Traditional farming practices in Nigeria

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Periodical article

Title:	Traditional farming practices in Nigeria
Authors:	Okpoko, A. Ikechukwu Okpoko, Pat Uche
Year:	1999
Periodical:	West African Journal of Archaeology
Volume:	29
Issue:	1-2
Pages:	54-66
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	agricultural history subsistence farming
Abstract:	Following sections on the prehistory of food production and animal domestication in Nigeria, this paper examines the farming systems employed by traditional farmers in this area in their bid to maintain a sustainable balance between themselves and their environment. Attention is paid to the environmental setting, land tenure systems, farming cycles, farming systems, shifting cultivation (crop rotation, mixed cropping/farming, tree crop cultivation, livestock keeping and pastoralism), and the sociocultural implications of traditional farming. The authors conclude that, although limited by a number of factors (such as landholding systems, poor storage facilities and the current drift from rural to urban areas of youths), traditional farming practices still provide the basis from which Nigerian agricultural development can take off. Bibliogr.