min. 3, max. 10)
Olive	12/16	520 (min. 3, max. 130			13/14	800 (min. 4, max. 200)
Almond	7/16	208 (min. 2, max 50)	6/14	28
Apricot					2/14	12 (min. 2, max. 10)
Apple	1/16	10

Table 11: Livestock per household


	Cattle			Sheep			Goats			Donkeys			Poultry
	Avg.	Min.	Max.	Avg.	Min.	Max.	Avg.	Min.	Max.	Avg.	Min.	Max.	Avg.	Min.	Max.
Elhouafi	1	1	1	7	2	20	4	2	10	2.3	1	5	6	2	20
Taghilast	–	–	–	5	4	30	22	10	35	2.1	1	4	4	2	10
Oulad Lfqir	1.7	1	4	47.5¹⁰	12	100	10	6	10¹¹	2	1	4	8	3	20

Table 12: Division of labour by age and sex

Activity	Elhouafi	Taghilast	Oulad Lfqir
"Reproductive" (cooking, house cleaning, care of children)	W, G	W, G	W, G
Weaving	W	W	W
Fetching water	W, G, B	W, G, B, M (when far from village)	G, B
Collecting fuel wood	W, G, B	W, G, B	B
Collecting alfalfa grass	W	W	–
Collecting rosemary	–	W	–
Cultivation	M, B	M, B	M, B
Preparing meals for men in fields	W, G	W, G	W, G
Selecting seed from harvest	W	M	M
Picking fruit	W, G, B	W, G, B	B
Processing crops and storing in sacks or cans	W	W	W
Caring for livestock in the home¹²	W, B, G	W, B, G	W, B, G
Grazing livestock	W, G (in douar), B	M, B	M, B
Watering livestock	W, G (in douar). B (outside douar)	M, B	M, B
Raising poultry	W	W	W
Making enclosures/shelters out of branches	M, W	M, W	–
Making stables out of cement	M	M	M
Housebuilding (cement)	M	M	M
Putting up/taking down tents	W	W	–

M = men, W = women, B = boys, G = girls.

Table 13: Mobility of women

	Elhouafi			Taghilast¹³			Oulad Lfqir
Type of activity	Reg.*	Occ.*	Never	Reg.	Occ.	Never	Reg.	Occ.	Never
Collecting wood	In forest near douar			In forest near douar					x
Collecting water	Within the douar			Near douar	As far as Tanzert (3 km)				x
Agricultural activities¹⁴	Within the douar				As far as Matrouh (10 km)				x
Herding livestock		Within the douar			Near douar				x
Going to the souk			X			x			x
Going to the hammam (public bath)		x			x			x
Visiting neighbours	Within the douar			x				x
Visiting relatives	Within the douar			x				x
Health centre		Taforalt 3 km			Laayoune 33 km			Taourirt 30 km

* Reg. = regularly; Occ. = occasionally.

Table 14: Credit (dirhams)

	Loans from CNCA¹⁵			Informal borrowing
	Share of households	Share of households repaying		Share of households	Share of households repaying
Elhouafi	4/16	¼		2/16	none
Taghilast	4/15	¼		2/15	none
Oulad Lfqir	9/14	1/14 entirely,1/14 partly		–	–
	average amount	min.	max.	average amount	min.	max.
Elhouafi	4 250	3 000	8 000	700	700	700
Taghilast	11 625	5 000	31 000	135	70	200
Oulad Lfqir	28 000	4 000	60 000	–	–	–

Table 15: Use of CNCA loans (share of households)

Purchase of livestock/fodder	Purchase inputs	Purchase land	Buy food	Other personal reasons
11/17	4/17	1/17¹⁶	1/17¹⁷	1/17

Table 16 – Problems identified by men and women

Elhouafi		Taghilast		Oulad Lfqir
Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
1) water	1) water	1) distance from health centre	1) distance from health centre	1) pollution of the river	Three main problems, in the following order:
2) the state of the road	2) education of girls	2) lack of water	2) lack of water	2) credit (high interest rates, inability to repay)	1) pollution of the river
3) unemployment of the young	3) unemployment of the young	3) distance from admin. offices	3) the forest guards	3) lack of electricity	2) lack of a health centre
4) electricity	4) electricity	4) transport and the state of the road	4) education of children	4) middlemen	3) lack of electricity
5) education of children	5) distance from health centre	5) distance from souk	5) transport and the state of the road	5) lack of a vet
6) distance from health centre	6) the state of the road	6) lack of electricity	6) lack of electricity	6) distance from admin. offices
7) veterinary care		7) education of children		7) distance from health centre
		8) the forest guards		8) drought

Table 17a: problems and solutions - Elhouafi

Problem	Cause	Consequences	What do people do to solve the problem	What should the state do?
Water	No pump	Can’t grow vegetables	Nothing	Should install a pumping station
Electricity	Douar not electrified		Use candles and gas	Should electrify the douar
Road	Road from village to Taforalt not tarmacked	People take a short cut through the forest; it is dangerous for young girls to cross the forest	Nothing	Build 1.5 km of tarmacked road
Youth unemployment	No training; no work in the douar	Young migrate or do nothing	They seek wage labour	Set up a training centre
Health centre	Health centre is in Taforalt	It is difficult to deal with emergencies	They pray to God to assist the person who has fallen ill	Build a health centre not far from the douar
Veterinary care	There is no vet in Taforalt	Animals are not treated and therefore die	Nothing	Vet in Taforalt
Education of children	School is 3 km from the douar	Girls do not go to school because they have to cross the forest	Girls are not sent to school	Build a road (to avoid having to cross the forest) or a school near the douar

