Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/136

The Resources of the Niger Delta: Agriculture they struggle against insurmountable odds, as one farmer has said, when asked by an ignorant expatriate researcher if he realised that his farming methods were not sustainable: I have to eat today, I cannot lie down and die: tomorrow will have to look after itself.

These dire conditions are not typical of the whole of the LEM ecozone by any means, but they do represent a dangerous trend where more food must be produced on a limited area of land without the aid of fertilisers. Undoubtedly hybrid varieties of cassava and maize have eased the situation, but they cannot stop the soil degradation which is the ultimate cause of the farmers' problems.

The agricultural problem of the LEM ecozone is a problem of declining soil conditions under an increasing pressure to produce more food, as a result of a rapidly expanding population. Within the foreseeable future, rural population densities in parts of the LEM ecozone will exceed 1000 persons per square kilometre. Generally this rapid population growth manifests itself in increased food production arising from extending agricultural land at the expense of forest rather than by raising productivity. The implications are not only declining soil conditions and reduced forest cover, but also a resulting disruption of hydrological systems: increased silting-up and turbidity of rivers causing a decline in fish biomass, a lowering of water tables, and the complete drying up of rivers in the dry season.

This bleak picture is a reality for many farmers, particularly women, but there are many reasons for optimism, not least because as the farmer said, I cannot lie down and die. Farmers do find ways to survive and in doing so often find sustainable solutions which can be seen throughout the LEM ecozone. For a start, the bleak Chromalina/Cassava/Oil Palm landscape generally represents land far away from home so that much farmer energy is wasted in walking to and from the farm. Land nearer home is often more thoughtfully cultivated and thus more productive, while compound gardening is often very productive and diverse, producing good soil conditions. Urban and urban-fringe agriculture is similar in many ways to near home and compound farming in rural areas.

The overall solution is an improvement in soil conditions as the foundation of improved agricultural productivity. This is sustainably achieved by raising humus and biomass levels, through increased tree and shrub cover. Crop hybridisation and the liberalisation of fertiliser marketing (so that small affordable amounts of fertiliser reach the small farmer) are also essential to improved agricultural productivity but these inputs cannot be maximised unless the soil conditions are good. The sandy easily leached soils are by no means the best in the world but there are three important redeeming features: the soils are deep, light, and have accumulations of nutrients in the lower horizons; lack of rainfall is not a limiting factor; and farming is the way of life. Thus the soils and climate are ideal for deep-rooting tree crops which repair soil by tapping deeper nutrients and recycling them as humus. Moreover, Local People are acutely aware of the agricultural problem that they face. The answers, of course, have already been discovered by Local People in the Compound and Loo farming (see the box below) where a remarkable variety of crops are found in very small areas. Small plantations of rubber and oil palm trees are common throughout the ecozone and are appropriate because they maintain soil conditions and generally contain a wider biodiversity than is found on arable land.

While large scale industrial farming may have a part to play, it is not the answer to problem, because such farming, particularly in the tropics, often leads to accelerated soil degradation which is hidden by high yielding (but often disease susceptible) hybrids and large inputs of fertiliser. Moreover, such forms of agriculture take wealth away from the countryside as accumulated capital, thus exacerbating the rural to urban drift of 134