Agricultural Intensification and Flexibility in the Nigerian Sahel

This paper discusses evidence of agricultural intensification in the Sahelian zone of north-east Nigeria, drawing on data from a five-year monitoring study of soils, cultivars and livelihoods across environmental and demographic gradients. The paper stresses the importance of flexibility in ecological management and in economic activities as components of rural livelihood strategies. In the villages studied, the intensity of agricultural operations decreases with annual rainfall amount. However, flexibility in options within both cropping systems and off-farm employment, is greatest in the drier villages. The nature of this flexibility and its relevance to debates about intensification are discussed

Agriculture · Agroforestry · Archaeology · Business · Economics · Flexibility (engineering · Geography · Natural resource economics · Water resource management · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Agricultural risk and resilience · Agriculture and Rural Development Research · Environmental Science

• Climate Factors Play a Limited Role for Past Adaptation Strategies in West Africa

  Open Access•Ole Mertz, Cheikh Mbow et al.•Conservation Ecology•2010

  Incluir item

• Vulnerability of fishery-based livelihoods to the impacts of climate variability and change

  Open Access•Md Monirul Islam, Susannah M Sallu et al.•Regional Environmental Change•2014

  Incluir item

• Peasant households livelihoods negotiation in the semi-arid zone of Nigeria

  Open Access•Terfa Percy Gbahabo•International Journal of…•2015

  Incluir item

• Francophone geography and the trajectory of mobile space theory

  Open Access•Olivier Walther•Singapore Journal of Tropical…•2026

  Incluir item

• Continuity and change

  Open Access•Torben Birch‐thomsen, Anette Reenberg et al.•Singapore Journal of Tropical…•2010

  Incluir item

• Natural Disasters and Adaptation to Climate Change

  Open Access•Jean P Palutikof, Sarah Boulter et al.•Natural Disasters and Adaptation…•2013

  Incluir item

• What can Africa Learn from China's Experience in Agricultural Development

  Open Access•Li Xiaoyun, Xiaoyun Li et al.•IDS Bulletin•2013

  Incluir item

• Diffusing Risk and Building Resilience through Innovation

  Open Access•Gina Koczberski, George N Curry et al.•Human Ecology•2018

  Incluir item

• High-resolution mapping of rural poverty and famine vulnerability in the Sahel

  Open Access•John Grolle•Population and Environment•2013

  Incluir item

• Environmental risk, resilience and migration

  Open Access•Priya Deshingkar•Environmental Research Letters•2012

  Incluir item

• Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification

  Open Access•Laura Vang Rasmussen, Brendan Coolsaet et al.•Nature Sustainability•2018

  Incluir item

• Cultural Heritage, Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Urbanisation in South Korea

  Open Access•Sunwoo Bae, Bharat Dahiya et al.•Space and Culture India•2025

  Incluir item

• Economic Wealth, Food Wealth, and Millet Consumption

  E Finnis•Food Culture & Society•2008

  Incluir item

• Farmer adaptation, change and ‘crisis’ in the Sahel

  Open Access•Michael Mortimore, Michael J Mortimore et al.•Global Environmental Change•2001

  Incluir item

• Flexibility in return, reconstruction and livelihoods in displaced villages in Casamance, Senegal

  Open Access•Martin Evans•GeoJournal•2009

  Incluir item

• Re-specifying disaster risk

  Open Access•Naomi W Lazarus•GeoJournal•2014

  Incluir item

• Interpreting Changes from the 1970s to the 1990s in African Agriculture Through Village Studies

  Open Access•Steve Wiggins•World Development•2000

  Incluir item

• Community fencing in open rangelands

  Open Access•Chasca Twyman, Andrew J Dougill et al.•Review of African Political Economy•2001

  Incluir item

• Agricultural land use pattern dynamics in the Sudan–Sahel—towards an event-driven framework

  Open Access•Anette Reenberg•Land Use Policy•2001

  Incluir item

• Population pressure and dynamics of household livelihoods in an Ethiopian Village

