ewemen journal of plant genetics &...

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Volume 2 | Issue 1 | 2-18

Ewemen Journal of Plant Genetics & Chemotaxonomy ISSN: 2488-9172

Available online at http://ewemen.com/category/ejpgc/

Original Research

SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT IN THE RURAL AREAS OF KATSINA STATE: A CASE STUDY OF MAJEN GOBIR VILLAGE RIMI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

LADAN Suleiman Iguda

Department of Basic and Applied Sciences, College of Science and Technology, Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, Katsina, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Received 12 March, 2017 Revised on the 14 April, 2017 Accepted 25 April, 2017 Author’s Email: [email protected]

Agricultural crop production remains the predominant economic activity in

the rural areas of Nigeria. Most farmers in the northern parts practiced

permanent continuous cultivation that involved intensive and continuous

cultivation of land on yearly basis. This system of cultivation necessitates the

management of soil fertility in order to maintain or improve soil fertility on

the farmlands. This paper examines soil fertility management in the rural

areas of Katsina State using Majen Gobir village of Rimi Local government

as a case study. Data for the study were generated through reconnaissance

surveys, field visit, and interviews. The results showed that several methods

are used by the farmers to manage soil fertility such as application of organic

manure, inorganic fertilizer, planting trees to stabilize the soil, planting

vertiver grass to check erosion and use of crop rotation were used by the

farmers to manage soil fertility. However, challenges towards adopting some

of these methods include poor access to fertilizers due to inadequate supply

of fertilizer at subsidized rates, high cost of the fertilizer in the market, low

level of income of the farmers and lack of sufficient credit facilities among

others. This study therefore recommends adequate supply of fertilizer and

provision of sufficient credit facilities to the farmers to manage the fertility

of soils for improved productivity.

Keyword: Soil fertility, Soil management, Rural areas, Rimi LGA.

INTRODUCTION

Soil fertility refers to the ability of the soil to supply essential nutrients and soil water in adequate amounts and proportions for plant growth and reproduction in the absence of toxic substances which may inhibit plant growth (FAO, 2013). Soil fertility can also be referred to as the ability level of soil to grow and support plant life. Fertile soil contains the sufficient minerals and nutrients needed for plant growth and it is often composed of large

amounts of top soil or organic matter layer made up of decaying materials (Kawo et al., 2006) Fertile soils are rich in trace elements of minerals such as chlorine, copper, iron, zinc, boron, cobalt, manganese, sulfur and magnesium. Nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen must be abundant in the soil for it to be fertile as well. These minerals and nutrients effectively feed the plants

Ewemen Journal of Plant Genetics & Chemotaxonomy 2017, 2(1):12-18 Ladan

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that grow in fertile soil and deficiency of the minerals and nutrients in plants produce some deficiency signs or symptoms (Kawo et al., 2006). Fertile soils must also have sufficient amount of micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, earthworms, protozoa and nematodes. The activities of these organisms living in the soil help to create soil fertility and conditions suitable for tilling or cultivation. Worms and nematodes process plant roots and litter bacteria and fungi decompose organic detritus and recycle nutrients that plants can use for additional growth (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2004). Soil fertility management concerns all practices, treatments and operations used to maintain, sustain and improve the capacity of the soil to supply essential nutrients for crop production through the application of fertilizer, organic manure, weeding, planting trees or grasses to prevent soil erosion or even fallowing. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), soil fertility management is a main issue for food security and agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa. This is so because agricultural production is the main source of economic activity providing food, employment and source of income. Therefore declining soil productivity means not only that less food can be grown but also the production of cash crops is endangered. It is essential that soil fertility is managed in a sustainable way, so that the present generations are fed and soil conditions are improved to support future generation (FAO, 2013). Agricultural crop production remains the predominant economic activity in the rural areas Nigeria. Most farmers in the northern part practice permanent continuous cultivation that involves intensive cultivation of the land on yearly basis. This system of cultivation makes it necessary to manage soil fertility in order to maintain or improve soil fertility on the farmlands. The paper examines soil fertility management in the rural areas of Katsina State using Majen Gobir village of Rimi local government area as a case study. The specific objectives of the study were to identify and explain the soil fertility management practices in Majen Gobir village, highlighting the challenges encountered in managing soil fertility as well as make recommendations on how to overcome the identified challenges in the village and the State in general. Study Area

