Land pressure and new standards of access to land: towards a feminisation of agriculture in southern Niger?

This paper considers the position of women in the social dynamics regulating access to farmland by different members of Hausa households. How does Hausa society manage land ownership within households when changing dynamics and constant challenges from a range of factors require new mechanisms for land redistribution which are subsequently accepted and recognised by everyone? Are the prevailing social rules influenced by population growth, the reduction in farmland caused by unfavourable ecological factors, and social and economic factors arising from the allocation of land for other priorities? Do these rules guarantee any kind of equity? Is there a point at which pressure on land is such that concerns about equity disappear and land is simply monopolized by the strongest group?