Traditional Agricultural Practices and Development In Pre- and Post-Colonial Times In Gobir: Imperative for Modernization

Being a paper presented at the First International Conference on Gobir Kingdom, Past And Present: Transformation And Change, held at The Usmanu Danfodiyo University Auditorium, from 9^th – 13^th July, 2018

Traditional Agricultural Practices and Development In Pre- and Post-Colonial Times In Gobir: Imperative for Modernization

Basheer Adamu Gobir

Ministry of Agriculture, Sokoto state, Sokoto, Nigeria.

Abstract

This paper attempts a series review of traditional farming practices and developments Gobir from pre-colonial times to the present, paying special attention to the crops and production systems prevalent in each period and their theoretical basis

The paper notes that the Gobirawa migrated from the East, where they first settled in Egypt and continued further migration southwards to Libya and arrived Azbin which is their first major settlement. The most important farming system was shifting cultivation and as they settled permanently in fixed communities, shifting cultivation gave way to various degrees of permanent farming practices. For the sake of brevity of analysis, the periods are divided into the following.

A.     pre-colonial period

B.     Colonial period, up to independence, in 1960

C.     Post-colonial period to present.

Recommendations for future improvements in the system were also highlighted.

1.0              Introduction

1.1       Historical accounts on the origin of Gobir and Gobirawa varied. one of the accepted narration was that they migrated from Gubur (hence, the name Gobir) in the East where they settled first in Egypt, later moved to Libya   and Bilma and arrived at Azbin, or Bagazam, from there to Agadez, then to Gwararrame, later to Toro, which was their last point of stay in the Azbin Territory. From Toro, they migrated to Tahoua , then to Keita and to Birnin Lalle where they stayed for the next 200 years.(Augie,2011; Maikassoua,2011; Tsiga,1985). They continued migrating southwards to zaria where they founded Soba and further south to Ilorin where they intermarried with Yorubas moving up to the north again, where they founded their third city of Alkalawa.( Gobir, 1982)

1.2       Agricultural development Theories Viewed in a historical context, the problem of agricultural development is not that of transforming a static agricultural sector into a modern dynamic sector, but of accelerating the rate of growth of agricultural output and productivity consistent with the growth of other sectors of a modernizing economy. Similarly, a theory of agricultural development should provide insight into the dynamics of agricultural growth-into the changing sources of growth-in economies ranging from those in which output is growing at a rate of 1.0 percent or less to those in which agricultural output is growing at an annual rate of 4.0 percent or more.
It seems possible to characterize the literature on agricultural development into four general approaches: (a) the conservation; (b) the urban industrial impact; (c) the diffusion; and (d) the high payoff input models.
1.3       The Conservation Model
The conservation model of agricultural development evolved from the advances in crop and livestock husbandry associated with the English agricultural revolutions and the concepts of soil exhaustion suggested by the early German soil scientists. It was reinforced by the concept in the English classical school of economics of diminishing returns to labor and capital applied to land and labor.(Hayami and Ruttam,1972)
The conservation model emphasized the evolution of a sequence of increasingly complex land- and labor-intensive cropping systems, the production and use of organic manures, and labor-intensive capital formation in the form of physical facilities to more effectively utilize land and water resources.
1.4       The Urban-Industrial Impact Model
the conservation model stands in sharp contrast to models in which geographic differences in the level and rate of economic development are primarily
associated with urban-industrial development. Initially, the urban-industrial impact model was formulated (by von Thunen 1783-1850) to explain geographic variations in the intensity of farming systems and in the productivity of labor in an industrializing society((ibid)
.  Later it was extended by T. W. Schultz (1964, pp. 283-320) to explain the more effective performance of the factor and product markets linking the agricultural and nonagricultural sectors in regions characterized by rapid urban-industrial development.

