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© 2020 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

RURAL POPULATION PERCEPTIONS ON ANTI-SILTING MANAGEMENTS IN KEBILI 
GOVERNORATE, SOUTH TUNISIA   

 

 

Anissa Gara1+ 
Saber Trabelsi2 
Jamel Kailene3 
Najeh Dali4 

 

1National Institute of Agriculture of Tunisia and Laboratory of Rural 
Economy at National Institute of Agronomic Research of Tunisia. 

 
2National Institute of Agriculture of Tunisia. 

 
3Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Tunisia. 

 
4National Institute of Agriculture of Tunisia and Ministry of Agriculture, 
Water Resources and Fisheries, Tunisia. 

 
 

 
(+ Corresponding author) 

 ABSTRACT 
 
Article History 
Received: 16 March 2020 
Revised: 20 April 2020 
Accepted: 22 May 2020 
Published: 24 June 2020  
 

Keywords 
Population  
Perception 
Participatory approach 
Strategies  
Silting  
South-Tunisia. 
 
 

 
Lambin [1] affirmed that the definition of desertification used by the Convention to 
Combat Desertification (CCD) makes it clear that, whilst biophysical components of 
ecosystems and their properties are involved (e.g., soil erosion, loss of vegetation), the 
interpretation of change as 'loss' is dependent upon the integration of these components 
within the context of the socioeconomic activities of human beings. The CCD's 
definition of desertification explicitly focuses on the linkages between humans and their 
environments that affect human welfare in arid and semi-arid regions. In Tunisia as in 
many regions of the world, desertification and silting are an adversity to economic 
development and environment. This study aims to bring out population perceptions 
determinants about this scourge on the governorate of Kebili, located at the south of 
Tunisia. Several efforts have been made by the administration since the 1980s to 
combat silting. We conducted this research with the view to study population’s 
perceptions towards realized management against silting and desertification. We need 
to know the factors that make these managements not evenly successful at all the 
governorate zones. Therefore, we conducted a socio-economic survey: among the 
population with concern to examine the reaction of the inhabitants towards these anti-
silting structures and strategies.  

 

Contribution/Originality: This study contributes in the existing literature about how Tunisia faced silting 

scourge by biological and mechanical techniques. This study has investigated on population opinion about these 

techniques. These techniques were successful and maintained by population in some zones while in other zones 

population was reluctant and removed them.   

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has defined desertification as "land 

degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas as a result of various factors, including climatic variations 

and human activities "[2]. Desertification is an important obstacle to any form of development in regions affected 

by this scourge; it is an adversity to economic development.  Masmoudi [3] related that southern Tunisia, covering 

an area of about 80000 km2 (or about 50% of the total area of Tunisia), has been under a serious movement 

desertification and silting for several decades, affecting strongly natural ecosystems, reducing agricultural and 

Current Research in Agricultural Sciences 
2020 Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 23-30. 
ISSN(e): 2312-6418 
ISSN(p): 2313-3716 
DOI: 10.18488/journal.68.2020.71.23.30 
© 2020 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 

https://www.doi.org/10.18488/journal.68.2020.71.23.30


Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2020, 7(1): 23-30 

 

 
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© 2020 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

pastoral production and causing large waves of exodus and emigration. According to Kailene [4] 24.6% are areas 

slightly affected by the desertification, 34.2% are moderately affected areas, 18.3% are very affected and 22.9% are 

desert areas, noting that the total desert area is about 106,200 km2. This scourge caused the annual loss of almost 

30000 ha of land; only 11000 ha are productive lands.  

Tunisian territory is affected by five forms of desertification: wind erosion, water erosion, soil salinisation, 

hydromorphic and silting. Silting is one of the most spectacular manifestations of the desertification phenomenon in 

southern Tunisia [5]. It is currently affecting more than 64% of Tunisia's territory (i.e. more than 10 million ha). 