Rimi Local Government Area (LGA) was created on 21st September 1991 with eleven other LGAs which increased the number of LGAs in Katsina State to

twenty six then. The LGA has two districts Rimi District headed by Kauran Katsina and Tsagero District headed by Majidadin Katsina. The two districts heads have each very interesting history with each developing independent of each other (Bawa, 2012). Rimi, the local government headquarters is situated 22.2 kms away from Katsina, the capital of Katsina State, three kilometers off the Katsina – Kano federal highway. The local government area is located at the coordinates latitudes 12o 51’ 0’’ to 13° 2’0’’ North and longitude 7° 49’ 30’’to 8° 0’ 30’’ East (Figure 1) with a land area of 452km2. The local government area is bordered to the north by Kaita LGA, to the west by Katsina and Batagarawa LGAs, to the south by Charanchi LGA and to the east by Mani LGA (Figure 1). Based on the 2006 National Housing and Population Census, the LGA has a total population of 154,092 people consisting of 77,059 and 77,033 females (Bawa, 2012). The inhabitants of the LGA are mainly Hausa-Fulani people whose main occupations are farming, cattle rearing and trading.

Rimi, in Hausa language literary means silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentanda), the LGA and its headquarters got its name from the tree which is found up to today at the center of Rimi village. The LGA has recently gain prominence as a result of the location of the 10 mega watt (mw) Katsina Wind Farm Project worth N4.4 billion(about USD $364,400 million) which was started as a pioneer project at Lambar Rimi in Rimi LGA even though the project is stalled (NEB, 2015).

Figure 1: Map of Rimi Local Government Area showing the specific study area.


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The specific study area is Majen Gobir, a village situated 5 km off the Katsina-Kano road from Rijiya Mai siminti village roughly located approximately at latitude 12° 53’0’’North and longitudes 7°49’30’’ East (Figure 1). The village is one of the twenty five village settlements in Rimi LGA with a population of few thousand people who are mainly farmers producing food crops for subsistence and keeping or rearing animals at home mostly within their compounds.

The history of the village is traced to a puddle, where an ox uses to drink water any time its owner brought it for grazing. The settlement began from the water source which today has been dug into a well that contains water during all seasons. The village derives its name from a tree called Maje in Hausa language (Daniella olieveri) which was joined with the name of Bagobiri (Salisu) to form the name Majen Gobir. In terms of physical setting, the climate is tropical continental with two district seasons, the long dry season and the short dry season. The rainy season starts from June and ends in September with a mean annual rainfall between 762 – 889 mm for this region of the State. Heavy rains were experienced in some days particularly in August leading to flooding as it occurred in 2015 (Ladan, 2016). The vegetation is Sudan savanna type with short scattered trees and grasses. Trees found in the village include Azadirachta indica, Pakia beglobosa, Tamarindus indica, Adansonia digitata. Some of these trees are found on the farmlands, inside homes and at gardens/orchards at the southern parts along a stream. The drainage consist of four ponds (created by excavation of laterites to obtain building materials) located in different parts of the village and a very large stream at the southern part of the village. The relief is an undulating plain and the soils are sandy loam that are susceptible to erosion by wind or rain water. Some of the soils in parts of the village were washed away by rain water during the rainy season. Majen Gobir is a typical village with about 90% of the houses build with mud and the village is in the interior, not located along any major or minor road and the road leading to the village is not tarred. There are limited social amenities in the village with one Primary School, one Community Junior Secondary School, one Dispensary and the source of water is from wells. The level of literacy in the village is estimated to be about 20% which is mainly due to low enrolment into schools and the limited number of primary and secondary schools in the village. The State government has recently asked the village

community to provide land for the building of a hospital for effective health care delivery. The occupation of the people is farming during the rainy season and some of the crops cultivated include millet, guinea corn, beans, groundnut and cassava. The volume of produce for the most common crop millet is about 6-7 bags per farmer and the major economic crops are ground nut and sesame seed which are sold on market days at Charanchi (Sundays), Abukur (Wednesdays), Batsari (Thursdays), Rimi (Fridays) and Yargamji (Saturdays). The land is continuously cultivated for the production of these crops and hence the fertility of the soils has to be managed to maintain/improve production. MATERIALS AND METHOD

Materials A map of Rimi LGA was sourced from the Ministry of Environment and drawn at the Cartography unit of Department of Geography Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Katsina. This map was used to identify the general and specific study areas in relation to Katsina State. A Finepix A X50 Fuji digital camera with optical zoom 5x14 mega fixel was used to snap two pictures of some farmlands to provide clear evidences of the soil fertility management practices used by the farmers and incorporated into the paper. Methods

