ABSTRACT
How can rural development be assessed? Rather than comparing the experience of particular agricultural economies with some abstract western model it seems more profitable to commence by analysing what has been achieved in a particular locality relative to the resources available in that place. Accordingly this chapter commences by considering the most critical resource for all rural dwellers in the Middle
East and North Africa: water. The Sahara and Arabian deserts with their bordering semi-arid zones are the most extensive hot arid region in the world. Although human responses to the shortage of water have varied greatly across the Arab countries, rural dwellers are united by the common challenge of surviving in a harsh and often unpredictable marginal environment. This chapter considers ways in which water resources have been used and adapted in different rural settings to provide a livelihood for the populations of the Arab countries. Nomadism is a pastoral activity widely perceived to be of importance to the region since it is one way in which rural societies have adapted to arid environments. Much more important as a source of employment and of food are the practices of crop cultivation which exist. The chapter concludes by considering ways in which governments have sought to intervene for ideological and economic reasons in the food production systems of their states.
