Landscapes of diversity: A local political ecology of livelihood diversification in South-Western Niger

Abstract

The landscapes created by livelihood diversification in rural Africa result from human activity, from biophysical processes, and from their interrelations. The paper explores these interrelationships through analysis of 'productive bricolage'- the ways in which rural people in one of Africa's most disadvantaged countries have constructed a livelihood system that is a response to local constraints and opportunities, and to broader patterns of income generating possibilities. Zarma farmers in south-west Niger inhabit a region where the political economy has helped fuel economic migration and a partial withdrawal from agriculture, and has significantly altered social relationships and labour pa..