Rights to Tress and Livelihoods in Niger
- Author:
- Mercedes Stickler
- Publisher:
- Focus on Land in Africa
- Publication Date:
- 13 January 2015
- Tags:
- Niger, Economy, Business and Finance, Environment, Governance, Land and Rural Issues
Among the most impoverished countries in the world, Niger has suffered from recurring droughts and famines over the past century. Rainfed agriculture is possible in the more humid lands of the south, where some 94% of the population lives, but productivity has declined over decades of resource degradation. Beginning with the French colonial government, farmers were discouraged from maintaining valuable trees on their property by a series of laws and regulations that made all trees state property and penalized tree felling and pruning on farms (Boffa, 1999). Once farmers were relieved of these restrictions, they began allowing young seedlings and tree stumps in their fields to regrow - producing food, fodder, fuelwood, and other goods. This brief explores the historical tenure policies that discouraged local efforts to protect and manage trees on farms and then shows how reformed policies and institutions have incentivized native tree management and increased rural productivity.
