Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/204

Human Ecosystems: Botam-Tai District The degradation is total and continues. The biodiversity of the area has shrunk dramatically: for instance the high tropical rainforest would have carried about 70 tree species per hectare but now one can walk for miles and see only oil palms, Anthocleista (a fire-resistant pioneer tree common as two species in dry and swamp conditions), and the occasional sick-looking Mango. Regeneration of woody species during fallow periods is restricted by the infestation of Awolowa weed (Chromalaena odorata) an exotic Southeast Asian weed which actively stops forest regeneration. Biological productivity has similarly crashed so that the acid sandy soils, without the addition of forest biomass, are undergoing rapid topical podsolisation.

Parallel to the spiral of land degradation has been the rapid growth of the oil industry, which arrived in Ogoni in the early 1960s. It is not surprising that the local community should blame the industry for all its problems, because as pipelines were laid across their land, as the oil was pumped out, and as surplus gas was flared night and day for thirty years, the land became poor. The apparent correlation is a coincidence, but the growth of the oil industry, the wealth of which might have been expected to mitigate the rural decline, has created additional problems: oil industry infrastructure has taken away scarce agricultural land and pipelines have, in addition, blocked footpaths; oil spills contaminate water; gas flaring, until 1993, took away the calm of the night and, in the rainy climate, produced local concentrations of sulphuric and sulphurous acid rain that damaged tin roofs and crops; but above all, the wealth of the oil industry, so visibly flaunted by a lucky few but tantalisingly out of the reach of most people exacerbates social discontent caused by the degraded environment.

The problems of the people of Botem-Tai and Ogoni are not helped by the poor general economic condition of Nigeria and the inefficiency of the government system that is unable to maintain public services in rural areas. Moreover, the rural aid that comes into Nigeria bypasses communities like Botem-Tai, which might, for instance, have been expected to benefit from the European Community oil palm belt project, that in the early 1990s was largely diverted to new agro-industrial projects rather than to the small, poor palm fruit, oil and kernel producers.

17.7 THE ECONOMY

17.7.1 AGRICULTURE AND RELATED ACTIVITY

The prime economic activity is farming of which there are three types: arable, on land outside the village; compound; and plantations. The three most important agricultural activities are: growing cassava and processing garri: palm oil and palm kernel production; and raffia wine and gin production.

Arable farming is dominated by cassava for the production of gari which is the staple diet. All the community land that is not riverine forest or forest shrines is farmed in the way common to most of Africa: land is left fallow until it is required (1 to 5 years depending upon availability), when is slashed, cleared, burnt and planted. Very rarely other crops are seen planted with the cassava: mainly fluted pumpkin, yams and pineapples. No fertiliser is used. 202