Agricultural land use in peri-urban communities in Nigeria: A review
Date
2007-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tapas Institute of Scientific Research and development
Abstract
This paper reviewed the emerging problems of agricultural land use in Nigeria outlying communities. The outlying communities are known to be major sources of agricultural products to nearby urban areas. However, agricultural activities are under the threat of being abandoned due to the transfer of arable land other uses apart from agriculture. This was found to be due to the increased economic value (price) of land, which makes land a source of immediate income to escape chronic poverty. The emerging scenario is the replacement of traditional communal landholding by individual arrangement in the outlying agrarian rural communities to facilitate permanent alienation so that individuals can dispose of their farm lands to other uses. This would have the effects of forcing a significant population engaged in agriculture to the unemployment market, the emergence of landless farmers and compound problem of resource accessibility by disadvantaged groups like women farmers. It has also led to the increase in land rates for agricultural purposes and unabated decrease in farm size among farmers. The paper suggests that farming layouts should be mapped out and given equal attention as accorded to industrial and residential areas by urban development authorities. It concludes that extension service activities should be directed toward the dissemination of innovations like vegetable and small ruminant production, which does not require large expanse of land and compatible with land situations in these areas.
Description
A research article on agricultural land use
Keywords
Land, Agriculture, Peri-urban, population, Nigeria, Department of Agricultural Extension, Department of Agricultural Economics
Citation
Ajaero, J. O., Matthews-Njoku, E. C. and Ehirim, N. C. (2007). Agricultural land use in peri-urban communities in Nigeria: A review. International Joutnal of Tropical Agriculture and Food Systems, 1(3): 262-266. www.tapasinstitute,org/journals/ijotafs