1.5       The Diffusion Model
The diffusion of better husbandry practices was a major source of productivity growth even in pre-modern societies. The diffusion approach to agricultural development rests on the empirical observation of substantial differences in land and labor productivity among farmers and regions.
 The route to agricultural development, in this view, is through more effective dissemination of technical knowledge and a narrowing of the dispersion of productivity among farmers and among regions.
The diffusion model of agricultural development has provided the major intellectual foundation for much of the research and extension effort in farm management and production economics since the emergence, in the last half of the nineteenth century, of agricultural economics as a separate sub discipline linking the agricultural sciences and economics. The limitations of the diffusion model as a foundation for the design of agricultural development policies became increasingly apparent as technical assistance and community development programs, based explicitly or implicitly on the diffusion model, failed to generate either rapid modernization of traditional farms or rapid growth in agricultural output.(ibid)
1.6       The High Payoff Input Model
The inadequacy of policies based on the conservation, urban-industrial impact, and diffusion models led, in the 1960s, to a new perspective that the key to
transforming a traditional agricultural sector into a productive source of economic growth is investment designed  to make modern high payoff inputs
available to farmers in poor countries. Peasants, in traditional agricultural systems, were viewed as rational and efficient resource allocators. They remained poor because, in most poor countries, there were only limited technical and economic opportunities to which they could respond. The new, high payoff inputs, as identified by Schultz (1964), can be classified into three categories: (a) the capacity of and private sector research institutions to produce new technical knowledge; (b) the capacity of the industrial sector to develop, produce, and market new technical inputs; and (c) the capacity of farmers to acquire new knowledge and use new inputs effectively.
1.7       Alternative Paths of Technological Development
There is clear evidence that technology can be developed to facilitate the substitution of relatively abundant (hence cheap) factors for relatively scarce (hence expensive) factors in the economy. t seems reasonable, following  to call techniques designed to facilitate the substitution of other inputs for labor, "labor-saving," and those designed to facilitate the substitution of other inputs for land, "land-saving." In agriculture, two kinds of technology generally correspond to this taxonomy: mechanical technology to "labor-saving" and biological and chemical technology to "land-saving." The former is designed to facilitate the substitution of power and machinery for labor. Typically this involves the substitution of land for labor, because higher output per worker through mechanization usually requires a larger land area cultivated per worker.
The latter, which we will hereafter identify as biological technology, is designed to facilitate the substitution of labor and/or industrial inputs for land.

This may occur through increased recycling of soil fertility by more labor-intensive conservation systems; through use of chemical fertilizers; and through husbandry practices, management systems, and inputs (i.e., insecticides) which permit an optimum yield response.
Historically there has been a close association between advances in output per unit of land area and advances in biological technology; and between advances in output per worker and advances in mechanical technology. These historical differences have given rise to the cross-sectional differences in productivity and factor use.

For a detailed discussion on these and other theories of agricultural development, see Vernon and Rutam, 1972; Roussamet, 2006.

1.8       Gobirawas in the pre-colonial time were largely warriors and migratory, conquering many territories and advancing further from their traditional areas as documented by other papers, such as Y.A. Gobir and Bunza, A.M

After each conquest, a new settlement was established or the old ones annexed and new rulers chosen by the victorious side appointed. The people were then allowed to practice their age- long occupation unhindered.

Their predominant occupations from the time they left Egypt around 1000AD, were hunting and gathering, agriculture, mining, simple manufacturing or handicraft, with agriculture being the predominant occupation of the people as noted by Maikassoua(,2011)

Erik Green (undated) noted that the farmers in those days faced two major challenges: a hostile environment and scarcity of labour. In many areas conquered or settled in by the Gobirawas, the conditions for agricultural production were unfavourable in terms of climate and weather, challenges of insecurity and inter-tribal wars, while the challenge of labour arises as a result of demography and labour intensive nature of production systems.

The settled Gobirawas in the major settlements of Alkalawa, Birnin Lalle, Azbin and others, have variously adapted themselves to these labour challenges in a variety of ways that are not only flexible but highly productive, these include, but not limited to the Gayya system. (Abubakr Bango. Personal communication) Faced with the limited labour and technology, the subsistence production flourished, conditioned further by the inclement weather, constant fear of attack and limited scope for expansion of production. The Gobir people in these settlements, were thus to a large extent at the mercy of labour and weather as small changes in these would have serious negative consequences on food security.

1,9 Methodology

The bulk of the material for this paper came from secondary sources, especially on the narrations pertaining to the earlier part of the reference period. While information on the recent developments was obtained through participant observation by the author, being an agricultural economist.

This paper attempts a time series description of  agricultural practices in Gobir from pre-colonial times to the present, paying special attention to the crops and production systems prevalent in each period. For the sake of brevity of analysis, the periods are divided into the following.

