ABSTRACT

This chapter identifies the simplest farming techniques that can be used by rural dwellers especially those in such disaster areas as erosion-prone terrains, drought regions, and landslide locations to enhance their agricultural production. Poverty and low literacy levels may be the reasons behind the resistance to change from the traditional systems to modern techniques. It is pertinent to examine the effects of certain farming techniques that usually aggravate land degradation. The introduction and promotion of improved agricultural practices in ecologically disadvantaged communities are vital to the successful checking of environmental degradation, resources depletion, food crisis and the underdevelopment in Nigeria. Crop rotation and mixed farming are very significant in finding solutions to the frequent and widespread soil depletion and improvement problems. Literature on the African traditional system of land improvement has shown that the traditional technique of cultivation and nature of land use suit their natural relationship to land.