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Farmer Responses to Urban Growth in Northern Ivory Coast. By means of three examples at different levels, the article analyzes the incredible ability of Ivory Coast farmers to meet the demand for «traditional» foodstuff products caused by the urban explosion. Whether it concerns the rice growers of the Mahou region that are approached by local marketplace vendors, manioc producers supplying Bouaké, the capital of the Baoulé savannah, or specialists of yam farming catering, from the northeastern confines of the country, to the tastes of the Abidjan middle classes, farmers everywhere are seizing with an impressive rapidity the opportunities offered them by the growth of cities. The increase in the number of «foodstuff merchants» is particularly important in central and northern Ivory Coast where cotton is the sole export crop and where agricultural income is far lower than in the forest region. Their augmentation is in line with an urbanization rate that now concerns half of the population of the country, of which more than two million inhabitants live in the economic capital. In spite of the serious competition given by rich countries having excess food supplies for sale, the same phenomenon is everywhere observed : the best and most productive aid that the government can give the farmers is the opening of road networks that render the urban markets accessible to national producers.

Relations between the European Economic Community and the African-Caribbean-Pacific Countries. At some months of the renewal of the Lomé Convention between the E.E.C. and the African-Caribbean-Pacific countries, one can measure the extent of the aid furnished by the European Economic Community, its limits as well as its geographic impact. Belonging to the group of the poorest countries in the world, the African-Caribbean-Pacific nations are seeking to obtain more, whereas the E.E.C. doesn't wish to go beyond what has already been done while at the same time endeavoring to dispense its aid in a manner that won't increase the commercial dependence of its privileged partners.

Communication Means in Burkina Faso. For Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation, communications with its neighboring countries and, in particular, with their ports, form a national priority that has been affirmed by all the governments that have succeeded each other as rulers of the country. During the past twenty years, the international road links have been considerably improved, to the extent that the old Ouagadougou -Abidjan railroad, badly maintained and badly run, has more and more difficulty meeting highway competition. A new asphalt road toward the port of Lomé, Togo, has been opened and is experiencing great activity, thus freeing the country from an excessive dépendance upon Abidjan. International air service is growing slowly but overall remains only slightly employed. Now that communications with the outside world are in the main assured, Burkina Faso is attaching more importance to opening up more fully the interior of its nations. To achieve this purpose, the road option is the one most often proned, whereas projects of extending the railroad lines have once again been shelved and the domestic sirline network, up till now almost inexistant, does not seem to be a candidate for important investments over the near future. Several road projects are at present being undertaken, thanks to foreign financing, and the maintenance of existing roads, far too long neglected, now seems as if it will be at last taken into consideration.

Dwellings and Land Occupation. The «Yir» and the Dagara Village ; the Exemple of Tobo. Built of a material with a weak weather resistance, the Dagara «Yir» (house, dwelling) is constantly reconstructed in part, or at times even erected elsewhere depending upon the degree of damage sustained because of bad westher. But this moving of the dwelling site, apparently made necessary because of material factors, is in reality a function of social-cultural and social économie considérations. The architectural appearance of the «yir», and its location in any particular area have, moreover, raised various interpretations as to the quality of the ties that unite the inhabitants. Do they authorize one to speak of village, that is, a collection of dwellings the inhabitants of which display a certain solidarity as respects one another ? The answer is unquestionably yes. It is not an abuse of language to say so, for the closeness of social ties is not necessarily measured by the distance separating the different dwellings. The «Yir» that, in the widest sense, can extend the entire lenghth of the village, has always been a symbol of this unity. It is now, at present, that cracks are appearing in the walls and that one must fear the effects of an individualism that is too strikingly set off.