A.     Re-colonial period;

B.     Colonial period, up to independence, in 1960; and,

C.     Post-colonial period to present.

2.0       Pre-Colonial Period

The pre-colonial period reviewed here begins from 1000 AD and extended to 1800AD. The agricultural production environment during this period, was characterized by the relative abundance of land as a result of people and settlements being widely dispersed but labour was scarce. Conflicts over land seldom arise between Gobirawa and their neighbours, where such conflicts arose, they were largely for territorial expansion, (Achi,1985) hence, pastoralists moved freely in search of grazing lands. With the abundant land, shifting cultivation was the norm as land improvements in terms of fertilization were not common. As soon as fertility of land declined, it was abandoned and a virgin land is chosen and opened up and allowing the latter to revert to bush to be cultivated again after long years of fallow. This suited the high mobility of Gobirawa during this period. According to Ruthemberg, (1971 ) who described farming systems in pre-colonial africa:

‘SHIFTING cultivation is the name we use for agricultural systems that involve an alternation between cropping for a few years on selected and cleared plots and a lengthy period when the soil abandoned and rested. Cultivation consequently shifts within an area that is otherwise covered by natural vegetation. The intensity of shifting cultivation varies widely.
In those days, labour is the most important factor of production and institutions like family, kinship system and slavery played very crucial roles in the production process. This can be seen in the prevalence of communal practices like GAYYA and GANDU,

Augi (1984) described the landholdings towards the end of this period as follows:

            ‘….the land immediately surrounding major settlements had not only came under permanent cultivation, but had also been permanently shared among the various patrilineages. The portion of land of each patrilineage formed its GANDU which all the members of the group shared and worked together under their head; THE MAIGIDA. The plots of each patrilineage were clearly demarcated from the others using permanent grasses such as particularly Jema and Gamba. Associated with the Gandu of the patrilineages but outside it, there emerged another form of landholding the Kurga or Gamana, this is the plot usually allocated by the Maigida to a member of the patrilineage to work on his own. Besides this, the Sarakuna also owned large estates of land called the Gandayen Sarauta (royal farms) which were attached to the various offices in the region, such as the institution of Sarki (chief or paramount ruler)…….’

 The remnants of this can still be observed in some communities like Gidan Roumdji and Madawa in Niger Republic, but in general had almost disappeared.

2.1       On weather front, soil fertility, animal diseases, crop pests and diseases, low and erratic rainfall have collectively conspired to keep the production low. For example, even with the recent technological advances,the yirlds of millet and sorgum is still between 0.6-1.0 tonnes per hectare,(NAERLS,2010) This explains why the major settlements  sprung up around the highly productive alluvial plains of the Rivers Rima, Ka, Bunsuru, Gagare, Zamfara and Lamindo to mention but a few. Some of these settlements include, Maradi,Madawa, Yar Bulutu, Birnin Lalle. etc.

The second limiting factor here include pests and diseases which largely determine or restrict the type of crops to grown and animals reared. In those days, sleeping sickness, (Trypanosomiasis), and rinderpest constrained animal production and rearing in the southern parts of the Gobir kingdom, but the greater parts of the area were tse- tse free and animal husbandry of extensive/semi-intensive variety prevailed alongside with some form of transhumance and pastoralism. Apart from these challenges, wars, robberies and intra-clan conflicts also contributed to the decimation of the livestock herds in the area, while locust swarms frequently devastate large acreages of land. 

According to the preamble of Niger's Locust Risk Management Plan, during a massive locust invasion swarms of desert locusts may invade “an area of 29 million square kilometres where 1.3bn people live, stretching from Africa's Atlantic coast in the northern hemisphere to the Indo-Pakistani border, and from the Mediterranean to the Equator”.(ScDev.net,2017) 

Because of the synergy between crop production and animal husbandry, (livestock droppings provide manure which fertilized the fields) as will be shown later, diseases and conflicts were the main threats to agro-pastoralism in the area.

2.2       Geographically, Gobir lands were mostly in the savannah region, with some patches of deserts. The lands are generally of low fertility, but the environment less hostile as noted earlier,with low prevalence of  tse -tse , for example, settlements around Tibiri, Gidan Roumdji and Birnin Lalle in Niger Republic and this created a favourable condition for the flourishing of agro-pastoralism in the area.

The principal crops grown in this era include millet and sorghum with some cultivation of vegetables and cowpeas and lowland rice restricted to river valleys and flood plains. Millet is the predominant crop because of the extensive dry areas occupied by Gobir settlements. The population density was very low, except around lake areas and river valleys. Thus as noted earlier, the main bottleneck is labour, the supply of which is being constantly threatened by epidemic diseases such as malaria, small pox, chicken pox measles etc. Here, women form substantial part of labour force, the division of labour is in such a way that in a typical farming family, men do heavy works such as land clearing, taking care of animals and harvesting millet, while the women do the remaining tasks. With all these roles the women played, they had less access to land than men.

