ABSTRACT
Land use in any country is influenced by the social laws of the people. Land tenure and climate influence land use especially in determining how much land is available to each farming household. Agricultural systems are methods of organisations by which different groups of people employ the resources of land, climate, labour and capital or equipment to produce agricultural products such as crops or livestock or a combination of these. Shifting cultivation, however, is the system of agriculture to be found in upland areas where leaching and erosion are a menace to soil, with bush fallow used to restore fertility. In some parts of West Africa, the usually high fertility of the land and proximity to the market may compel peasants to stay put on the land and practise extensive sedentary tillage. West African agriculture is largely adapted to the climatic, vegetation and tenancy characteristics.
