ABSTRACT
A serious shortcoming in Farming Systems Research has been its preoccupation with the cropping aspect of the domestic production system, to the neglect of animal husbandry. Such an enhancement of the farming systems approach should be well-suited, moreover, to policy-oriented studies of pastoral production systems, where livestock play a dominant role in local subsistence strategies, and social life. The Niger Range and Livestock Project (NRL) provides an example of a conscious attempt by policy-makers to adapt a farming systems style of research to a pastoral setting in order to fashion viable policy recommendations. The purpose of NRL was to provide baseline research on the traditional production and range management systems of pastoralists in Niger. In the course of field work, the project social scientists discovered that the agricultural and pastoral groups which they studied utilized a variety of subsistence strategies to gain their livelihood.
