AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: AN OVERVIEW BY E'N'O' IWUAFOR Department of Soil Science Faculty

1
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT AN
OVERVIEWBYE.N.O. IWUAFORDepartment of Soil
ScienceFaculty of Agric./Inst. for Agric.
ResearchAhmadu Bello University,Zaria, Nigeria
2

• Agriculture a major employer of African
  population (gt78) mainly rural dwellers
• African Agriculture dominated by crop sector
  gtLivestock sector gtFisheries and Forestry sectors
  etc.

3

• Key players Rural poor, (RP) over 340 million
  people.
• Rural areas of Africa are generally described as
  home of impoverished people engaged in
  Agriculture.

4
Characteristics of the rural poor

• Land less
• Too little land
• Weak bargaining position
• Family too large
• Isolated, owing to poor communication
• Malnourished
• Pre-occupied with survival

5

• Ill-health
• Indebtedness
• Uneducated
• High infant mortality rate
• Low life expectancy
• Low income
• Irregular income

6

• Rural sector can only develop if agriculture is
  developed.
• Rural Development adopts a strategy designed to
  improve the
• - economic and
• - social life of RP

7

• Such strategies practiced include
• - Technocratic (capitalist ideology)
• - Reformist (nationalist ideology)
• - Radical (Socialist ideology)

8
In all these developmental strategies,
agriculture is key.
9
African Agriculture for RD

• Its nature
• - Undeveloped
• - Lip service by our Governments

10
CONSTRAINTS

• Technological, Environmental, Socio-cultural,
  Economic, Institutional and Policy domains
• specifically
• - Low soil fertility
• - Water and wind erosion (gt500
• million ha in Africa)

11

• - Water stress (2/3 two-thirds of soils
  affected)
• - Fragile ecosystem
• Lack of and expensive input (fertilizers, seeds
  and agrochemicals).
• Inappropriate cropping systems designs

12
Table 1. Nitrogen and phosphorus fertility class
and contents in NGS soil
13

• - Weak extension services
• Lack of credit and insufficient agric-input
  delivery system
• Inappropriate germplasm
• - limited farmers education and know-how
• - Continental brain-drain of African intellectual
  
• - Political instability

14

• Inconsistent agricultural policies and
  inefficient land tenure
• Overdependence on rainfed agriculture
• - Aging rural population and thus limited
  physical energy for production
• - Undeveloped and degraded rural infrastructure

15

• - Insufficient research (Institutional failures)
• Post harvest losses
• Insufficient market
• - lack of intensive interaction between
  stakeholders/lack of farmer participation in
  research formulation.

16
Measures for NRB improvement for sustainable AP

• Series of paradigm
• 1st paradigm
• Nutrient Replacement Paradigm
• Appropriate use of external inputs (fertilizer,
  lime, irrigation water) to over come any soil
  constraints. Believed to alleviate any constraint
  to crop production.
• With improved and appropriate germplasm it worked
  in Asia and Latin America Green revolution
• In this paradigm organic inputs were considered
  less essential
• Maintenance of SOM not a major management goal

Org.
Inorg.
17

• This Green Revolution strategy tried in SSA in
  mid 1980s and early 1990s failed because of SAP
  which removed subsidy in Agricultural inputs and
  also due to soil degradation as a result of
  massive fertilizer application.

18
Shift of paradigm to Low Input Sustainable
Agriculture (LISA)

• Organic input essential to Sustainable
  Agriculture e.g. Alley cropping, Live-mulch,
  fodder bank systems.
• Constraints were identified not too long e.g.
  Lack of sufficient organic resources, Alternative
  uses of crop residue, Free-ranging animals
  (Fulanis).
• Socio-economic problems-Labour intensive.

Inorg.
Org.
19
Shift of paradigm to Integrated Soil Fertility
Management
Org.
Inorg.

• Overcome Soil Constraints by
• Relying on biological processes by adapting
  germplasm to adverse soil conditions.
• Enhancing soil biological activity and optimizing
  nutrients cycling to minimize external inputs and
  maximize the efficiency of their use.
• It recognizes
• Need for both inorganic fertilizer (nutrient
  supply) and organic inputs (maintenance of soil
  physio-chemical health)
• Need for all inputs to be used efficiently
• Need for use of improved germplasm
• Need for more participatory involvement of all
  stakeholders.
• Recognizes the important roles social, cultural
  and economic process regulating soil fertility
  management strategies and the interaction of soil
  fertility with other ecosystem services.
• This paradigm becomes Adequate Input Agriculture
  (AIA) and negates LISA

20
Present state of the Art to ensure Sustainable
Agricultural production

• Holistic approach to appropriate strategies for
  ISFM/ISNM
• Use of inorganic fertilizer
• Use of organic input
• Use of combined inorganic and organic inputs
• - Crop/livestock integration
• - Cereal/legume intercropping and rotation
  practices
• - Fodder bank operatives
• - Forestry options
• Woodlot
• Boundary trees
• Wind breaks / shelter belts
• Alley farming

21

• Use of appropriate germplasm of improved
  varieties
• - Nutrient efficient genotypes ease of nutrient
  acquisition, transportation, utilization and
  mobilization within plants
• - Water efficient genotypes to tolerate drought
  good root characteristics required
• - Through this, soil constraints like low N, P,
  Acidity and drought can be taken.

22
Constraints lead to - declining per capita
food production - per capita annual income
and - food intake of RP
23

• Formation of farmer-based organizations (FBOs)
• Empowerment of FBOs
• - Trainings and meetings with other stakeholders
• - Linkage to input sources, information sources

24
State of the Natural Resources Base

• Pre-colonial Era in African Countries
• - Extensification agriculture for
• soil fertility regeneration
• - Less pressure on land
• - Soils more fertile

25

• Post colonial Era
• - Intensification / continuous agriculture
• - Pressure on land due to population increase
  and other socio-economic forces (Urbanization/
  industrialization)
• - Global Warming erratic rainfall, amount and
  distribution
• - Soil degradation of all kinds

26
SOS2SAVE OUR SOILS to SUSTAIN OUR
SOCIETIESSAVE OUR NRB, FORM WELL STRUCTURED
FBOS TO SUSTAIN AP AND THEREFORE RD
27

• THANK YOU