Regional Economy
The economy of the Diffa Region is primarily agricultural, based upon pastoralism and farming. The major crop, grown both for subsistence and sale, is Millet, especially drought tolerant varieties. One third of arable land is devoted to farming: almost 105,000 hectares farmed of the 299,500 hectares of arable land.
Areas of the east and south also grow rice and maize. Irrigation in the valleys around Maïné-Soroa make this possible, as well as does the edge of Lake Chad ( 3,000 km² in the far east) and the seasonal Komadougou Yobe river valley in the south, which forms around 150 km of the border with Nigeria.
Despite this the Diffa Region is among the most unproductive agricultural areas in Niger, and all of West Africa, making it especially vulnerable to drought and famine.
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