Sand dunes already occupy more than 2 million ha [6]. That is why Tunisian government has followed many 

strategies to combat silting since the1980s. The Kebili region is one of the southern governorates most affected by 

the silting problem, it is clearly manifested by the invasion of roads, villages, oases... This is quite visible in the two 

villages:  Sabria village (Fawwar delegation) and Bchelli village (Kebili-south delegation) where we can see 

threatening dune accumulations.  

The participatory approach is often the most important aspect to be considered when we deal with conservation 

structures stability and durability. We conducted the current research with the view to study farmers’ perceptions 

towards managements built to halt silting and desertification scourges for the last 13 years (from 2003 to 2016). 

Thus, in this research we try to define the socio economic constraints against the success of the environmental 

managements in two villages in Kebili governorate. We try to understand why environmental strategies might 

succeed at one village and not at the other. We collected data from various administrative offices (Kebili forest 

district, Agricultural studies and statistics district, Public offer services, Water and soil conservation district, 

Rangelands development services, Kebili weather station) and conducted interviews with farmers from the two 

villages.  

 

2. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 

2.1. The Study Area 

The governorate of Kebili was newly created in September 1981. It is located in the south-west of the country, 

at the Algerian-Tunisian border, and covers an area of 22,454 km2, or 13.5% of the country’s area. 

Administratively, Kebili governorate is divided into six delegations: North Kebili, South Kebili, North Douz, South 

Douz, Fawar and Souk Lahad Figure 1. 

 

 

 
Figure-1. Kebili governorate delegations  

                                                       Source: (Ministry of Industry of Tunisia, web site).  

 



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Kebili is characterized by a Saharan climate with semi-desert climate in the north around Chott El Jerid, and 

desert climate in the center and the extreme south of the region. According to data from the Kebili weather station, 

the climate of Kebili is characterized by large thermal amplitude of 31.8 °C, the temperature annual average is 23.48 

°C, noting that the coldest month is January (T avg = 12.65 °C) and the warmest one is August (T avg = 34.05 °C). 

The governorate is characterized, like all the governorates of the Tunisian south, by a strong climatic aridity 

and deficit water balance over a long period of the year, indicating that the average annual precipitation is 98.04 

mm and the windy period (wind speed > 4 m/s) is usually spread over 7 months, starting from March (v = 

4.91m/s) and continues until September (v = 4.84m/s), the months of May and June correspond to the most windy 

months (averages of 6.5m/s). The economic activities of the region are mainly based on the agricultural sector, 

whose active population is 34.5% (equal to 16.5% nationally). The useful agricultural area covers 17% of the total 

area of the governorate of Kebili (621,179 ha), of which 50,000 ha are arable land, 567,153 ha are rangelands and 

4,026 ha are forests. 

 

2.2. The Survey 

The population survey concerned households whose dwellings are in the vicinity of fieldwork amenities and 

reforestation sites. This is in order to identify the situation and the state of progress of these amenities on the one 

hand and on the other hand to learn about the reactions of the population towards these amenities. 

The survey involved 40 households in the two villages, 20 households in each village. (ajouter le % par rapport 

à la population total) Their activities mainly concern oasis farming and livestock farming. The survey addresses 

four subjects which are: 1) situation of the village before interventions combating silting, 2) situation of the village 

after these interventions, 3) behavior of the local population towards the silting control works, 4) degrees of the 

participative and integrated approach of the local population for the works against silting. Accordingly, the 

questionnaire consisted of 3 components: farmer’s data, farmland’s data, data that examines the situation before and 

after the interventions against silting and their interactions with the relevant amenities. 

