Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/206

Human Ecosystems: Botam-Tai District A feature of the Botem-Tai, typical of compound agriculture, is the Loos (pronounced as in hello). A Loo is a homestead built away from the village by someone who is exploiting a resource: he may be a palm-wine tapper, a farmer, a hunter, a fisherman, a canoe builder or a sawyer. Typically loos are sited beside rivers, isolated from the village and sometimes cut off in the wet season (the original settlements in the district may have started as loos). From an environmental point of view loos are interesting because the occupant is essentially an agro-forester inasmuch as he is farming in an intensive sustainable manner with a mixture of trees and perennial and annual crops, on a very small piece of land. This points to a possible way of increasing agricultural production on small bits of land while at the same time increasing tree cover and improving soil conditions.

Tree crops in compounds include: Oil Palm, Coconut Palm, Raffia Palm, Mango, Breadfruit, Jackfruit, Citrus, African Pear (Dacryodes edulis), Avocado, Cashew, Papaya, Cocoa, Guava, Plantain, Banana, Kola Nut, Bush Mango (Irvingia gabonensis), and Bush Pepper (?). Other crops include: Pineapple, Alligator Pepper (related to the gingers and cardamoms in the Zingiber family), Yams, Cocoyams, Mammy Yams, Cassava, Cow Pea, Pepper (Capsicum), Garden egg, Bitter leaf, Hibiscus, Lemon Grass, Sweet Potato and Fluted Pumpkin. Livestock include goats, chickens and ducks. A typical compound is less than 1,000 square metres, and may have 10 people living in it.

Only four examples of plantation agriculture were seen in the district: a new small oil palm plantation, two small abandoned rubber and cocoa plantations (all of these less than one hectare), and a larger abandoned rubber plantation.

Raffia Palms: The tapping of raffia palms for wine and its distillation, as gin is a major activity. The raffia palms are not planted but cultured with the result that they dominate the riverine swamps in which they grow.

17.7.2 OTHER ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Other primary industry includes hunting, fishing and timber felling. Hunting (except for grass-cutters - cane rats - and giant rats) and timber felling are not sustainable and are declining. This is because local forests are increasingly confined to a very narrow margin of swamp and seasonal swamp along the rivers, and even this is being cleared in places to give a quick dry-season cassava crop.

Non-agricultural secondary industry is limited and dependant partly or wholly on imports: tailoring; cabinet-making; (some timber now comes from Cross River State); canoe building (declining because there are few suitable trees left); baking (industrial and domestic); brick-making; and building and carpentry.

Service industry includes: local government (sic), traditional herbalists and midwives; bicycle repairs; sewing; watch repairs, and a restaurant and bars.

Generally the economic activity of the Botem-Tai district is dependent on declining agricultural yields. Cassava is the main crop and much food is imported including, rice, flower, beans, fish and palm oil. Incomes are low and it seems that much of the money in the communities comes from members who work in Port Harcourt and elsewhere. 204