ABSTRACT
Despite the common background of natural demands and technical options which we have just seen, the range of variation in the Sahel farming systems remains wide. From one place to another, from one society to the next, we find that crops and cultivation techniques can be quite different. We find that different tools are used, space is managed in different ways, and landscapes are shaped accordingly. This diversity is an expression of the distinct approaches used by one group or another to organise its relationship with nature. It also shows the many sorts of pressures and constraints to which each group has been subjected throughout its own specific history.
