‘Bricolage’ as an everyday practice of contestation of smallholders engaging with drip irrigation

Farmers in North Africa are often very proud to show their drip irrigation system, be it high-tech with a large basin and sophisticated headworks or a more modest version on a small plot. All are happy to be associated with a ‘modern’ and ‘clean’ technology of which the media, government agents, private companies, and fellow farmers speak so highly. When visiting a farm, the farmer will particularly insist on how he/she adapted drip irrigation to his/her requirements. Rather than a black-boxed standardized technology, one discovers a multitude of systems operated by a great diversity of farmers (see Chapters 3 and 11 on some of the adaptations farmers typically make on drip irrigation systems). When pushing the enquiry to the often ‘grey’ local support sector, one is struck by the industry of craftsmen, fitters, retailers, and intermediaries all working hard to make drip irrigation ‘work’ for individual farmers by designing new systems, selling or even manufacturing spare parts, carrying out repairs, and providing advice (Benouniche et al., 2016; see Chapter 17).