Three tier farming in the oases

[expedition_retirement]

The city of Tozeur is build next to a large oasis, an area with plentiful natural springs that support a surprising amount of agriculture here in the desert.  After breakfast, we were taken by horse-drawn carriages to a garden in the midst of the oasis to learn more about the agriculture here.

The primary crop here is dates. The date palms are pollinated by hand, and the ripe dates are also hand harvested. The entire process requires men to climb these palm trees several times each season. We met a 65 year old tenant farmer who has been doing this work since he was 13 years old. He demonstrated how he climbs the palm trees to do his work. As a tenant farmer, he receives about 20% of the proceeds of the date harvest, while the bulk goes to the owner of the garden. However, he can supplement his income by growing other crops below the date palms. The second tier is made up of other fruit trees, such as citrus trees or bananas. While the land owner can take from these trees for personal use, the tenant farmer can sell the rest for his own profit. And a third tier of vegetables is planted at ground level below all the trees, which is also provides income for the tenant farmer.