gebana promotes the traditional cultivation of the oases. At the same time, applying organic criteria moves farming towards a more sustainable relationship with nature and water resources and protects the fragile ecological balance of the palm gardens.
The scare water supply is managed by community cooperatives to ensure its efficient use. Each farmer is regularly delivered water according to a rotating cycle. The water flows through a network of canals to individual palm trees.
In this way, each farmer receives a few hours of water every three weeks – enough for palms, figs, pomegranates, as well as other crops suited for the oasis. This system is currently threatened by overuse of ground water resources – the overexpansion of land under cultivation and the Tozeur golf course are two notable examples.
