THE PLACE OF ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND TECHNIQUES IN YEMEN TODAY:
The essentially rural economy of Yemen is based on an ancestralsavoir-faire in the field of agricultural practices and techniques,and the management of natural resources. Undoubtedly the moststirring testimonies of this tradition are the archaeologicalvestiges of large-scale, hydraulic construction works, dating fromthe pre-Islamic period (with the Mareb dam as a symbol) and thesurviving terrace systems built on the steep slopes of mountains.
Yemeni farmers are justifiably proud of the indigenous knowledgethey have elaborated over the centuries, nourishing the legend of'Arabia Felix'. Today, however, this knowledge seems to be threatenedby the deep crisis Yemen's agriculture is undergoing: degradation andexhaustion of natural resources, a high population growth ratethreatening food security, endangered food crops. These are some ofthe major challenges that have appeared during the last decades.
How did Yemen's farmers in ancient times manage the availablenatural resources while preserving them for all these centuries? Whatpractices and techniques did they elaborate? What is remaining todayof this indigenous knowlege? What is its place in contemporary Yemeniagriculture, which is continuously confronted with increasing socialand economic constraints? Finally, can this body of localagricultural knowledge meet the demands of new agrarianrealities?
The Faculty of Agriculture of Sanaa University, the FrenchEmbassy's Cultural and Co-operation Section, the French Centre forYemeni Studies, the Yemeni Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation andthe Social Fund for Development organised a seminar that opened updiscussions and offerd preliminary responses to these questions. Thisseminar was held June 18-20, 2000. It featured contributions fromresearchers and field workers of various backgrounds:
- archaeologists, ethnologists and geographers, academics specialists of these ancient and contemporary practices,- field workers, confronted with the concrete problems of present Yemeni agriculture and sometimes forced to devise emergent solutions to them.
The seminar took place in the Faculty of Agriculture, in theFrench Centre for Yemeni Studies and in the French Cultural Centre.Its aim was double:
- to open up discussions and to exchange ideas between specialists of various backgrounds, on the most delicate problem Yemen is undergoing today: the agricultural crisis.- to make students as well as members of national and international institutions involved in rural development, more sensitive to the traditional agricultural knowledge. Its transmission to new generations can be endangered by the introduction of new techniques and methods which are misused or unsuitable for today's new social and agrarian realities.
Five main themes composed the seminar:
- the origin, domestication and selection of adapted crops, in the specific Yemeni environment,- the control and the preservation of scarce natural resources (water and land),
- the laws and rules governing these ancient agrarian practices and techniques,
- the impact of the introduction of new technologies on this savoir-faire,
- the possible contribution of the ancient agricultural savoir-faire to a sustainable development.
Each cycle of lectures was followed by discussions about the wholetheme. One other day was devoted to several round-tables that openedup discussions and offered ideas for solutions to the deep crisisYemeni agriculture is undergoing today.
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