 

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS  

At the beginning, we conducted an appraisal to evaluate the methods undertaken to combat desertification in 

this region by establishing a diagnosis of the silting situation based on the inventory and the evolution of adopted 

techniques against silting. The main objective of the field works are the protection of the oases, the basic 

infrastructure, such as roads, agglomerations and cities, against sans invasion. In most cases, the nature of the field 

work relates to mechanical control and biological control  

With regard to silting techniques, the choice of technique depends on the wind dynamic, the desired objective 

and the nature and availability of the materials. At first, they start with the mechanical bolting of sand dunes such 

as enhancement of Tabias Figure 2, then, comes the biological ground bolting by means of the plantation process 

mostly with Tamarix, Acacia salicina, Haloxylon persicum, Parkinsonia aculeata, Eucalyptus, Aleppo pine Figure 3. 

 



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Figure-2. Tabia endorsement. 

 

 
Figure-3. Tamarix plantation. 

 

          Mechanical control techniques are: counter dune, palisade technique, dune cover, and dredging. Several types 

of dune cover can be used: land cover, mulching, plant cover, straw mortar cover. Dredging is a curative technique 

whose object surface is already invaded by sand. This is manual or mechanical removal of accumulated sand. As for 

biological control, it is found out that workers use vegetal material adapted to the ecological conditions of the work 

site. This method is applied on the dune front to ensure its ultimate ground bolting or in a deflation zone to stop 

sand progression. It is carried out to reinforce the effect of the mechanical step. Reforestation goes behind three 

successive stages: the production of seedlings in the nursery, the planting, the maintenance and the safeguarding of 

the plantations carried.  During the last 13 years, it has been realized: 317 linear km of making Tabias, 6,632.1 km 

of raising Tabias, 96,600 m3 of trapped sands mechanically removed, 1,675.5 ha of reforestation and 5,921.5 ha of 

forest plantation safeguarding. The fieldwork teams include a fieldwork leader and a group of 15 to 30 workers; all 

of them make part of the local rural population with close relation to agricultural activities. The team can fully 

commit to maintenance work and raising Tabias and the reforestation and safeguarding works.  

The age distribution of workers is diversified. Indeed, 93% of the workers are aged between 20 and 60 years 

old. This wide distribution is advantageous because it allows the transfer of the know-how from elder workers to 

newly recruited young people. Elder workers can also benefit from the physical ability of young people. However, 

during our survey, we found out some constraints in the reforestation work. In fact, there is still a lack of skilled 

manpower. Most of respondents affirm that the majority of elder skilled worker aged between 45 to 60 years old is 

very rare (68%). In addition, the water resource is one of the major constraints for reforestation and plantation 

safeguarding work. Because of climate severity and the scarcity of water resources, the probability of successful 

plantations raised in nurseries is generally between 20 and 40%. This, justifies why private companies hesitate to 

take part in reforestation and safeguarding works. 

When comparing the completion of enhancement work between the private companies and the public 

administration, we found out that the public administration manages to carry out improvement works better than 

private companies, despite the fact that the most important part of these developments has been conferred to private 

companies. Indeed, the rate of amenities achievement realized by the administration during the period from 2001 to 

2011 is 83% while that of private companies is of 56%. The rate of achievements made by private companies 

dropped to 21% in 2012 and to 6.25% in 2014, compared to the administration which achieved 100% of its 

development objectives. This could be explained by the state of instability caused by the revolution in 2011, 

repressing, therefore, private initiative [7]. 

We also noted that the reforestation pace between 2001 and 2013 has two distinct phases. There is an 

accelerated pace between 2001 and 2010 when annual reforestation exceeds 100ha/year with a maximum of 181.5 

ha in 2001. Then, from 2011, the pace of reforestation slowed down with a level of achievement of 93ha in 2012 and 

49 ha in 2013 [7]. 



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According to rural pollution, this decline of reforestation can be explained by constraints due to scarcity and 

poor-quality of water resources (91% of respondents), to government budget limits (46%) and to unskilled and 

unavailable workforce (64% of respondents) Figure 4. 

 

 
Figure-4. Constraint to reforestation as maintained by population (in %). 

