ABSTRACT
The desultory nature of rural agricultural activities at present and the nagging sense of obligation that some part-time urban residents feel toward their home villages underscore the marginality of their places of origin. The changing rural-urban relationship in the Sahelian zone has been recounted as a geographical process. The urban influence on the rural sector is sometimes confused over the subject of 'investment', which normally includes flows directly related to agricultural production but does not include the maintenance of social networks. It is clear to the villagers in Guidan Wari terroir that the local environment cannot tolerate the present intensity of use. Guidan Wari is a land-use contradiction. Livelihoods are themselves a response to uncertainty and variability. Demographic and health indicators in Niger are surprisingly stable. Community-level perspectives on the consequences of circular migration depict conflicts in the most basic of societal divisions: men versus women, and young versus old.
