SS 1 First Term Agricultural Science Lesson Note – Factors Affecting Land Availability for Agricultural Purposes

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TOPIC: FACTORS AFFECTING LAND AVAILABILITY FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES

CONTENT:  FACTORS AFFECTING LAND AVAILABILITY

Land availability is affected by so many factors, which include:

1. Land tenure system: land tenure is the system of land ownership including the rights and obligations governing its acquisition and disposal. The prevailing system of land ownership in Nigeria does not encourage prospective farmers to acquire large hectares of land because

the actual owners feel that their young ones are being robbed of their inheritance. In Nigeria, land is mostly acquired through inheritance and shared among the beneficiaries, due to fragmentation of land it becomes difficult to carryout large-scale farming.

Similarly communal land tenure does not make land available for agriculture too. Land is jointly owned by community. At times, government holds such land in trust for the community and later releases such land for building industrial layout, thus making lands unavailable for agricultural activities.

2. POPULATION PRESSURE: In a country where the population is sparse, land availability to the farmers will be enough, but the reverse is the case where population is high. social demands for land rise with increase in the population growth. Social amenities like civic hall, religious houses, markets and so on demand heavily for land and reduces agricultural land.

3.THE SIZE OF USEFUL LAND IN A COUNTRY: The size of land ideal for agriculture will also affect its usage. In deserts, mountainous areas and savannahs, the size of land for agriculture will be small.

4. CLIMATIC FACTORS: The prevailing climatic factors like rainfall, and sunlight affect land availability. Climate renders the desert polar regions unsuitable for agriculture. Climate plays a major role in making a land suitable for agricultural purposes. A land situated in an environment where the climate is very hot will not be useful for farming because the temperature of the environment will not make the plant survive. Also a land in an environment that is too cold is not good for agricultural purposes

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