Notes on educational disciplines  

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Farm households have evolved a variety of practices which provide them with their basic requirements, which include shelter and clothing as well as food, water and a cash income in addition to subsistence. Mixed farming is only one of these practices. Mixed farming is one of the practices that smallholders’ farmers in Tubah Sub-Division have adapted through out the years. Thus to review literature on the viability of such a system, we are going to group it under the following themes: Ecology, economic, social and adaptability.

2.2 ECOLOGY

If a farming system is ecologically sound, it is said to be sustainable. This means that the quality of natural resources is maintained and the vitality of the entire agro ecosystem from humans, crops and animals to soil organisms is enhanced.

Williams et al (1987:12) have observed that: “the major upland and hill soils of the tropics which are used for agriculture have been named oxisols (also known as latosols and ferrolsols), ultisols and alfisols (or red yellow podzolics)” These soils are well drained, usually red or red/yellow in colour and frequently highly leached and therefore low in nutrients. The soils usually have excellent physical structure with mixtures of iron oxides, kaolytes and quartz. They concluded that if these soils are well managed, they can perform a great deal because they are stable due to their granatic and basatic nature (rocks). In our area under study, the soils are deep dark topsoil especially at the valleys and under tree canopy. This is suitable for farming. But the soils, due to poor management become very unfertile around grazing areas.

In the same reasoning, they observed that: “soils in the plains, flood plains are formed generally in valleys or on coastal plains. They may be formed from alluvium (material deposited by water movement) in valley bottoms and coastal areas”. These soils they say, may be sandy stone, but are more frequently used for rice. This brings out the notion of ecology as one of the parameters in determining the sustainability of a farming system.

Norman cited by Altieri (1995:48) has grouped the mixture of resources commonly found in an agro ecosystem into four categories.

i-                    Natural resources that are the elements of land, water, climate and natural vegetation that are exploited by the farmer for agricultural production;

ii-                  Human resources: The human resources consist of the people who live and work within the farm and use its resources for agricultural production, based on their traditional or economic incentives;

iii-                Capital resources: These are the goods and services created, purchased or borrowed by the people associated with the farm to facilitate their exploitation of natural resources for agricultural production;

iv-                Production resources: These include the agricultural out-put of the farm such as crops and livestock. These become capital resources when sold and residues (crops, manure) are nutrients inputs reinvested in the system.

This categorization of resources in agro-ecosystem helps us to understand how the quality of natural resources is maintained and the vitality of the entire agro ecosystem from humans, crops and animals to soil organisms is enhanced.

2.3 ECONOMIC

If a farming system is economically viable then it could be concluded that it is sustainable. This is to say farmers can produce enough for self-sufficiency and/or income and gain sufficient returns to warrant the labor and costs involved.

Dalton (1982:19) thinks that: “the overriding influence on the development of agriculture is the state of the market. The market or its substitute has to work.  Inputs must be available and outlets must exist for the products of agriculture” Dalton’s statement expresses partly what is needed to enhance agriculture or farming systems. But then it is regrettable because this is not the case with smallholder farmers under study. Important supplies such as spare parts, fertilizers, chemicals and feed are most of the time unavailable because of the lack of market. Even if it exists, the roads are usually not very favorable for transportation into and out of the region.

He has equally looked at the role prices of commodities play in determining output. According to him, “the ratio of input prices to output prices is all important especially as the level and trends of prices also influence confidence. Confidence among the managers of agricultural systems combined with alternative prices can result in rapid increases in output. The current increase in food prices could be a boost to farmers who had produced enough for self-sufficiency and for the market.

2.3 ADAPTABILITY

Literature on this theme seeks to find out whether the rural communities are capable of adjusting to the constantly changing conditions for farming: population growth, policies and market demand.

