A Berber tribesman of the Ait Mizane tribe is plowing a terraced field in early July. Corn will be seeded here as soon as he has turned over the earth. You can see the stubble of the barley crop to the left; that was planted in October and matured in the spring.

The man is working an individual terraced field. Set alongside the mountain slopes, the terrace is a constructed agricultural surface. It will have a wall supporting its downslope side and is carefully fertilized with manure during the year, thereby maintaining and enriching fertility. This terraced field will also have access to irrigation water derived from the main stream that runs down through the valley.

Work among the Ait Mizane is done in a kind of cooperative fashion in which the basic approach is "I'll help you today; you will help me tomorrow." People work together on such demanding tasks as plowing and planting; threshing and winnowing. When it is my turn to plant, the people who I helped plant will come and help me plant. This labor system is cooperative and rotative and is termed "touiza" (pronounced ta-WEE-za).