 

 

3.0       Drivers of Change During the Period

Like the rest of the Hausa land, the dynamics of change in agriculture during the period were largely driven by two factors, these are:

·         Adaptability to changing circumstances, and

·         Resilience to recurring crises.

These factors gave birth to special production, mining,(for instance, potash and salt around Bilma) and trading centers ,like with the types of goods produced and traded changing with time,  Alkalawa, as most city-states of Hausa land were great centres of trade and commerce. Gobir is not left behind in these, for example, millet production is concentrated in the drier parts, like Birnin Lalle and Maradi while sorghum in the wetter part as in Alkalawa and old City of Sabon Birni. With specialization, trade was expanded between these cities and other cities along the Trans Sahara Caravan Trade route to as far as Kano, notably in gold, slave’s armaments (slings, bows, javelins, catapults, throwing spears, clubs, lances, swords and war bracelets.) and cotton.(Achi, 1982)

4.0       Colonial Period

As a result of the policy of indirect rule during the colonial period, most of what existed in the pre-colonial period prevailed, but with a few dramatic changes, some of which are:

4.1    Intensification Of Production

This came about as a result of reduction of inter-tribal wars and, colonial conquest. People begun to settle permanently in fixed settlements, though Gobirawa people continued incursion into other (through migration and intermarriages) land peacefully. Land availability soon became a challenge, shifting cultivation became a luxury and close-settled zones emerged. This spurred the increases in population growth and urbanization, for example around Alkalawa, which further worsened the land crisis. Farms became smaller and fragmented, shifting cultivation became less attractive and in its place, the following farming systems evolved:

 

4.1.1                                   Semi-permanent farming

Usually characterized by clearly defined holdings with largely permanent field divisions. Quasi-stationary housing predominates, since the changing of hut sites was a matter of moving short distances only. Families generally have defacto or registered ownership of the land.
In contrast with most shifting systems, in which the holding boundaries are not usually clearly defined, housing is more or less of a migratory nature, and land rights are even less precisely defined. In general terms, a reduction of the fallow period causes a reduction of the yields per hectare, unless there is fertilizer application or manuring, which is normally not the case in these systems.(Ruthemberg, ibid)

Semi-permanent cultivation was also practiced on high-fertility soils, especially on alluvial and colluvial soils in river valleys of Maradi, Kurawa and at the more fertile bases of slopes, i.e. where the motive for fallowing is less the regeneration of soil fertility than the suppression of weed growth.

4.1.2 Unregulated ley systems in the drier savannas. Occur as semi-permanent systems cultivation spreads at the expense of fallows, forest or bush vegetation gives way to a cultivation steppe with large areas dotted with patches of bush. In Africa this process is causing the tsetse fly to be displaced, so that cattle can be kept, and the grass fallows and harvest residues can be used as fodder. The concentration of cattle dung in the places where the animals spend the night provides the beginnings of an organized folding system. Fallow systems of this nature may be considered as a stage in the transition to ley farming proper and are therefore called unregulated ley farming.
The groundnut-millet holdings in all Gobir settlements like Alkalawa, Tibiri, Maradi and others, may be form of unregulated ley farming.
The main features of these holdings are as follows:
(1) Permanent patches of fruit trees and perennial crops like mango, Tamarind ,shea butter, and baobab  found in the immediate vicinity of the hut, which is either no longer shifted or is moved only a short distance at long intervals.
(2) Near the huts or villages, what is called the dung-land is mostly cultivated. It is used for crops that require more fertile soils,

(3) Adjoining this we find semi-permanently used fields in concentric circles of varying size. These fields were used for growing the staple food and cash crops. The fallow mostly used as pasture.
(4) The intensity of the crop cycle decreases proportionately to the distance from the farmstead. Between the cropping years the ground is left fallow for long periods; in other words, shifting cultivation is practiced.
(5) Trees are often found scattered over the area: fruit trees (e.g. mangoes), fodder trees (e.g. Faidherbia albida), or sisal hedges.
(6) The fallow and communal pasture are grazed by cattle, sheep, and goats.
(9) Livestock-rearing in a stationary homestead is supplemented here and
there by a certain amount of nomadic herding: some of the herds belonging to the cultivators graze on remote grazing areas watched over by herdsmen.  (Ruthemberg, 1970)