Egger cited by Altieri (1995) is of the fact that: “traditional agriculture has benefited from centuries of cultural and biological evolution that has adapted it to local conditions. As a result, small farmers have developed and/or inherited complex farming systems that have helped them meet their subsistence needs for centuries, even under adverse environmental conditions without depending on mechanization or chemical fertilizers and pesticides”. The above view seemingly explains why some farming systems are able to survive for centuries. This is the case with the mixed farming system where smallholders’ farmers have been able to maintain for centuries.

Consequently, Egger has concluded that “as more research is concluded, many farming practices once regarded as primitive or misguided [will be] recognized as sophisticated and appropriate”.

Altieri (1995) reports that throughout the world, farmers who are confronted with specific problems of slope, flooding, droughts, pests, diseases and low soil fertility develop unique management systems to overcome these constraints.  This report supports what Egger mentions above.

In the same line of thought, Knight cited still by Altieri (1995:108) has reported that “traditional agriculturalists generally have met the environmental requirements of their food producing systems by concentrating on a few principles and processes”. In fact, among the principles and processes, he mentioned the following:

i-                    Spatial and temporal diversity and continuity, where multiple cropping designs are adopted to ensure constant food production and vegetation cover for soil production;

ii-                  Water conservation, where in rain fed areas the rainfall pattern is the main cropping system determinant and farmers use cropping patterns adapted to the amount and distribution of rainfall;

iii-                Control of succession and protection of crops, where farmers have developed a number of strategies to cope with competition from undesirable organisms. Crops species and variety mixtures provide insurance against catastrophic attacks from insect pests or diseases.

The strategies taken by traditional agriculturalists in Knight’s write up is related to the strategies mixed farmers adapt in the Tubah Sub-Division to ensure sustainability of their existing mixed farming system.

Altieri  has also reported that “in Nigeria many farmers linked by kinship ties, age, grouping or friendship locate their farm plots lying contiguous to each other but leaving room for the expansion of each farm in a particular direction” According to farmers, this practice is to spread pest risk among many farmers. Similarly, in Nigeria still, farmers are aware of the severe damage done to an isolated cassava crop by the variegated grasshopper after all other crops have been harvested. To reduce this damage, farmers deliberately replant maize and random clusters of sorghum on cassava plot until harvest time. These instances demonstrate how farmers are able to adapt in order to sustain not only yield but their system of farming.

Micheal Cernea et al (2006) show that: “farmers who expand their cropping and increase the size of farms, they may run into trouble, thus small farmers are best advised to grow a larger number of crop species and to rotate all their fields with different crops in successive seasons where the crops are annual short-lived species. Therefore, restricting the size of farms and concentrating on a variety of crops on a small piece of land could be a good determinant to a viable system. This is very remarkable as far as our study is concerned, here; farmers faced with complicated system of land tenure rotate on small plot with different crops in successive seasons.

Again, Micheal Cernea et al (2006) found out that, farmers are able to adapt or adjust to constant changing conditions for farming by joining or creating cooperatives. According to them, these cooperatives will help in the following ways:

i-                    Providing lorry transport at operating costs for distribution of farm products;

ii-                  Organizing marketing outlets such as market stalls which may be cooperatively owned;

iii-                The timing of crop production to suit the market;

iv-                Collective ownership of farm machinery such as cultivators, irrigation equipment;

v-                  Through the employment of a good agriculturalist or through access to extension services obtaining the correct advice, on fertilizer use, pest and  diverse control seed and planting material;

vi-                Providing credit for fertilizers, and cash advances on the sale of crops;

vii-              The generation of political pressure with regard to land tenure and reform, protective tariffs, subsidies, extension services;

viii-            Involvement in adult education concerning technical farming matters, health and hygiene, family planning.

Meanwhile Edward (1993:95) reports that: “African farmers have evolved practices which are highly diverse and far from static. They have acquired a fund of knowledge on the production and utilization of a wide range of crop species. Rarely do farmers’ fields contain only one crop and rarely are the different crops planted all at the same time, whether they are mixed or planted in separate parts of the field. Farmers’ fields represent a complex of species which provide them with their basic requirements throughout the year. They make use of differing micro-environments, spatially and temporally with different crops”.

