CHARACTERISTICS FEATURES OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE AND HOW THEY
AFFECT PRODUCTION
I. The farm sizes are generally small. More than 80% of the farms are less
than two hectares. This is why most farmers in the tropical region
produce for themselves and their family only subsistence farming and
not enough to export therefore their production is generally low.
II. Farming is based on the predominant life of simple farm tools and
human labour. This is because of the drudgery involved the production
rate is very low and it leads to lack of sustainable interest in farming.
III. Movement of homes is rear and it is said to be restricted to few areas
in Ivory Coast, Cameroon and formal regions. This is common with
hovinadic Agriculture in Nigeria. The Fulani herdsmen move their cattle
from one place to another they have no permanent home but pitches
their tent where they want to sleep and take it down when they want
to move away with their cattle. Here the production is reduced
because energy is spent in movement.
IV. Slash and bush burning is a major feature characteristic. The farmers
clear off the undergrowth and fall the trees during the dry season fire is
set on the plot to burn off the cleared weed.
V. Mixed cropping, a system of growing two or more crops simultaneously
with no distinct row arrangement. The management practice is poor,
the fertilizer mixture suitable for one of the crops may not for the other
crops. If the fertilizer is applied this may reduce the yield of other
crops.
VI. Bush fallow is the order of the day. When the farmers in the tropics
observe that the soil has lost much of its fertility, he moves over to
another plot of land leaving the former plot to regrow into a bush. When
a plot is under bush fallow, there is hardly any addition of nutrient to
the soil. Bush fallowing with land depend on the population pressure
and proximity to farmers homes. Some of the characteristics of this
system include:
a) Slash and bush burning in the predominant form of land clearing.
b) Planting operation is normally done on flats, in some cases the
preparation of mound, ridges, and beds may be done.
c) Fertility is returned through fallowing; natural vegetation,
recycle nutrient into the soil. Human labour is involved without
mechanization. Most of the crops cultivated are used as food.
Although this system increase crop production but a lot of
energy is involved in shifting from one piece of land to another.
VII. Farmland is of two types they are (1)compound land and (2)outfield
land. The centre of activity which road and foot path radiate is the
compound farm or homestead garden. This garden or farm is very close
to the house. Farm fertilization is done with household refuse or
kitchen waste, animal manures, ash and human waste. The type of
farm is located in the compound and is intensively cultivated.
The outfield is usually more extensive and situated some distance from
the compound. It is cropped under the bush fallow system and planted
with basic food crops like yam, cassava, beans, maize, rice e.t.c.
VIII. SMALL HOLDINGS: Agriculture in tropical Africa is dominated by small
holders. Smallholdings are characterized by limited production
capacity caused by almost complete lack of capital and often also by a
restricted availiblity of labour. The productivity of labour is generally
low, because the cutlass and hoe are the only farm tools used. The
state of health of the rural population is often poor and long walking
distances cause losses of time and energy.
IX. INTERCROPPING: In tropical Africa, as well as in the Asian and the
America tropics (OKIGBO 1978) specific intercropping systems have
developed over the centuries in the different regions and they are
closely adapted to the prevailing ecological and socio-economic
conditions. Intercropping system differ frequently from one area to
another with changes in soil and local climate.
ASSIGNMENT
DISCUSS THE VARIOUS MEASURES OF IMPROVING NIGERIAN AGRICULTURE
