Diffa is one of the seven

Regions of Niger Niger is divided into eight regions (French: ''régions;'' singular''région)'', each of which is named after its capital. Current regions *Additionally, the national capital, Niamey, comprises a special Capital districts and territories, capit ...

, located in the southeast of the country. The capital of the region is Diffa.

Geography

Diffa Region is situated in the extreme southeast of

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesAgadez Region to the north,

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...

to the east,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

to the south, and Zinder Region to the west. The landscape is primarily

Sahelian The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid cli ...

in the south, merging into the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

in the north of the region. In the far southeast can be found Niger's portion of Lake Chad; formerly extending as far west as N'guigmi, the lake has shrunk drastically in recent decades.Geels, Jolijn, (2006) ''Bradt Travel Guide - Niger'', pgs. 227-38 In the southeast the Komadougou Yobe river forms part of the border with Nigeria.

Settlements

Diffa is the regional capital; other major settlements include Bosso, Chetimari,

Dungass Dungass is a village and rural commune in Niger.Gueskerou Gueskerou is a village and commune in southeastern Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages

Goudoumaria Goudoumaria, Niger (var. ''Goudomaria'', ''Gudumaria'') is a town in the southeast of the country, in Diffa Region, northwest of Diffa. Goudoumaria is an administrative post in the Maine-Soroa Department, and is approx. 50 km north of the N ...

, Kablewa, Mainé-Soroa, N'Gourti, N'Guelbély, N'guigmi and Toumour.

Administrative subdivisions

Diffa Region is divided into three

Departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

: * Diffa Department * Maïne-Soroa Department * N'guigmi Department The Region also includes three Urban Communes, a number of Rural Communes, four Cantons, and over twenty ''Groupments'' (administrative councils of nomadic communities). The Urban Communes are Diffa, Maïné-Soroa, N'guigmi; while the Rural Communes include Bosso, Chétimari,

, N'gourti, Kabléwa, Nguel beyli, and

Gueskérou Gueskerou is a village and commune in southeastern Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages

Demographics

The main ethnolinguistic groups in the region are

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, Fula, Hausa, Kanuri, Bufuma, and Toubou.Présentation de la région de Diffa: des potentialités naturelles considérables
Abdou Saïdou, Le Sahel (Niamey). 17 December 2009

Refugees

Refugees from Nigeria fleeing violence from Boko Haram are living with local populations in the Diffa Region. As of 11 June 11, 2014, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) estimated that as many as 1,000 refugees a week were crossing the border into Diffa region; four out of five are women and girls. By October 2015 the number of Nigerian refugees in the region had risen to at least 150,000. After a lull in the fighting in 2017-18, violence increased in 2019, further worsening an already fragile security situation.

Economy

The economy of Diffa Region is primarily agricultural, based upon pastoralism and farming. The major crop, grown both for subsistence and sale, is

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets ...

, 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 Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

. Irrigation in the valleys around Maïné-Soroa make this possible, 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

. 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.

References

* Portions of this article were translated from the French language Wikipedia article :fr:Diffa (région), 2008-06-19. * *
The Wodaabe Of Southeastern Niger
In Nikolaus Schareika. Ecological Knowledge And Herd Movement Strategies Among The Wodaabe Of Southeastern Niger. Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz/The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2003)

External links

Diffa/Niger : Map of attacks by Boko Haram (as of 04 October 2015)
{{Authority control Regions of Niger