COMBATTING LAND DEGRADATION AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

A CASE STUDY OF FUNE LOCAL AREA OF YOBE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Land degradation is a global environmental problem that affects every part of the world which has been described to be more serious in sub-Saharan African region. Desertification which is further exacerbated by severe drought is the major form of land degradation in the dry lands and is as well the major form of land degradation in the 11northern most states in Nigeria including Yobe State posing serious threats to sustainable agriculture. Hence, objectives of the study are to identify routine farming practices being adopted by crop farmers in Fune LGA, identify agricultural land degradation combatting measures adopted by farmers for ensuring sustainable agriculture in Fune LGA and finally to suggest suitable strategic environmental friendly techniques of combatting land degradation with a view of achieving sustainable agriculture. Descriptive Survey design involving mixed methods was adopted targeting 353 respondents (crop farmers) in 5 villages selected for the study. Slovene’s formular was used to determine the sampling size while Convenient, Purposive and Snowball were used as the sampling techniques. A total of 45 farms were visited for physical observation of measures taken by farmers for combatting land degradation and boosting productivity. Closed Ended Questionnaires, Focus Group Discussion and Observation Checklist were used as data collecting tools while Content Analysis and Descriptive Statistics were used for data analysis. Pearson Linear Correlation Coefficient (PLCC) was also used to determine the relationship between land degradation and unsustainable farming practices. The study lasted for 3 months starting from April-June, 2024. Results indicated that in their bid to boost soil fertility, crop farmers in Fune L.G.A. engage in more environmentally devastating practices such as excessive tillage; overuse of inorganic chemicals, mono-cropping etc. which lead to further degradation of agricultural lands with significant fall in productivity. Most of the farming practices adopted by farmers in the study area were not sustainable while simple environmentally friendly farmland degradation measures were neglected. PLCC results showed significant relationship between land degradation and unsustainable farming practices (0.988 Pearson Correlation at 0.01level (2-tailed) and 0.650 Pearson Correlation at 0.01level (2-tailed). This resulted in further destruction of farmlands As a result, poverty precipitates among many of the farming communities to the extent that some farmers fail to cultivate their lands because could not afford the farm inputs and made them incapacitated in adopting farmland protection measures. Based on the findings of the study some recommendations were proffered. Some of these include: Government should understand that sustainable agricultural practices are effective in combatting land degradation in northern hence, the promotion of the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices through extension services and farmer training programmes should core agricultural policies; Awareness raising campaigns for farmers on the need for sustainable agricultural production is paramount. Extension services should be expanded to include workshops and trainings for rural farmers on basic sustainable farming practices and farmland degradation combatting measures. The idea of Climate Smart Agricultural should be incorporated in such workshops in order to intimate farmers on its advantages amidst growing adverse impacts of climate change.