Agriculture

Vincent Battesti () and Alan R. Richards
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Vincent Battesti: EAE - Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie - MNHN - Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEDEJ - Centre d'études et de documentation économiques, juridiques et sociales - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, EA - Éco-Anthropologie - MNHN - Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité
Alan R. Richards: UC Santa Cruz - University of California [Santa Cruz] - UC - University of California

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Abstract: Introduction:From the Latin agricultura (ager, field and cultura, cultivation), agriculture refers to the processes by which food is grown and harvested. It also pertains to the sector of the economy dedicated to harvested foods.Soil cultivation for the production of crops began in the ancient Near East around 10,000 BCE (the Neolithic Revolution), and agriculture is the base of the past and current civilizations of the region. In 1996, 50 percent of the Middle East's population still lived in rural areas. Through the centuries, various rural cultures have developed, and they have balanced environmental and social factors and introduced for example various collective water-management systems. Nevertheless, in terms of food, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has become the least self-sufficient of the world's major populated regions.

Keywords: agriculture; arab world; countryside; rural; Maghreb; North Africa; Near East; Middle East; rual economy; peasantry; agricultural policy; Moyen Orient; économie; paysannerie; politique agricole; monde arabe; campagne; Afrique du Nord; Proche Orient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-06
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00004073v2
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Published in Philip Mattar. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, Second edition, Macmillan Reference USA, pp.72-77, 2004

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