The challenge of agriculture in the up-coming decades is to feed an ever-increasing population while reducing or getting rid of chemical inputs and preserving biodiversity and natural resources. In arid and semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin, farmers have to face this challenge, alongside multiple environmental and climatic risks. Due to low rainfall, irrigation is instrumental for agriculture and consequently for economy, in these areas. So far, irrigation has been analyzed in terms of eco-efficiency, and is commonly associated with intensification and pollution. First, this study aimed to identify, in a semi-arid irrigated area, a set of farming practices, already implemented by farmers, with agroecological potentials. We present in this communication two “virtuous” farming systems, compared to more conventional and intensive systems. Second, based on the results from 65 semi-structured interviews, a hypothetical plot with a more agroecological management style was designed. The study was carried out in the Merguellil irrigated plain in Central Tunisia, which is entirely cultivated, with a wide variety of crop types such as horticulture, fruit trees and cereals. A first farmer installed at the plot scale, a relay cropping of fava bean (Vicia faba) with pepper (Capsicum annuum) in intercropping with olive trees (Olea europaea). In this agroforestry system, the plot was further surrounded by a windbreak cereal (sorghum) belt. The farmer used old and local varieties, very resistant to pest attacks and that require low chemical inputs, resulting in lower cost of production. Seeds were saved and reused. At the farm level, crop residues (pepper, fava bean, olive tree pruning residue) and cereals were used for livestock feeding. Another farmer used manure as an organic fertilizer after a fermentation process. This practice lead to a substantial reduction of chemical nitrogen fertilizer use. In addition, he applied a water stress period at the beginning of the cyc