Major Forms of Agriculture in Nigeria are listed and explained herein. We hope you find it informative, and able to meet the demand of your research.
Forms of Agriculture
Major Forms of Agriculture in Nigeria
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Just like medicine and other applied sciences, agriculture has so many forms, an average farmer can decide to practice any of them.
Major Forms of Agriculture in Nigeria:
1. Crop Farming
This has to do with planting, caring for, and harvesting crops such as maize, cassava, yam, beans, etc. for both human and industrial use. In the process of planting and growing crops, farmers make use of many practices and some of them are:
a. Shifting Cultivation
This is a very old practice in which farmers plant crops in one Ares for a period of one to three years after which they move to another area to farm abandoning the previous area for a period of one to five years so that it can regain its fertilization.
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b. Crop Rotation
The practice of crop rotation is a situation in which different types of crops are planted on the same piece of land following a particular method of arrangement.
The arrangement of the crops on the land changes from one year to the other and it is very effective for the farmer who only has a very small portion of land to cultivate upon.
c. Mono-Cropping
This is the system of planting only a type of plant on a piece of land. The type of plant which is cultivated could be either annual, perennial or biennial crops depending on the choice of the farmer.
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d. Mixed cropping
This is the system of growing different crops on a piece of land at the same time, the system is preferable compared to mono-cropping or crop rotation because farmers get to reap different crops on a piece of land at almost the same time.
e. Mixed Farming
In Mixed farming, farmers grow both crops and rear animals on the same piece of land. It is different from mixed cropping because the mixed farmers rear not just crops but also livestock.
f. Horticulture
This is a special type of crop farming in which fruits, ornamental crops, and vegetables are grown. In horticulture, fruits and vegetables are grown for food while ornamental plants are basically for the beautification of our environment.
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2. Livestock Farming
This is simply the act of rearing animals. Most farmers focus majorly on the rearing of animals and they reap from the livestock that they raise as much as the crop farmers reap from the crops.
3. Apiculture
This is the practice of rearing and keeping bees in order to extract honey, bee wax, and other products in large quantities from them. The products that are gotten from bees are mainly for the use of humans.
4. Fisheries
This deals greatly with the catching of animals that lives in water (aquatic animals) and preserving them till they are fully matured before ultimately selling them in order to generate income as a farmer.
5. Snail rearing
Some farmers make pens or build a high fence around a particular area and the area or pens usually contain soils that can hold water.
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Snail rearing involves caring for the young snail, feeding them, and making sure that they grow up well and healthy.
These are the forms of agriculture, we hope that you have learned something from this article and you now fully understand that agriculture is not just about the rearing of plants and animals but also has many other forms.