Table 17b: problems and solutions - Taghilast

Problem	How should it be solved	Community contribution
Clinic is too distant	State should build one nearer the village	None; the state which should build the clinic
Water	State should help us to dig the wells	Villagers would provide labour
Road	State should open and tarmac the 13 km of intermixed road	Villagers would provide labour
Administrative offices are too distant	Seat of the qaidat should be nearer to the village	None; this is an issue which concerns the state
Harassment by forest guards	State should allow us to use the forest	People could be mobilized to plant trees
Education of children	State should help us to buy school supplies, control teachers and improve their living conditions	None
Electricity	state should provide the main installation	Households would pay to connect the main line to their homes

Table 17c: Problems and solutions - Oulad Lfqir

Problem	Cause	Consequences	What do people do to solve the problem?	What should the State do?
Pollution of the river	Waste in river from sewers of Taourirt	Low yields; health hazards for humans and animals	Avoid using polluted water/watering animals elsewhere	Ensure that waste is deposited elsewhere; the solution is in the hands of the local authorities
Agricultural credit	Interest rates too high/farmers become indebted	Inability of most to repay/fear of investing	Either none, or delaying repayment	CNCA should lower interest rates
Lack of electricity	State has not thought of electrifying the village	Using gas, which costs as much as electricity/no agro-processing facilities	Lighting homes with candles and petrol or gas lamps	State should electrify the village, and people will pay for it
Middlemen	They speculate	Farmers sell their produce too cheap	In general, nothing/smallholder farmers take produce to the souk themselves	State should fix prices and control speculators
Lack of a vet	Ministry of Agriculture has not attached a vet to the village	Disease/loss of animals	In general, nothing	Ministry of Agriculture should place a vet in the village
Distance from administrative offices	Seat of the commune and the qaidat are in Taourirt	Necessary to go to Taourirt for any kind of official document	They go to Taourirt	Place the seat of the commune and the qaidat in Melqa Elouidane
Distance from the clinic	No clinic in village	There is no way of dealing with emergencies	In case of need, they have to go to Taourirt	State should open a clinic in the village or at least in the area
Drought	Lack of rain	Low yields/agriculture has become risky	Diversify strategies/if the drought continues, those who can afford to do so build a house in Taourirt	Ministry of Agriculture should assist smallholders by supplying seeds and fertilizers

Table 18 – Generational changes in the condition of women\mothers’ aspirations for their daughters: Taghilast

Grandmother	Mother	Aspirations for daughter
Organizational activities: lived under tent	Organization activities: live under tent and in house	Organizational activities: live in house with tile roof
made alfa mats for the tent	makes alfa mats for tent and for sale	does not make alfa mats
made wool tent bands	does not make wool tent bands	–
made wool rugs	does make wool rugs anymore, as there is no wool	learns how to sew and knit by machine
used candles for light	uses butane gas and occasionally candles	uses electricity for lighting
had many animals, spent much time tending animals	fewer animals because they die; less work tending animals	prefers daughter not tend animals and husband hires a shepherd
reared poultry extensively	rears some poultry	–
walked barefoot, used scarf for covering, was dressed in rags	uses plastic sandals, wears silk or synthetic silk scarf, dresses in ordinary clothes	wears shoes, djellaba or caflan, dresses in beautiful clothes
husband beat wife	husband scolds, sometimes beats wife	well treated by husband
good health	often sick	has money for treatment
ignorant	knows much about how things work	–
did not know about money	knows about money but does not see it	her husband will give her money
spoke only Berber	speaks Berber and Arabic	speaks Berber and Arabic
carried infants on back	carries infants on back	carries infants on back or uses small bed
children worked in fields	children go to school	–
Hamman did exist, did not go	sometimes goes to hamman	goes often to Hamman
Activities related to food: used goat skin to stock flour	Activities related to food: use tin cans and goat skins	Activities related to food: uses tin cans
ground flour using stone hand grinder	husband takes flour for milling	buys flour
consumed much butter	butter is rarely consumed	–
consumed much meat (beef and mutton) and chicken	now little chicken available to consume	eats meat daily
cooked and boiled water using wood	cooks with wood, boils water with gas	has gas stove for all cooking needs
Environmental activities: transported water in earthen jars on back	Environmental activities: uses tin cans and plastic jugs	Environmental activities: has water tap in house
carried firewood on her back	carries firewood on back of donkey	will not transport firewood
bitten often by scorpions	fewer scorpions, hence bites are less	–

References

De Lancey, V and Elwy, E. (1989). "Rural Women and the Changing Socio-Economic Conditions in the Near East", FAO, RTRD/NE/89/6).

4/ A Fqih is a teacher of the Koran. As there are no schools in the village, the fqihs fill this gap as well.

5/ A mason, a barber and a vegetable trader.

6/ Households which neither own land, nor sharecrop.

7/ Three households cultivate only land of their own; 11 households sharecrop, seven of which do not have land of their own.

8/ Only one household sharecrops; all the others cultivate their own land.

9/ All households own irrigated land; two also own some rainfed land.

10/ Three households own 100 sheep; for the other households, the average is 32.5 sheep.

11/ Only four households own goats.

12/ This involves cleaning stables, milking, assisting birth, traditional treatment, and so on.

13/ It should be remembered that Taghilast is a settlement within a douar which includes another two settlements, Tanzert (3 km) and Matrouh (10 km). Therefore, as in Elhouafi, women move within the douar, though this is extended over a larger territory.

14/ Women's involvement in agricultural activities in Elhouafi is limited to picking fruit and taking meals to the men only when plots are within the douar. In Taghilast women take food and put up and take down tents as far away as Matrouh (10 km).

15/ Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole.

16/ 31 000 dh, the biggest loan.

17/ Most, however, say the loans from CNCA are also used to buy food.

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