 

The problems of water resources, as claimed by population, are due to many difficulties such as lack of 

maintenance of equipment (horns in breakdowns, broken sinks) and interruptions of electricity causing the pause of 

pumping water Figure 5. Also, drilling is generally superficial, which explains the poor quality of water. Previously, 

shallow wells were sufficient to reach fresh sweet water. During the last years and because of overexploitation of 

the aquifers, water from the superficial drilling becomes more and more salty, thus it requires deeper drilling 

reaching 100 and 120 m to get the fresh sweet water. It should be noted that one of the causes of overexploitation of 

aquifers is the extension of illegal oases perimeters whose water management is not approved. 

Moreover we note conflicts to use water, in some cases; farmers refuse to share water with the reforestation 

project, although irrigation canals are available. So the hostility of certain farmers to exploit water commonly has 

limited water availability which has restricted the creation of reforestation sites.  

 

 
Figure-5. Water resources problems as claimed by population (in %). 

 

Conversely, other analyses revealed affirmative results after facilities installation against silting, it turned out 

that the economic activities of the region have improved significantly comparing to the pre-development period. In 

fact, 95 % of rural population notes a positive effect on the diversification of agricultural activities (we quote: oasis 

agriculture, livestock, honey activities, cultures in greenhouses, irrigated annual crops). 

Besides, before interventions of combating silting, the local population suffered a lot of sand invasion. Several 

houses were totally submerged, or partially silted. The roads are almost completely silted making accessibility to 

neighboring villages and delegations quite difficult. As a result of this situation, the quality of life of the inhabitants 



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is very poor: 74% of the inhabitants lived with the sand even inside their houses. They got used to the food 

containing grains of sand. The problem of silting has also affected their agricultural activities. Besides, 85% of 

farmers argue that crop loss could reach almost 2/3 of the production of dates with a poor fruit quality due to wind 

effect, which leads to a deterioration in sales prices. Thus, of farmers assert that there is a social, economic and 

environmental depreciated welfare of local population. 

After amenities, interventions to combat silting are progressing according to the extension of the inhabitants’ 

agglomeration and concern mainly oases and roads. It is clear that the budgetary constraints and the speed of the 

silting process along with the slow pace of conservation-works have not led to the predictable objectives.  

According to the surveyed local population, the situation of the village was enhanced after combating silting 

intervention: the land and the roads are almost dredged. In fact, 92% of interviewed population declares that sand 

invasion of villages decreased thanks to the protection provided by huge works of mechanical dredging, 

establishment of dunes, Tabias structures and reforestation works. The quality of life of the inhabitants is better 

than that observed before amenities. As well, 65% of interviewed population affirms that transport and accessibility 

to other villages became easier, it facilitated the access of the inhabitants to the adjacent villages, and growing 

conditions are improved Figure 6. Also, 73% of the surveyed population states that intervention against silting 

managed to improve the inhabitants’ welfare and to protect oases boundaries from silting resulting in producing 

dates of good quality better than those of neighboring regions unsupplied with any amenities.  

 

 
Figure-6. Improvements subsequent to anti silting managements as stated by population. 

 

Nonetheless, we noticed that, the behavior of the local population towards these amenities against silting differs 

from one area to another; it is positive for some areas and negative for others. In fact, some amenities works have 

been damaged by some inhabitants, such as the uncontrolled sand withdrawal from Tabias. Besides, we noticed the 

existence of uncontrolled dumping of waste within reforestation sites.  

Beyond everything, we noted the anarchic extension of the buildings to the detriment of the works amenities 

already established. Moreover, we noted that Tabias endorsement, located nearby buildings and houses, have 

generated sources of silting in about 46 % of "Sabria" zone.  Furthermore, the rooting of ancient Tamarix 

plantations caused damages to 57% of inhabitants’ houses at "Bchelli" zone [7]. 

 

 
Figure-7. Damages caused by some management as claimed by population. 



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Thus, some reluctance of some inhabitants towards these amenities was perceived through the destruction of 

some dune structures and water conflict with reforestation sites. Conversely some other inhabitants maintain these 

structures and manifest their willingness and awareness to protect the situation. 

