Household Variability and Inequality in Kofyar Subsistence and Cash-Cropping Economies

Abstract

Social scientists have argued that the change from subsistence to market-oriented production leads to the development of socioeconomic inequality in generally egalitarian agrarian societies. A reanalysis of data on households and production among the Nigerian Kofyar suggests that the relation of population to resources is a more important determinant of inequality than the subsistence/market distinction. The Kofyar homeland, with its traditional system of intensive subsistence farming, has distinct regions characterized by differing levels of land pressure associated with population density, per capita production, household size, household developmental cycles, migration rates, and economic inequality. Households voluntarily moving to plentiful land on the frontier and adopting cash-cropping substantially increase their labor forces and money incomes without raising the level of inequality.