The land, labor, credit, and trading institutions of Marmara village, in Hausaland, northern Nigeria, are detailed in this study through fieldwork conducted in two national economic cycles - the petroleum-boom prosperity (in 1977-1979), and the macro-economic decline (in 1985, 1996 and 1998). The book unveils a new paradigm of economic change in the West African savannah, demonstrating how rural accumulation in a polygynous society actually limits the extent of inequality while at the same time promoting technical change. A uniquely African non-capitalist trajectory of accumulation subordinates the acquisition of capital to the expansion of polygynous families, clientage networks, and circles of trading friends. The whole trajectory is driven by an indigenous ethics of personal responsibility. This model disputes the validity of both Marxian theories of capitalist transformation in Africa and the New Institutional Economics.

Study with special reference to the village of Batagarawa.

Research report studying the effects of the kano river irrigation project on rural development in northern Nigeria - analyses the impact of technological change on agricultural incomes, agricultural production, crop diversification, farming system, land tenure, land utilization, labour force, nonfarm employment, work organization, local economy, etc. Bibliography pp. 129 to 135, graph, map, questionnaires and statistical tables.

This book embodies work stretching over a fifteen year period. As a result· inevitably we are greatly indebted to a number of institutions and a large number of individuals. Over the years considerable administrative and financial help was provided by the Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, the Ministries of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the northern states of Nigeria, the Ford Foundation, and more recently, Kansas State University.