Water
The southern Nigeria has abundant rainfall compare to the northern part. Water is an essential requirement for sustainable agricultural production. To meet the future food need, farmers would have to provide adequate water supply. Here is the map of Nigeria per annual rainfall—figure 3. Rainfall in Nigeria verities from season to season and there is a short dry season known as “August break”, which is usually experienced in the last two weeks of August.
Degradation
Nigeria is a developing country and the most populous country in Africa. There has been always the quest to feed the needy. There is freedom to almost everything in the country. Most of the laws governing the environment are nearly inactive. Thus, making the country to suffer soil degradation. Almost every Nigerian is a farmer and children are being taught agriculture both in primary and junior secondary schools, but optional in senior secondary. Nigeria practices two types of agriculture, which are Industrialized or commercial and Subsistence Agriculture. Most families are subsistence farmers and they use improvised equipment. In the savannah region, animal husbandry dominates the agricultural practices, while in the forest vegetation is dominated with tuber crop.
As the years go by--the population kept increasing and the demand for food and industrial materials increases--the soil is being endangered. The activities of humans and the lack of laws or inactive laws is associated with this
The project identifies and analyse how the vegetation of the area can be influenced by soil composition and climate by performing first hand investigation such as analysing soil type and grain size. It’s also about the aspects of the local environment that have been affected by people and propose realistic solutions to the problems that exist.
Thus, in conclusion, this essay has considered: the definition of soil, identifying the components of, and its contribution to soils unique properties, and the critical roles in which soils play to sustain life on Earth. Soil, therefore, coincides with life on our
Neglect to take care of the land after many decades is starting to show significant negative effects on the environment. Many people do not know what all entails land pollution other than the commonly known pollutions such as chemical and waste, the list may surprise you. The list includes sewage treatment, nuclear waste, construction, urbanization, industrialization, landfills, mining, logging, agricultural practices. and deforestation (Rinkesh). As humans, we have continued to develop as a species technologically, communally and agriculturally. The effects we have had on the environment through human development has not been
There are about 16.6 million people living in Nigeria. Nigeria has the world’s highest fertility rate but the life expectancy is about fifty years. It is estimated that in about thirty years, the population would grow to about fifty million people living in the country of Nigeria alone. This will cause water irrigation and food supply issues because there are more mouths to feed. Another issue facing Nigeria is the spread of HIV. As men travel, women would supply men with condoms to pass around to other men they may encounter to counter HIV. Drought also is an environmental disaster facing Nigeria and its plant life. People would chop trees down for a living and soon, there were not enough trees to supply the number of people demanding them. Droughts are becoming more common in the area. Before they would come every ten years but now, droughts are coming every three years if not
“Erosion occurs when the soil lacks protective vegetative cover”. (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Soil erosion reduces the productivity of the land by loss of water, soil, organic matter, nutrients, biota, and depth of soil.” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) With no conservation methods in place in certain places like: no contour farming, no cover crop, no terraces, no water ways, and tillage on steep hills is asking for a loss of productivity from the land. The effects on the land that non-conservation methods have is horrible. “Its effects are pervasive, and its damages are long lasting. (Pimentel and others 1995a)” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a bigger factor then most people think. For an example an comparison of how much soil is actually lost in certain environments: “On sloping agricultural land under tropical rainfall, as much as 400t/ha/yr of soil is lost (Pimentel unpublished report,1990).”(Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Under arid conditions with relatively strong winds, as much as 5600t/ha/yr of soil has been reported lost (Gupta and Raina 1996).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor when conservation practices are not put into place. “According to some investigators, approximately 75 billion tons a fertile soil are lost annually from the world’s agricultural systems (Myers 1993).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor and many different things can be done to help slow it,
Nigeria is a country that has a lot of historic cultures and empires. Nigeria goes back as far as the 5th century BC. During the 9th century the trading empire grows up around Lake Chad. Which then became the center of Nigeria. Its original center is east of the lake, in the Kanem region, but it soon extends to Bornu on the western side. In the 11th century the ruler of Kanem-Bornu converted to Islam. West of Bornu, is where Hausa people reign. They were placed in the right place so that they could control trade with the forest regions to the south. The Hausa develop a number of small but stable kingdoms, each ruled from a strong walled city. In the savanna grasslands and the forest regions west of the Niger, between the Hausa kingdoms and
East Africa has many main crops, but for the drier sections of East Africa, the cropping system is bent around millet. In the more humid districts, main crops are maize and cassava. Coffee, tea, tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton are the crops that produce the most money. Because of the lack of irrigation, East Africa’s crops are very vulnerable to unpredictable weather and external shocks. Water availability is one factor that limits as to how many crops it can produce a year. A project is currently going on to accelerate irrigation development in the more humid regions and rain-fed crops, so people who live in those regions can have their water and food.
