15
Table 3-Niger: Long term trends in cereal output and land yields
Year
Population
(000)
Cultivated area
(000 ha)
Output
(000 tons)
Imports over estimated
food consumption
(%)
Farm land
per capita
(ha)
Output per
capita
(Kg/c)
Land yields
(kg/ha)
% Output
change on
previous year
% change in
output per capita
on previous year
Av.1980-4
4,120
1,582
10.2
0.69
267.6
385.1
-10.3
-13.2
Av1985-0
4,639
1,794
11.0
0.66
256.7
387.2
16
- 1
Av1990-4
6,987
2,035
6.7
0.84
245.3
292.1
14.1
10.4
Av1995-9
7,184
2,381
8.1
0.74
247.0
329.1
8.1
5.1
2000
10,492
7,342
2,126
12.2
0.69
202.7
289.6
-25.7
-28
2001
11,060
7,855
3,102
13.9
0.71
280.5
394.8
45.9
38.4
2002
11,456
7,838
3,228
14.7
0.68
281.8
411.9
4.1
0.5
2003
11,834
8,056
3,515
11.1
0.68
297.0
436.2
8.9
5.4
2004
12,224
7,838
2,665
14.0
0.64
218.0
339.9
-24.2
- 26.6
Av.2000-4
7,786
2,927
13.2
0.68
256.0
374.5
1.8
-2.1
2005
12,627
8,381
3,606
17.8
0.66
285.6
430.2
32.2
13.6
2006
13,045
8,905
3,968
12.6
0.68
304.2
445.6
10.0
6.5
2007
13,716
9,034
3,793
11.4
0.65
276.6
419.9
-4.4
-9.1
2008
14,197
9,919
4,851
….
0.69
341.7
489.0
27.8
23.5
2009
14,693
9,076
3,441
….
0.62
234.2
379.1
-29.1
-31.5
Av. 2005-2009
9,063.4
3,932.2
13.9
0.66
288.5
432.8
7.3
0.6
Source: Republique du Niger et al. (2010), FAOSTAT for Estimated Food Supply and Food
Consumption
16
- Increased inequality in the distribution of land, assets and income. Lack of safety nets
and credit markets force the farmers affected by production crises to sell their assets,
mortgage or sell their land at distress prices, and borrow money at usury rates. All this
reduces their assets, increases their debt servicing obligations, and erodes their ability to
survive future crises. The rising land concentration caused by ever more frequent crises has led
to the formation of new classes of medium-large farmers (Abdoulaye and Ibro 2006) and
near-landless labourers whose survival depends on casual rural employment. While 88
percent of farmers still own land and sharecropping and land tenancy are still, many of them
are now involved in casual farm work.
- Increased spatial variation in food availability. Within each region the spatial inequality
in food consumption went up due to growing dependence on market purchases and limited
private integration between the main regional markets and village markets, which are often
not reached by traders because of insecurity, poor roads and weak demand. Detailed micro-
studies suggest that rising spatial inequality in food production might also be due to the
progressive concentration of the population in the ecologically fragile Northern agro-
pastoral zones of Dakoro and Mayahi (Faculté d’Agronomie de l’Université Abdou Moumouni
de Niamey, 2006).
- Growing dependence on volatile imports. In the 1960s, cereal imports acted as a safety
valve during years of bad harvests, while they fell to zero in normal years. However, Niger’s
cereal trade balance started becoming negative in the 1970s. Food imports (on average
250.000-300.000 tons of cereals a year) originating from North Nigeria and to a lesser extent
from Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin have thus become permanent (Figure 5) and constitute an
increasingly important component of total food supply and consumption (Table 3) and key
determinant of domestic food prices (Cornia and Deotti 2009).
Figure 5 - Niger: Evolution of cereal imports - tons (1980-2008)
Source: FAOSTAT
Increased dependence on food imports causes a number of problems. To start with, lack of
good roads raises haulage costs. Transporting a 100 kg sack of millet costs 1500-1750 FCFA
from Northern Nigeria, but 7400-11200 from Lomé, depending on the final destination
(Beekhuis 2005). Secondly, the millet-producing Sahelian countries are often hit by co-variant
weather shocks, a fact which reduces the extent to which imports can cover food shortfalls,
while food imports from outside the region entail high transport costs and long delays. Aker
(2007), for instance, shows that cross-border prices in Malanville (Benin), Jibia, Illela and Mai
Adua (Nigeria) appear to Granger-cause 65 percent of price changes in Niger. In years of low
output, Benin and Nigeria consume most of their domestic production and even import