An agro-economic characterization of the Niger household : case of Tahoua | Une caractérisation agroéconomique des ménages nigériens : cas de Tahoua

anglais. peer reviewed

anglais. Since the big drought of 1984, the department of Tahoua in the Republic of Niger is very vulnerable on structural and temporal disruptions. The food vulnerability is defined as “the analysis of coping strategies and reactions faced with the structural or/and temporary shocks, if the coping strategies are not effectives, the people are in a temporary or structural situation of food vulnerability” (Andres L., Lebailly Ph., 2011a; Andres L., Lebailly Ph., 2011b; Andres L., 2012). The environment is much degraded by the wind and water erosion. Despite many opportunities to develop the rural sector, the region of Tahoua has a structural problem because the income is not very high and the major part of the population is poor. This paper analyzes the population of the region of Tahoua in function of these agro-economic characteristics. The target is to classify the population in relation to the agro-ecologic system, food system. Each class is defined and characterized by a global description of the agricultural system and the sources of income. The paper is based on a survey realized during 2010 and 2011. The investigations have interviewed 420 heads of household. The results are obtained from Excel and SPSS software. The statistical analysis is a cluster hierarchization, comparison of mean and the descriptive statistics. The results show a difference between the north (pastoral) and the south (agricultural) of the region of Tahoua. But the major constraint is the degradation of the land and the weak fertility of this land.