4.2              The only option available in this circumstance was the adoption of yield enhancing factors, like fertilizers

4.2.1        Characteristics of animal husbandry
whereas shifting cultivation is largely practiced with little or no livestock, in semi-permanent systems we often find large stocks of cattle. In extended areas of the African savannas, it is the interaction of arable cropping and cattle-keeping that keeps the tsetse fly at bay. Slash and burn agriculture thins out the forest or bush vegetation and destroys the breeding grounds of the tsetse fly; intensive grazing prevents bush regeneration and therefore prevents the insect from re-establishing itself.

4.2.2         The aims of stock-keeping are varied:
(1) Cattle are kept to cover the risk of harvest failure or sickness. When land is not privately owned, cattle are kept as a means of support in old age.
(2) In close relation to this there are social functions. Cattle act as bride price, while a large herd is a status symbol.
(3) Farmers want a supply of meat and milk for the household;
(4) A factor of increasing importance is the provision of the traction power for ox-plough cultivation.
(5) Only in a few cases do semi-permanent cultivators consider the contribution of manure as an essential purpose of stock-keeping, although it might be of considerable relevance to their farming.
Harvest residues, fallow grazing, and natural grazing provide the fodder. Communal use of grazing land is customary: everybody has the right to allow any number of animals to graze on the fallows, pastures, and stubbles.
Fodder cropping is practically non-existent. Occasionally, balanced feeding is achieved by seasonally moving the livestock to grazing areas some distance away, which have not been used earlier in the season.
The composition of the livestock herds depends above all on the availability of fodder. Where there is good grassland with sufficient watering places, the number of cattle per family is high, and a high proportion of the stock consists of male animals. With increasing shortage of grazing and higher cattle densities, primarily female stock is kept, the male calves being slaughtered soon after birth. Where fodder is not sufficient to keep large herds in one place, the lending out of cattle is common.this predominated in all the major settlements of Gobir earlier mentioned in this paper.
 Improved seeds, introduction of more crop varieties like rice and maize, development of irrigation, especially using the Shadoof system in the river valleys etc.

4.2.3        Permanent cultivation systems a continual expansion of arable farming at the expense of the fallow or ley into system transforms semi-permanent and ley systems of cultivation. This class includes those farming systems in which fallows leys are only rarely, and for a short term, interpolated between the cultivation of arable crops, with the result that the R value exceeds 70.

4.2.4        In contrast with fallow or ley systems, farming systems of this kind are normally characterized by

 (1) A permanent division within the holding between arable land and grassland, which is seldom or never cultivated;

 (2) Clearly demarcated fields; and

 (3) A predominance of annual and biannual crops.
Often, permanently cultivated rain-fed plots are a supplementary activity or devoted to irrigation farming in holdings that are predominantly tree crops. In particular, the growing of wet rice in valley bottoms in plots often com­bined with the cultivation of permanently cropped rain-fed slopes.
(4) Irrigation farming is spreading; in particular, irrigated rice.
(5) The planting of perennial crops, in particular of tree crops, is increasing. By this means, arable farming, which is 'alien' to nature in the tropics, is replaced by crops whose effect on the soil is similar to that of forest or bush vegetation.
Of special interest is the development of the fertilizer economy in permanent rain-fed farming. The primary task i's the replacement of nutrients and organic matter. From 'the standpoint of the evolution of farming systems, a number of stages may be distinguished:
(1) Manuring begins as a rule with the collection and transport of household refuse.
(2) Next comes the application of animal manure, which is sometimes increased by stabling and the provision of bedding.
(3) Cultivation of green-manure crops is an indication of a more advanced fertilizer economy.
(4) Processing of household refuse, harvest residues, and farmstead earth in compost is characteristic of a higher level of intensity.
(1) Areas outside the holding are grazed, and manure collects in
the farmyard, mainly at night. In this way nutrients are concentrated on the permanently cropped land.
(2) Nutrients are imported from uncultivated bushes in fuel. The search for fuel has stripped extensive bush or forest land near densely populated areas (needles, leaves, twigs). The ashes serve as fertilizer, either directly or as a component of compost.
(3) An indication of a special lack of nutrients is the collection of leaves and branches as green manure, which is applied directly to the land