A reconnaissance survey was held in February 2016 when collecting data for another study involving Rimi LGA. The village was surveyed particularly its soils and fertility management practices were observed for future study to be held in the near future. A field visit was conducted on the 12th February 2016 that involved observation, conduct of interviews, focus group discussion and collecting other sources of data for the study. Direct observations were made on the physical setting of the village and the soil fertility management practices adopted by the people. Interviews were held with a total of twenty (20) farmers who were randomly selected from the different parts of the village. The interview questions were on the soil fertility management practices adopted, the challenges encountered in managing soil fertility and suggestions towards overcoming the challenges. These same questions were asked to the focus group that was formed by the village head himself in front of his house. The total numbers of persons that constitute the focus group were thirty (30) in number. Besides answering the interview questions


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the focus group also narrated the history of the village with the village head taking the lead in the narration. The total number of persons involved in the study is fifty (50), twenty (20) persons were interviewed and thirty (30) were involved in the focus group discussion. The field visit also involve going round the village to physically see the farmlands and the soil management practices that were used by the farmers as it was the time when some farmers have started transporting organic manure to the farmland to apply on the farm in preparation for the coming farming season The data collected from the above sources were complemented with secondary sources of data collected from relevant textbooks, conference papers, journal articles published in peer reviewed journals, and internet sourced materials. The data collected from these two sources were edited and analyzed using descriptive statistics in terms of means, averages, percentages and tabulations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Socio-economic characteristics of respondents

The socio-economic characteristics of the respondents indicates that in terms of gender, all respondents interviewed were males which is based on the culture of the village that males are the heads of households that are responsible for feeding the family. The average age of the respondents is 47 years which indicating an aging population in charge of farming in the village. In terms of educational qualification, half (50%) of respondents have not acquired any form of western education but Qur’anic education. That is they have not gone through any form of formal education. Thirty percent (30%) have attended primary school and ten percent (10%) have attended secondary school education and the remaining ten percent (10%) have attended tertiary institutions of learning. In terms of marital status, all the respondents are married to one or two wives. The number of children is what differs as thirty percent (30%) have five children, twenty percent (20%) have seven children, forty percent (40%) have eight children and only ten per cent (10%) have up to ten children. The occupational status has shown that all the respondents are involved in farming in the village during the rainy season. However, since rain-fed farming is seasonal in nature the respondents engage in other economic activities such as trading, animal rearing, making handicraft items etc. to serve as additional source of income to support their families. Two percent (2%) of the farmers are engages in irrigation farming at the

Kwanar Are dam site located about 13kms away from Majen Gobir. Table 1: Socio-economic characteristic of the respondents

Characteristics Frequency Percentage (%)

Educational Qualification No formal education Primary School Secondary School Tertiary Education

25 15 5 5

50 30 10 10

Marital Status Unmarried Married

-

50

-

100 Number of children Five Children Seven children Eight children Ten children

15 10 20 5

30 20 40 10

Occupational Status Rain-fed Farming Irrigation Farming

49 1

98 2

Source: Field survey (2017)

Soil fertility management practices

Several soil fertility management practices were adopted by respondents in the study area.

Figure 2: Organic manure spread at intervals on a farmland in Majen Gobir

Application of organic manure, which they obtained from their houses as they rear animals such as cows, goats and sheep within their compounds, was practices by all the farmers in the study area. In one of the houses visited a total of twenty (20) sheep and goats were counted being reared with corn stalks, grasses, shrubs and household refuse spread on the ground where the animals are reared that has decomposed to become manure. As at the time of the field visit to the village thirty percent (30%) of farmers have not collected the manure from their houses, thirty percent (30%) have collected the manure and deposited it outside awaiting transportation and forty percent (40%) have already


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transported the manure to the farm and started applying it on the farmlands. The manure is applied on farmlands first by the months of February and March of each year so as to allow the manure to dry and for to worms perish inside the manure. Figure 2 show the farmland of one of the farmers who have already spread manure on their farmlands during field visit. Inorganic fertilizer is applied to the farm after the organic manure has been applied by the farmers in the village to fertilize the soil. The fertilizer is usually applied when the crops planted on the farms have started to germinate and the fertilizer will accelerate the growth of the crops. The farmer gets their supply at subsidized rates from the Local Government Secretariat at Rimi. During the 2016 farming season, four farmers were allocated one 50 kg bag of fertilizer which they share based on 3 – 4 measures per person. This is grossly inadequate to satisfy the needs of the farmers, as one person needs about three bags to adequate satisfy the farm for improved productivity. The fertilizer is however available at the market at the cost of N5,000 – N6,000 (USD $16.66-USD 13.38) per bag which is costly compared to the government subsidized rate of N2,500 (USD $6.94) per bag. According to the respondents many farmers were frustrated by the situation where a farmer travels 8kms to Rimi and waits a day to collect only 3-4 measures of the fertilizer. This situation corresponds with the study by Falola (2007), who observed that fertilizer distribution has continued to be marked by shortages and inadequate coverage. Farmers in the study are carried out weeding before applying fertilizer so that only the crops planted will absorb the nutrients provided by the fertilizer. Delay in weeding reduces the crops response to fertilizer and hence timely removal of weeds is essential practice in managing soil fertility (African Soil Health Consortium, 2014). A study conducted on sandy loam soils of Andra Pradesh India suggested controlling weeds at early stages of crop growth and maintenance of weeds free environment at critical stages of crop growth (Geetha et al., 2017). Majority of farmers in the study area plant vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) to prevent soil erosion that is threatening to wash away the top soil on the farmlands which is the zone where soil nutrients and minerals accumulate for easy reach by the plants through their roots. During the rainy season, the study area receives heavy downpours that flow through farmlands and the farmers use this grass to prevent washing away of the top soil. During field