In fact, 91% of population thinks that a special attention should be paid to the training of stakeholders from 

extension services and the valorization of research achievements in order to improve techniques particularly for 

reforestation work and the use of other local species such as Calligonum azel, Retama raetam, Lycium arabicum for 

reforestation. Thus, the survey results provided that the awareness of the local population with respect to the 

importance of silting control structures is not quite widespread over all areas of the governorate of Kebili.  

This is due to the fact that the integration and participation of the local population is not likewise adopted in all 

areas of the governorate.Therefore, it is obvious that all the interventions will not give the expected outcome 

only if the participatory approach is adopted in a more effective Ns even way by integrating all the local population 

into the choice, planning and execution process and thus establishing a close relationship and a better 

communication between administration and population and enhancing the sense of “bottom-up” process in order to 

achieve the goal of good and effective governance. Biancalani [8] announce that the inclusion of stakeholders in 

“participatory assessments” in each administrative region being assessed (district, province etc.) was an important 

innovation for national and for local land resources assessments. It required a range of experts and land users to 

arrive at a consensus assessment of the situation for a given area at a specific point in time through the use of 

standardized tools. 

 

4. CONCLUSION  

In addition to its adverse environmental effects, the deposits of sand dunes are a serious threat to the entire 

infrastructure of development as well as for several oases, agglomerations, and irrigated perimeters, thus affecting 

roads, railways, agriculture, and socioeconomic welfare of population. The necessary intervention to mitigate this 

scourge generally requires huge financial means. Even though these strategies for combating silting have begun 

from several decades in southern Tunisia, they deserve additional efforts to mitigate the consequences of this 

phenomenon. In our case study, contribution of local people to conservation strategies and their behaviour towards 

these silting countermeasures differs from one zone to another. We can conclude that consciousness of the local 

population towards the importance of anti-silting structures is not widespread and even through the governorate 

zones. Most of rural population in Kebili governorate had low approval for improved management practices. 

The results emphasis the effect of extension services and population’s participation in the strategies’ process on 

farmers' perception of anti-silting amenities. The farmers' awareness of improved management practices was found 

to be related to whether they had participated in the policies process or not. Also, according to rural population, 

specific extension activities of the type of cultivation are important. Thus, it is required to uphold farmers’ 

awareness about environment problem and to strengthen the most suitable guidelines to improve environmental 

management in the region. It is obvious that the interventions as a whole will reach the desired effects only if the 

participatory approach is adopted and the local population is integrated into the planning and implementation 

process and thus establish a close relationship and efficient communication between the administration and the 

population. In fact, according to Nedjraoui and Bedrani [9] the irrational management of rangelands, the 

introduction of means and techniques of development unsuited to the environment, the lack of consultation between 

the different actors of the development contributed to environment  and natural resources degradation and 

ecological and socio-economic unbalances.  

Also, this research allowed us to identify several other points that deserve to be made in-depth such as the need 

for increased involvement of the private sector and international organizations and non-governmental 

organizations to progress and execute the sustainable work of combating silting. Indeed, the mobilization of fund is 

also a matter to be considered in order to improve the governmental intervention. 



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We would like to cite the example of the project of "Forum on Environmental Governance", initiated by the 

association: "Friends of the Environment" at Souk Lahad in Kebili, in partnership with the European Fund for 

Democracy (FEDEM), started in 2017 where field visits were organized to survey citizens of different delegations 

on the weekly market day. The objective is to identify the environmental problems of uncontrolled waste, the 

absence of a landfill, the mismanagement of green spaces, the bad management of household and building waste and 

the abusive exploitation of natural resources. After the data collection, a project team in collaboration with 

environmental experts offers training sessions on the environmental issue for 20 associative activists in the region. 

 

Funding: This study received no specific financial support.    
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.  
Acknowledgement: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study. 

 

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