Rice is the third most important crop in Niger and showsthe most rapidly increasing consumption. Rice importsgrew from 40,000 t in 1995 to 210,000 t in 2005 at a costof US$ 71.4 million in a country where nearly 60% of thepopulation lives below the poverty line [1,2]. Rice is produced mainly in the region of Tillabéry (75% national production) where about 1/7 of Niger’ s population live [3,4].With 100,000 ha of arable and irrigable lands, this regionof Tillabéry has nearly 50% of the country’ s irrigable land.There are 29 irrigated rice schemes (with double cropping each year) that cover 7,432 ha (85.3% of the nationalirrigated schemes) in Tillabéry. The average rice grain yield in this agrosystem is 3.5 to 4.5 t ha−1[5,6]. This intensive system, under the control of local farmer unions andsupervised by the Office National des Aménagements Hydro-Agricoles (ONAHA), currently produces 30,000 to
35,000 t year−1. Private irrigated systems with individual
water pumps are also found in this area. The irrigated ecosystems are planted only with improved Asia-type (Oryzasativa) cultivars. The traditional rice growing in the Tillabéry region accounts for about 62.13% of lowland rice production.
La courge est l’une des cultures pratiquées au niveau des sites situés autour de la vallée de Telwa. Il s’agit des sites des communes de Dabaga, Tchirozérine et Agadez. La variété la plus cultivée est une variété locale dénommée Bagobira Son cycle de production varie entre 120 et 150 jours. Il ressort des résultats issus du suivi des producteurs en Conseil de Gestion à l’Exploitation Familiale (CGEF) par la CRA d’Agadez que les superficies exploitées varient entre 700 m² et 6 500 m² par producteur, avec une moyenne cultivée de 2 720 m2 par exploitation agricole (EA).