The Republic of Niger, a poor, landlocked country, located in the heart of Sub-Saharan West Africa. Niger has seen its fair share of change throughout the decades; moving away from the control of the French Parliament in 1960, Niger formally declared its independence. Despite this bold act of independence, Niger would not see its first steps towards democracy until the early 1990’s, when they held their first open election as a free state. However, even with the empowerment of the people in a democratic government, Niger has seen itself nearly torn apart as a result constant coups, that have occurred as recently as 2010. Such instability has led to incredulous amounts of corruption and poverty, within the Niger government. This lack of stability and constant turnover in government, has been a driving factor behind the lack of resources available for education in Niger.
When looking at Niger’s spatial distribution, many of the causes of the nation's water issues can be examined and made obvious. Niger has a geographical disadvantage, being landlocked by the countries Chad, Berkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Libya and Algeria. Eighty per cent of Niger is occupied by the Sahara desert, the largest hot desert in the world, renowned for its hot climate and lack of precipitation. According to statistics, Niger receives an average of 7 inches (17.78 cm) of rainfall a year, most of which comes in the months of July and August. Niger is in close proximity the equator, which leads to extremely sultry temperatures, averaging 29 degrees during the dry season and 40 degrees during the humid season. Compared to the climate of the neighbouring nations of Morocco and Algeria, the climate of Niger is extreme. However, Niger has a huge supply of water far underground, about three billion cubic metres of drinking. These factors of Niger’s spatial distribution, from terrain to climate, contribute to the water scarcity.
Deprivation of accepted resources is perhaps one of the lethal lapses mankind has ever prepared in its voyage of progress and civilization. All the natural resources are contaminated with lethal lapses. Among them the land and water resources are worst affected and under continuous stress with both biotic and abiotic, due to anthropogenic interventions. If we talk about the soul of infinite life i.e., SOIL then it seems to appear the primary recipient by design or accident of a myriad of waste products and chemicals used in modern society. Soil contamination can be defined as the, addition of any substance to soil that may exert adverse effects on its functioning and capacity to yield a crop. Contamination of heavy metal is of special worry
“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life” (Wendell Berry). This quote highlights the importance of the soil as the all-encompassing bridge between life and death and how vital it is to us, especially when it comes to hunting and gathering and growing the food we need to survive. Why change something that works? The agricultural revolution was a great tragedy in the history of the world, bringing about bodily changes, health defects and diseases, and a disparity of the sexes.
Nigeria is an Agricultural and oil rich nation but characterised by Political instability, corruption, poor
The agriculture field is one of the biggest employers, employing over 155 million people in the United States. What do you think about when you hear the word “agriculture?” Many people would say farming, but this is not the most common occupation in this field. Farmers make up a fraction of the agricultural jobs at 900,000, but over 2.1 million people own, rent, and claim farming as a primary source of income. The average farm size has dropped from 460 acres in 1990 to 418 acres in 2007, while the average age of this occupation rose to 57, making this one of the older workforces in the United States.
Nigeria has a population of around 180 million, making it the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria is located in a region with tropical climate and that can grow variety of crops. With their numerous resources and growing technology they have been able to have positive economic advancement. Nigeria has had improvements in five of the ten economic freedoms. This includes Freedom of corruption, labor freedom, and management of government spending ("Nigeria." Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption.). Nevertheless these large improvements in their economy has not brought human development, where most Nigerians live under the poverty line. This paper will focus on why Nigeria has not been able to use their economic prosperity in the sector of human development, this includes standard of living, health, safety, and basic necessity one needs to live a stable life. We will compare it to the state of Ghana whose economy has also flourished but has been success in human development.
Agriculture in the United States has changed dramatically over the centuries. Since the 1960’s large commercial farms have been leading in sales. As a direct result of their success we, as a society, have access to affordable food. However, the success of large farms has lead to many negative impacts such as increased usage of resources and decreased diversity in crop fields. This begs the question, what can be done to reduce the negative impacts of large farms. One solution growing in popularity is sustainable agriculture. The idea of sustainable agriculture is to create farms that need little to no outside help from irrigation, pesticides, or fertilizers. Sustainability can be achieved in many way through