The adaptive strategies of smallholders in parts of South-Eastern Nigeria: Implications for agricultural planning

The problem of population pressure in south-eastern Nigeria is compounded by the region's poor agricultural resources. In the absence of adequate technological inputs to increase agricultural productivity through technical innovations, the smallholders resort to some other strategies to improve their chances of at least providing enough food for themselves. In addition to an intensive and more frequent cultivation of the farmlands which are subdivided into diminutive plots the farmers adopt a multicropping system to maximise returns from every unit of land. Also, crop choice is concentrated on those ones which involve less expense in materials and labour input but promise higher productivity. The analysis of data shows that using these strategies the farmers have been able to improve their chances of feeding themselves but they have not succeeded in finding a lasting solution to the incidence of food shortage. The paper suggests that the ingenuity of the smallholders could be capitalised upon to introduce into their farming system some technical innovations that will ensure adequate food supply for the large population of south-eastern Nigeria.