These practices above are an integral part of mixed farmers in the region under study. They plant a wide variety of crops ranging from fruits, roots to tree crops on the same field. This ensures their sustainability throughout the year and even in the coming years.

2.4 SOCIAL

A farming system is said to be sustainable if it is socially just. This is to say that resources and power are distributed in such a way that the basic needs of all members of society are met and their rights to land use, adequate capital, and technical assistance and market opportunities are assumed. All people have the opportunity to participate in decision-making in the field and in the society.

Mayerfeld Bell et al (2004) tackle the issue of sustainable agriculture, the main question is why some farmers switch to sustainable agriculture and others do not. In fact, he describes the dialogue between people and land; he also focuses on the science of rural sociology, the practical art of farming and the uncertainties of rural life. These authors raise a point that supports our central preoccupation in this work, that of agricultural sustainability and the uncertainties of rural life especially as rural exodus is very common.

Reijntes at al (1992:24) has looked at the composition of the household and how they are organized farm management. According to him therefore, “Each household is a unique combination of men and women, adults and children, who provide the management, knowledge, labor, capital and land for farming and who consume at least part of the produce”. The farm household is seen here as a center of resource allocation, production and consumption. He holds a unique view with our research objective as he grapples with the web of social interaction that is used to determine the sustainability of a farming system.

Also, he shows how the mixed farming system is maintained through social ties. According to them, ties with the community can be strong, for example, family ties, friendships, common history, culture and common control over territory can interconnect the individual farm systems. In this light, community members often use land in common and give each other support by sharing or exchanging labor, animals, fields or farm products. The raison d’être behind these interactions is that it serves to hedge risks and are part of the survival strategies of families and individuals. This point of view is linked to our objective which seeks to find out whether the mixed farming system is socially just to ensure sustainability.

Reijntjes et al finally identified some socio-cultural processes that influence farm systems that make it necessary to adapt them in order to ensure sustainability. These processes are:

i-                    Population increase which may lead to reduction in farm size on account of farm splitting and/or make it necessary to extend farming to more marginal areas or to over-exploit resources or to look for income sources outside the farm;

ii-                  Greater exposure via radio, television and other mass media to other life styles leading to changes in felt records;

iii-                Labor migration, which may lead to a shortage of young persons and men for farm work in low-external-input and sustainable agricultural areas and which may slow down decision making processes in de facto but not de jure female headed households.  

Dalton (1982:44). Thinks in the same light that, “modernized agriculture tends to produce rural deportation with a consequent decline in the services available due to higher unit cost of providing for fewer people in rural areas…” In effect, this leads to a break down of social ties which are vital in maintaining and ensuring sustainability of a system under study.

Altieri (1995) opines that one way of ensuring sustainability in food production is through social organization. According to him, social organization protects the integrity of natural resources and nurtures the harmonious interaction of humans, the agro ecosystem and the environment.

Meanwhile Goheen (1996) has looked at the role of each member of the farm household in terms of gender, during her study of the social organization of the Nso people in the North West Province of Cameroon. To her, men own the fields; women own the crops in this society. This draws our attention to the type land tenure system practiced in that part of the country which deprives women from owning land. Thus rendering men to own the land for women to cultivate and ensure subsistence in the household.

Micheal Cernea et al (2006) have analyzed the functions, contents, methods and impact of social and cultural research on agriculture. They critically examined the priorities, strength and weaknesses of research on sociological, behavioral, cultural and institutional variables of developing agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries. It focuses on farmers’ value of food security, natural resource management and poverty reduction. This idea had earlier been echoed by Mclntire et al (1992) who concluded that food security could be assured through research. According to them: “Intensification can be accelerated through research which should consider socio-economic, natural resources, technical and institutional factors”

This chapter has presented the literature related to this study. We will now focus on chapter three which presents the research methodology.

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