visit to the farmlands in the study area it was observed that sections of some farmlands that have no grass have eroded into small holes that crops cannot be cultivated unless remedial action is taken. The vetiver grass is a deeply rooted, persistent grass that has restrained erodible soils for decades in developing countries like India (Permaculture Research Institute, 2009). The grass was introduced to the LGAs of Katsina State for erosion control by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). At Majen Gobir, the farmers also plant the grass along farm boundaries to mark boundary between farmlands. Figure 3 shows vetiver grass on farmlands at Majen Gobir village.

Figure 3: Vetiver grass planted for erosion control and to mark farm boundaries at Majen Gobir

Farmers in the study area also plant trees as a practice of managing the fertility of the soil. Some of the species of trees planted includes Azadirachta indica, Sclerocarya birrea, Vitex doniana, Isoberlina doka, Tamarinadus indica etc. These species of trees are planted at the edge of farmlands to not only serve as boundary between farmlands but also serve as wind breakers, breaking the force of the wind from blowing away unconsolidated materials found on top soil here. This planting of trees is important in checking erosion as Majen Gobir village is just 3 – 4km away from the Katsina 10 MW wind farm located at Lambar Rimi. There are also trees that are found on farmlands, these trees on farmlands assist in soil improvement as they produce litter that decompose well and add as much as possible to soil organic matter. This was observed by Alao and Shuaibu (2013) in their study on agro-forestry practices in Nigeria. Some of the trees that were planted at the edge of farmlands and on the


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farmlands can be seen at the background in Figures 2 and 3. Use of crop rotation is another soil fertility management practice adopted by the farmers in the study area. Farmers grow different crops continuously on the same piece of land in such a way that they follow definite sequence. In the study area, a farmer can grow guinea corn that absorb too much fertilizer and then the next year millet can be grown as it does not need much soil fertilization and can be cultivated on less fertile soil. Also a farmer can grown millet that does not absorb much fertilizer and the next year can plant guinea corn that absorb much fertilizer. Leguminous corps such as beans and ground-nut are also inter planted with guinea corn or millet or are grown separately on farms. The introduction of legumes into the rotation at frequent intervals is important as legumes crops add nutrients to the soil. Crop such as beans are deeply rooted in addition to being leguminous so that they add to the nitrogen level of the soil as well as helping to open up the sub-soil (Akinyosoye, 1986). There are several challenges facing farmers in the study area in their attempts to manage soil fertility. These challenges were derived from the interview conducted with the farmers and observations during field visit to the study area and they include: delay and inadequate supply of fertilizers as well as high cost of purchase. Other challenges include low level of income and poor access to funding facility such as loans or credits, overflow of the well during rainy season, theft of animals used for generating green manure, etc. CONCLUSION

Soil fertility management is critical to the farmers particularly small holder farmers in the rural areas of Katsina State as they depend on farming to feed themselves, earn some income and maintain their source of livelihood. Therefore efforts have to be made particularly by the State and Local Government to assist the farmers to overcome the challenges of managing soil fertility. More importantly timely and adequate supply of fertilizer should be guaranteed as farming today is highly dependent on fertilizer and crop production cannot be maintained or boosted without fertilizer. It is in realization of this that Katsina State government is planning new strategies for fertilizer distribution and supply and also planning to establish organic manure factory in collaboration with a foreign company. These plans are indeed laudable but decisive measures must be taken to ensure that the plans were implemented for

the benefit of the rural farmers and the State in general. Global stakeholders such as IFAD can assist in addressing some of the challenges faced by the community particularly as it relates to finance. IFAD programme of Rural Financial Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) can be used to reach the poor farmers in the village to ensure that they gain access to financial services and can invest in improving productivity in agriculture and small businesses (IFAD,2017).After this study, the farming modification the Author would prescribe based on the terrain is that the land should never be allowed to lie bare, but instead to protect it at all times with a layer of leaves and stalk from previous crops, or with suitable cover crops. Land covered in this way offers better resistance to invasive species, is less susceptible to run-off and is better protected against wind erosion. Recommendations

i) Katsina State Government should work ahead of time to ensure that fertilizer is distributed to the farmers at the commencement of the farming season. The distribution should be decentralized from the LG headquarters to each village head or at ward level with adequate measure taken to ensure that only genuine farmers were allocated the fertilizer.

