ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that crop choice and water use patterns are not driven by purely economic considerations alone; rather, they are strongly influenced by tribalpolitical notions of power, knowledge and interests and by perceived and/or real socio-political and socio-economic values. Both over-abstraction and conservation of its groundwater resources can be understood in terms of the ability of actors to control and/or resist other actors. Moreover, perceptions and beliefs often explain why options which would appear economically sound and ecologically sustainable are subordinate to notions of tribal autonomy and food self-sufficiency.
