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Human Ecosystems: Anyama District rice farms. All land between the built up area of the village and the forest and "Land owned by Risonpalm" (on the other side of the river) is described as "bushes" mixed, with farms and rice farms. The bushes describe fallow land and degraded forest dominated by raffia and oil palms.

18.9 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATUS OF ANYAMA

Anyama is a net exporter, primarily of rice and timber. Imports are of consumer goods and food such as beans and yams.

Although the local schools are well run their conditions and facilities are lamentable. Except for a few classrooms, the Anyama secondary school is a complete ruin. Electricity is supplied from the Ekole gas turbine plant and was fairly dependable during the ERA visit in 1996, but there is no piped water, functioning post office or decent health services.

The society is run by men who make most of the decisions but both men and women work equally hard, although the raising of children and cooking is entirely undertaken by women.

Anyama does not exhibit the frustration here that is felt in many other Niger Delta communities, because the young men do have something to do in growing and processing rice, although the 1994 crop was ruined by disastrous floods, conceivably made worse by the Risonpalm dyke on the other side of the river. However in 1993 there was discontent about the amount of land being taken by Risonpalm and this appeared at the time to be a focus of political activity. Discontent about the lack of clean water and tertiary education activities is apparent but the oil industry does not feature as it does in other communities in Rivers State although many people are aware that oil is being taken from "our" land.

It will be interesting to see how the creation of a new State, Bayelsa with its capital at nearby Yenagoa, will affect Anyama. 214