グータとマルジ : ダマスカス・オアシスにおける都市化と農業の変化
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概要
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Ecumene in arid zone finds itself within limited space ; limited as such urban and agricultural activities often share water for drinking and irrigation. Traditionally city and its surrounding oasis have been successful in managing water in coordination.<BR>After World War II, many Middle Eastern countries became independent ; population of major cities has been rapidly increased, mainly because of rural-urban migration. Expansion of urban fringe directly affected adjoining oasis villages, so that ecological balance between them collapsed.<BR>Although a number of monographs have been written by geographers and historians, they often study each individual city or oasis as a distinct and independent subject. Under these circumstances it is necessary to regard both city and oasis as an integrated entity region, each of them often affects the other in quite a dynamic way. In a case of Demascus city and its surrounding oasis, a typical example of pseude urbanization can be observed.<BR>The oasis, located in Badiya al-Sham (The Syrian Desert), is divided into two parts ; the orchards of Ghuta and the steppe of Marj. There are approximately ninety villages in the oasis, which used to be subordinated to absentee landlords lived in the city of Damascus prior to the Land Reform of 1958.<BR>After the Land Reform, such an absentee landownership dissapeared. In accordance with the rapid urbanization, however, the villages have started to dissolve in the western fringe of the oasis. With the destruction of irrigation canals and the sprawl of residential area into farmlands more and more peasants, especially in younger generation, have been leaving from farming due to urban-rural income differentials.<BR>The degree of reliance on agriculture is principally determined by size of farms and water supply, but it is different among four subregions in the oasis : oasis-urban fringe, central Ghuta, boundary zone between Ghuta and Marj, and Marj steppe.<BR>First, in the oasis-urban fringe, the most western part of Ghuta, it has been impossible to continue cultivation during the last ten years.<BR>Second, the central part of Ghuta is highly productive in fruits farming and, in fact, the agricultural income level per hectar is the highest among the four subregions of the oasis. But, ironically, because of this productivity, each farmyard has been generally subdivided among all the members of family. Consequently, average farming size is now under one hectar, and the peasants are depend upon non-agricultural incom e. The destruction of irrigation canals in upstream forces peasants in the central Ghuta to change their source of irrigation water from surface to underground.<BR>Third, the boundary zone between Ghuta and Marj, there used to be many swamps and it was wasted land. When the government redistributed the requisited land in this zone at the Land Reform, only a few peasants applied. Therefore a size of five to six hectar was allotted to them. Incidentally, pumping-up of ground water in Ghuta caused drying up of the swamps, and then, cultivation is realized even in winter wet season. Nowadays, the peasants possess enough size of field and get ground water easily in shallow level by motorpumping. The trend of quitting farming is scarce in this area.<BR>As a result of this pumping activity, Marj area suffers from serious water shortage in both surface and ground water. And lately, in these ten years, among several villages in the western end of Marj, almost all the peasants abondoned their farming to find jobs in Damascus city. But, as Marj on the whole, there is another economic reason why they can not earn enough income from agriculture. That is the reduction of farm size after the Land Reform. Farmlands allotted are under ten hectar, and it was quite insufficient for traditional extensive farming of wheat under feudal landownership.
- 社団法人 東京地学協会の論文