  Open Access•Bertil Malmberg, Bo Malmberg et al.•Population and Environment•2007

  Incluir item

• Approaching Local Limits to Field Expansion—Land Use Pattern Dynamics in Semi-arid Burkina Faso

  Tina Svan Hansen, Anette Reenberg•Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish…•1998

  Incluir item

• Grounding maladaptation

  Open Access•Carlos Dobler-Morales, Alina Alvarez Larrain et al.•Geoforum•2021

  Incluir item

• Managing the risk of climatic variability in late prehistoric northern Chile

  Open Access•C Zori, Erika Brant•Journal of Anthropological…•2012

  Incluir item

• Environment, Development and Change in Rural Asia-Pacific

  John Connell, Éric Waddell•Environment, Development and…•2006

  Incluir item

• Political Ecology and Land Degradation

  Open Access•Samantha Jones•Geography Compass•2008

  Incluir item

• Population Growth and the Environment in Africa

  Open Access•Valentina Mazzucato, David Niemeijer•Economic Geography•2002

  Incluir item

• Contrasting water management techniques in Tunisia

  Open Access•Jennifer Hill, Wendy Woodland•Geographical Journal•2003

  Incluir item

• A Livelihood Perspective on Natural Resource Management and Environmental Change in Semiarid Tanzania

  Open Access•Torben Birch‐thomsen, Torben Birch-Thomsen et al.•Economic Geography•2001

  Incluir item

• Why Grow Cash Crops? Subsistence Farming and Crop Commercialization in the Kolli Hills, South India

  Open Access•E Finnis•American Anthropologist•2006

  Incluir item

• Non-Boserupian Ecology and Agricultural Risk

  Open Access•G D Stone, C E Downum•American Anthropologist•1999

  Incluir item

• Household diversification and market dependence

  Matthew D Turner, A A Ayantunde et al.•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2022

  Incluir item

• The labor of agrodiversity in a Moroccan oasis

  Karen Rignall, Karen E Rignall•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2016

  Incluir item

• Transition of Shifting Cultivation and its Impact on People's Livelihoods in the Miombo Woodlands of Northern Zambia and South-Western Tanzania

  Open Access•Kenneth Grogan, Torben Birch‐thomsen et al.•Human Ecology•2013

  Incluir item

• Land Degradation and Society

  Piers M Blaikie, Piers Blaikie et al.•Land Degradation and Society•2015

  Incluir item

• Indigenous Agricultural Revolution

  Paul Richards•Indigenous Agricultural Revolution•2023

  Incluir item

• Africans

  Open Access•John Iliffe, J H Iliffe et al.•Africans•2017

  Incluir item

• The agrarian question in Africa

  Open Access•M Watts, Michael J Watts•Progress in Human Geography•1989

  Incluir item

• Except-Africa

  Open Access•Emma Roe, Emery M Roe•World Development•1995

  Incluir item

• Development narratives, or making the best of blueprint development

  Open Access•Emma Roe, Emery M Roe•World Development•1991

  Incluir item

• Population, Prosperity, and Poverty

  Alan Frishman, Polly Hill•ASA Review of Books•1979

  Incluir item

• Irrigation and Soil-Conservation in African Agricultural History

  Open Access•J E G Sutton•The Journal of African History•1984

  Incluir item

• Towards a History of Cultivating the Fields

  J E G Sutton•Azania Archaeological Research in…•1989

  Incluir item

• Shifting Cultivation in Africa

  John R Raeburn, Pierre De Schlippe•British Journal of Sociology•1956

  Incluir item

• Land Utilization and Soil Erosion in Nigeria

  Open Access•L Dudley Stamp•Geographical Review•1938

  Incluir item

• The Dynamics of African Agricultural History

  Open Access•David Niemeijer•Development and Change•1996

  Incluir item

• Agricultural Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa

  William B Morgan, Jerzy A Solarz•Geographical Journal•1994

  Incluir item

• Wasting the Rain

  Open Access•Philip W Porter, W M Adams•Geographical Review•1994

  Incluir item