page_title: Economy of Niger
section_title: Agriculture
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Niger / Agriculture
caption_attribution_description: English: Map and growing season for the Niger rice crop. Chart shows en:Normalized Difference Vegetation Index against Long Rains Dry Season (July - Feb), measuring normal years crop growth in the major rice producing areas of Niger.
context_page_description: The economy of Niger is based largely on internal markets, subsistence agriculture, and the export of raw commodities: foodstuffs to neighbors and raw minerals to world markets. Niger, a landlocked West African nation that straddles the Sahel, has consistently been ranked on the bottom of the Human development index, with a relatively low GDP and per capita income, and ranks among the least developed and most heavily indebted countries in the world, despite having large raw commodities and a relatively stable government and society not currently affected by civil war or terrorism. Economic activity centers on subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, re-export trade, and export of uranium. The 50% devaluation of the West African CFA franc in January 1994 boosted exports of livestock, cowpeas, onions, and the products of Niger's small cotton industry. Exports of cattle to neighboring Nigeria, as well as groundnuts and oil remain the primary non-mineral exports. The government relies on bilateral and multilateral aid – which was suspended briefly following coups d'état in 1996 and 1999 – for operating expenses and public investment.
context_section_description: Niger's agricultural and livestock sectors are the mainstay of all but 18% of the population. Fourteen percent of Niger's GDP is generated by livestock production (camels, goats, sheep and cattle), said to support 29% of the population. The 15% of Niger's land that is arable is found mainly along its southern border with Nigeria. Rainfall varies and when insufficient, Niger has difficulty feeding its population and must rely on grain purchases and food aid to meet food requirements. Although the rains in 2000 were not good, those in 2001 were plentiful and well distributed. Pearl millet, sorghum, and cassava are Niger's principal rain-fed subsistence crops. Irrigated rice for internal consumption, while expensive, has, since the devaluation of the CFA franc, sold for below the price of imported rice, encouraging additional production. Cowpeas and onions are grown for commercial export, as are small quantities of garlic, peppers, potatoes, and wheat. Groundnuts, and to a lesser degree Cotton, introduced by former colonial power France in the 1930s and 1950s respectively, account for most of the world market for Nigerien industrial agriculture. Prior to the mass exploitation of uranium in the early 1970s, groundnut oil was the largest Nigerien export by worth.
  The majority of Niger's population are rural residents engaged in agriculture, mostly in the south centre and south west of the nation. While these people are dependent on the agricultural market portions of their production and consumption, much of Nigerien farming is subsistence agriculture outside of the marketplace.
caption: Map and growing season for the Nigerien  Rice crop.  Chart shows Normalized Difference Vegetation Index against Long Rains Dry Season (July – Feb), measuring normal years crop growth in the major Rice producing areas of Niger.[16]
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