Economics of land degradation in Niger | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
December 2018
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
IFPRI-p15738coll5-6304

Land degradation poses daunting challenges to Niger and the country has designed several policies and strategies for combatting it. Building on work past studies, this study uses new satellite data which have higher resolution and run for longer time – thus capturing the longterm land management dynamics. This study also uses an improved cost of land degradation model which nets out benefits from land improvement as well analysing the impacts of land degradation on food and nutrition security. Results show that in the past 25 years, Niger has rehabilitated over 10 million ha of bare land – or 2.6% of lands south of the desert – home to more than 90% of population. The annual total economic value of degradation was 2015 US$3.535 billion or 19% of the 2015 purchasing power parity gross domestic product. Rehabilitation of degraded land will have large impacts on household food and nutrition security. Yet, adoption rates of key land management practices are very low. The results suggest the need to Niger to find other incentives for increasing adoption of improved land management – such as payment for ecosystem services and improvement of road infrastructure, education and extension services.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Ru, Yating; Kato, Edward

Publisher(s): 

Wageningen Academic Publishers is a publishing company in the field of life sciences that publishes scientific journals as well as monographs, textbooks, and proceedings. The company was founded in 2002 as successor of Wageningen Pers. The company publishes books in the fields of animal, food, social, plant, and environmental sciences.

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About IFPRI


The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Established in 1975, IFPRI currently has more than 500 employees working in over 50 countries. It is a research center of theCGIAR Consortium, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.


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