ii) The State government should further ensure that adequate quantity of the fertilizer is procured for distribution to the farmers. Each farmer should be allocated the right quantity that he needs based on the size of his farmland and requirements of the crops. Village heads can take account of the amount required by each farmer before the distribution begins.

iii) Farmers in the village should form themselves into cooperatives so that such cooperatives can be used by the government to disburse any credit facility available for the benefits of the farmers. Farmers who collect such credit should ensure that the amount collected is used judiciously to buy farm inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides or improved seeds.

iv) Farmers in the village should keep their animals at home and provide them with feeds they need rather than allow them to roam outside the village to avoid theft. In addition the people of the village should form local vigilante group that will be on constant vigil and patrol to ensure that the culprits are apprehended.

v) The State government should come to the aid of the people of the village concerning water erosion caused by the continued widening of the stream at the southern part of the village. The scale of the threat posed by stream is beyond the


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capacity of the villagers or the local government council. A temporary measure would be building a concrete embankment to halt the further widening of the stream and a permanent measure should be building an earth dam to control the erosion, flood waters and provide water for irrigation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wish to acknowledge the assistance in the field work and data collection by Mallam Bello Umar Ladan, a farmer and trader based in Majen Gobir village. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

REFERENCES 1. African Soil Health Consortium (2014). Soil fertility

management practices. Available at: www.africa.soilhealth.cabi.org/wpcms/wp-content [Accessed 28.02.2017].

2. Akinyosoye VO (1986). Senior tropical agriculture. Macmillan Publishers Ltd, London.P.127

3. Alao JS and Shuaibu RB (2013).Agroforestry Practices and Concepts in Sustainable Land Use System in Nigeria. J Horticult Forest 5(10): 156-159.

4. Bawa GM (2012). Katsina State: Pictorial and historical sketches: The first twenty five years (1987 – 2012). Government Printing Katsina. pp. 474.

5. Cunningham WP and Cunningham MA (2014). Principles of environmental science: Inquiry and applications. McGraw-Hill Boston, USA. pp. 156.

6. Falola JA (2007). Agriculture in Nigeria today and tomorrow. Niger Geograph J 5(1): 82 – 101.

7. FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization] (2013). Status and challenges of soil management in Nigeria Available at: www.fao.org/fileadmin/user-upload/GSP [Accessed 01.03.2016].

8. Geetha DS, Venkateswaralu B and Chandrasekar K (2017). Effect of integrated weeds management practices on weeds dynamics, yield and economics on Rabi groundnut (Arachis Hypogaea) in sandy loam soils of Andra Pradesh, India. Int J Curr Res 9(1): 44605 – 44608.

9. IFAD [International Fund for Agricultural Development] (2017). Rural Financial Institution-Building Programme (RUFIN) Available at: http://operations.ifad.org/web/ifad/operations/country/project/ [Accesses 18.04.2017].

10. Kawo AH, Aliyu BS, Mukhtar MD and Bashir H (2006). Ecology at a glance. Benchmark Publishers Limited Kano, Nigeria. pp. 74 and 86.

11. Ladan SI (2016). Improving soil management as a panacea for increasing agricultural productivity in Katsina State. A paper presented at the 40th Annual Conference of Soil Science Society of Nigeria held at University of Calabar Cross River State from 14th-18th March, 2016.

12. Nigeria Electricity Hub (2015). Katsina Wind Farm Power Project Still Delayed. Available at: www.nigeriaelectricityuhub.com/tag/rimi-local-government-area/ [Accessed 28.02.2017].

13. PRI [Permaculture Research Institute] (2009). Vetiver grass – A hedge against erosion. Available at: www.permaculturenews.org/2009/01/19/vetiver-grass [Accessed 01.03.2017]

Article’s citation Ladan SI (2017). Soil fertility management in the rural areas of Katsina State: A case study of Majen Gobir village, Rimi Local Government Area. Ew J Plant Genet Chemotaxon 2(1): 12-18.

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