This article deals with the characterization of moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam., 1785) farms in the urban commune of Agadez. It analyzes the socio-professional activities that generate income for producers and the various production factors involved in moringa production. Moringa production enables producers to generate income throughout the year, with periods of peak profitability during Ramadan and socio-religious events. The aim of the study was to characterize moringa farms in the commune of Agadez. To this end, the survey covered 115 producers, i.e. 25% of the 459 moringa producers counted at six moringa production sites. The sample comprised 83.5% men and 16.5% women. Analysis shows that these producers farm an average of 3.29 ha, with decreases of up to 1.15 ha on average depending on the crop year. 60.9% of farmers surveyed inherited their land, while 13.9% purchased it. These modes of acquisition are followed by loans, gifts and rentals. Farmers engage in several socio-professional activities, the main one being market gardening, practised by 95.7% of those surveyed, with livestock farming coming in second place with 60.9%. Although it is a cash crop, moringa production generates costs for the purchase of agricultural inputs. The statistical correlation test reveals that the costs of fertilizers (-0.081), pesticides (-0.081), working materials (depreciation (-0.047)), permanent (-0.048) and daily (-0.086) employees and family labor (-0.089) were negatively correlated with yield.
This article deals with the control of land resources through ownership, access and acquisition of agricultural land in the Tahoua region of Niger. It explains how male and female heads of household access and acquire agricultural land. It also looks at the availability of cropland and the size of farmland in rural areas. An analysis of 84 sample heads of household, 42 of them male and 42 female, showed that inheritance remains the dominant mode of acquisition, with 52% of households acquiring land. This is followed by purchase coupled with inheritance (19%) and rental (7%). Female heads of household rent (12% renters vs. 2.40% renters of agricultural land) and lend (4.80% vs. 2.40% of men). The analysis shows that the farmland available to households consists of fields and gardens. Male and female households have plots of varying sizes, up to 15 hectares for fields and 3 hectares for gardens. On average, female households have only 2 hectares of land, compared with around 6 hectares for male households. A comparison of average field sizes, using ANOVA analysis with Tukey’s test, shows that the average areas owned by heads of households in different zones are not significantly different. The average is 4.39 ha in agricultural zones versus 3.07 ha in agro-pastoral zones.