ABSTRACT
Rural household-food security and the ability to choose between alternative opportunities are primary elements of rural development for escaping poverty. In the semi-arid climate of the North African region, food security of the agricultural population, who are mostly cereal growers, depends chiefly on a combination of land tenure arrangements and the hydraulic characteristics of agriculture. Within the agricultural sector, there are policy decisions to be made on the allocation of public investment among areas growing staple food and exportable crops, and between irrigated areas and the hitherto neglected rainfed traditional subsector. Irrigation investment is crucial to augmenting the aggregate supply of productive land and to reducing instability of both food production and the flow of farmers' income. Within rural areas, a distinctive duality exists between the relatively small irrigated sector and the large rainfed sector. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
