CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The term agriculture is derived from the Latin
words “ager” (field) and “cultura” (cultivation). This meant field cultivation.
This is not a complete definition of agriculture since agriculture also has to
do with animal production. Agriculture can therefore be defined as the art and
science of cultivating the soil, producing livestock, preparing livestock
feeds, processing crops and livestock products for man; and the process of
selling excess crops and livestock. Or agriculture may also mean just the
production of crops, rearing of animals and the general management of soil.
As men advanced from the hunting and gathering
stage, they developed the art of cultivating certain plants and domesticating
certain animals. This was the beginning of settled life, and people began to
group themselves in villages. They made crude implements and learned to provide
enough foods for the family. This practice is found today in every isolated
areas where communication has been limited, the people have not been exposed to
modern ways of farming, and surplus capital for investment is not available.
Some farmers farm exclusively in specific domestic crops such as in west Africa
like yam, cassava, maize, cocoyam etc. the practice involves the cultivation of
small pieces of land under many crops.
Several questions have been raised in regards to
this trend. It is therefore expedient to understand the problems affecting
small scale farming in the area, which is a major emphasis of this project
work. It tends to analyze these factors and suggest adequate measures and
solutions in solving these problems. The history of the development of the
human race is closely related to that of agricultural development. In his quest
for food and shelter, man has adopted many agricultural practices through the
ages as his technical skills and material resources grew. The four major types
are;- hunting and gathering, pure subsistence agriculture; mixed subsistence
with some cash crop production; and pure commercial agriculture. But between
these main divisions are many transition stages, and different stages of
economic development of local populations.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS
The need for this study is necessitated by the fact that there are problems
affecting small scale farming among the local farmers in my local government
area. The positive and negative effects of these problems are therefore the
concern of investigation.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Some questions to be tackled in the course of this study have been raised as
follows:-
1. Does the land tenure system affect small scale farmers in
Ovia North East Local Government Area?
2. Does the size of useful land in the area affect the small
scale farmers in Ovia North East Local Government Area?
3. Does the religious beliefs affect the small scale farmers’
production in the area?
4. The cultivation practices affect the small scale farmers in
the area?
5. What are the prospects and possible solutions to the
problems?
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is designed to help the farmers in
Ovia North East Local Government Area to improve their efforts on ways of
increasing small scale production of farmers. It serves as a guide to extension
of workers in charge of small scale production in Ike South and other areas on
how to assist farmers. The study is hoped to motivate the farmers to go into
large/commercial production in the area. Also, this study will serve as a
resource material for any student that will be interested in. Finally, it
serves as encouragement to those farmers in the study who takes small scale
production as their last hope in life to pay more to small scale production by
giving them the necessary assistance.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is focused on the problems of small
scale farming in Ovia North East Local Government Area, which is one of the
notable areas of small scale farming production in Delta State. For the purpose
of this work, Ovia North East Local Government Area was used as a case study.
The area is very large and consists of about twenty villages with an average
population of two million people and majority of them are small scale farmers.
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Topography: This is the
physical structure of land, within an area.
Population: This is the
total number of people living in an area.
NITR: (National Institute for
Trypanosomiasis Research) Kaduna, this body is set up by the federal government
to carryout research on animal diseases and sicknesses.