Let us look at the frontier Kofyars' social mechanisms for providing labor, and at the Kofyars' reasons for mobilizing labor in these ways. I focus here on the three principal labor mobilization strategies that account for 98% of all farm work.

Household labor, in which family households work on their own fields, accounts for the bulk of Kofyar agricultural hours. Household fields include both those plots controlled by the household head and those held in usufruct by others in the household. Household labor is applied by individuals or groups usually numbering five or less. This type of labor is easily mobilized and highly flexible.

Mar muos , based on the homeland labor parties of the same name, are large neighborhood work groups, also known as festive labor parties. These gatherings typically involve 30-60 workers but may exceed 100. They are characterized by a spirit of friendly competition and an almost frenzied pace of work. All present are served millet beer after the work. Mar muos usually must be scheduled weeks in advance, and they require several days of brewing work by the women in the household.

Wuk exchange-labor groups, typically ranging from 5 to 20 in size, are between the more formal mar muos and small-scale, flexible household labor. Wuk are membership groups or voluntary associations whose participants take turns working on each other's fields. The workers are repaid with reciprocal labor (which is carefully noted) at later meetings of the group. Most households belong to a wuk with their neighbors, sending various household members to each labor event. Individuals also form wuk groups, usually along age and sex lines, that meet to work on individual plots.

GROUP LABOR DATASET

Group labor is especially important during the rainy season; exactly one-third of the farm labor between mid April and mid October is mobilized by suprahousehold groups. But why is labor pooled in the first place? The three factors paramount in this case are:

1. quantity and quality of labor
2. simultaneous labor demands
3. labor banking .

Related issues

• Importance of household labor in smallholder agriculture
• Gender and differential access to group labor
• Effect of group labor on Kofyar settlement pattern
• Role of group labor among Tiv farmers