Abstract
This is a poorer land than any of the other communities studied. Famine was a way of life in there since the 1960's
In 1984-5, the Fur (people of Jebel Si) preferred leaving the farms where they were employed in order to cultivate their own land, even though the wage had increased in the Southern farms where they used to work. They thus preferred "leaving the shame, dependence, and exclusion of working for others, for the dignity, autonomy and community of working on their own farms, despite the huge hardship and hunger it involved". This illustrate the fact that insiders are actually more attached to their way of life than to the assurance of having something to eat. They rather avoid destitution than hunger.
People fell in destitution when they had to sell their labor during the wet season. It was nonetheless very difficult to acquire its own land in Darfur at this time, and seeds were scarce. Not everybody could manage to have its own land; many had to opt for low status work, and thus fell in destitution as they were forced out of the rural economy.