5        Sedentarization livestock production moved from being highly extensive to semi-intensive, necessitating the demarcation of stock routes and grazing reserves by colonial governments through Native Authorities to minimize farmers/herdsmen clashes which arose as a result of scarcity of grazing lands and encroachment of farms by the livestock/herdsmen. These herdsmen were of two types, the settled and nomadic ones, the settled ones gather livestock from the community/village and moved them to the grazing lands from mornings and return them to the communities in the evenings. They were paid in both cash and kind, the system is almost waning now. The other variant is the nomadic herdsmen who are either owners or part owners of the stock they tended. They move from one community to another in search of grazing areas and fodder especially in the dry season after harvest, where they enter into contract agreement with local farmers to settle and incorporate animal droppings on their farms in exchange for a fee/grains, and moving to another location as the need arises.

6        Provision of organized extension and modern inputs started during this period albeit, on a small scale, the farmers were pressurized and given incentives to adopt. Farm Training Centres and Farm Institutes were established at Shinkafi . Commodity Boards, notably cotton and groundnuts, provided free seeds and extension services resulting into an unprecedented increase in the production of these cropsin Shinkafi, Isa, Sabon Birni, and others across Gobir and Zamfara. In areas occupied by French, like Maradi, similar developments were observed but on a more rigorous and sustainable scale.

6    POST-COLONIAL ERA TO DATE

The period saw greater intensification of production and land use as a result of rapid population growth and urbanization, land and labour continued to be limiting constraints followed later by fertilizer and other inputs that were hitherto supplied free but which now had to be paid for. More crops were introduced and new varieties of the existing ones popularized like FARO 44 rice and with the improved availability of seeds, fertilizers and mechanization, some crops that were hitherto marginal in the area became major crops. Such crops include, FARO 44 rice, wheat, tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, cashew, mango, and more recently, water melon.

In particular the creation of regional governments and later state governments opened up newer possibilities and reforms some of which include:

A farmer credit scheme was established with its activities covering the entire Sokoto state in 1975;

At the same time, Gusau Agricultural Development Project was Launched at Gusau with its activities include establishment of a network of Farm Service Centres delivering seeds, fertilizer and limited tractor hiring services in 1981, it was transformed into Sokoto Agricultural Development Project with wider mandate including but not limited to animal traction, fadama development, cooperative development, a commercial arm known as FASCO, or farmers Agricultural Supply Company, seed production and distribution, among others.

Construction of the giant Goronyo Dam and irrigation complex at Goronyo  which gave Irrigation development a boost, and is opening new frontiers in agricultural production in the area too, with the adoption of portable irrigation pumps, the labour intensive Shadoof system has been phased out.

Similarly, fish and poultry farms, ranches and host of other developments alongside with improved processing, storage and marketing has transformed the area into agricultural mecca of sorts at a rate that’s unprecedented in the annals of agriculture in the area where most of the Gobir people reside, Isa,Sabon Birni, Goronyo, Gada, Gwadabawa, Illela Local Government areas.

More recent development also include the establishment of a college of agriculture at Wurno,

Many young men are now embracing modern farming at keast in the production of rice, onion, garlic, watermelon and wheat though support from the state and federal governments especially Growth Enhacement Support and Anchor Borrowers Scheme.(SOSG,2018)

7.   IMPERATIVE FOR MODERNIZATION

The developments in the practice of farming and agriculture in Gobir roughly skrtched above, though not exhaustive, point to the fact that agriculture in the area has evolved from labour intensive subsistence to land and labour intensive with prospects for commercialization and modernization.

Towards this end the following need to be focused upon:-

Ø  Reducing drudgery by increasing the scope of mechanization

Ø  Adoption of improved varieties of crops

Ø  Improved access to credit and finance

Ø  Improved management of agricultural co-operatives

Ø  Improved access to seeds, fertilizers and irrigation technology

Ø  Improved extension services, marketing processing and storage facilities

Ø  Improved methods of animal husbandry, aquaculture and agroforestry.

Ø  Provision of rural physical and social infrastructure.

With commitment, right leadership, political will, receptive population and efficient management, these are achievable in no distant future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Augie, A.R. (1984), “The Gobir Factor in the Social and Economic History of the Rima Basin c. 1650 – 1808 A.D.”, PhD Thesis. Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University.

 

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ScDev.net,2017 The locust invasion devastating Niger ScDev.net.com
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