Sustainable Food Crop Production Through Multiple Cropping Patterns among Farmers in South Western Nigeria

INTRODUCTION In Nigeria, about 75"0 of the population arc peasant fanners living in the rural areas. which arc the main stay of agricultural production, These fanners operate on small scale with farm holdings of 1-2 hectares, which arc usually scattered over a wide area. According to Olayide et al. (1981), about 75% of Nigeria's land is under arable cultivation with land-human ratio of 58 persons per square kilometer in south western Nigeria. This shows that the average sizes 01' farmlands are very small. .] he production practices of small-scale farmers arc S) non) mous with their production characteristics such as subsistence level of production. low hectare due to tenurial rights. Other factors include poor access to credit and other production inputs. poor managerial ability and enterprise combination as informed by ecological considerations, available resources, taste and preferences of farm families. Olayide ct a l. (1981) stated that a truly diversified enterprise-oriented economy is typical feature of most rural economy. Another factor that informed the combination of enterprises is a great deal of uncertainty under which farmers produce, It could be inferred that the proximate risks experienced by small-scale farmers were sufficient to completely mask any differences in the household managerial ability, The risk of production and reliance on the market virtually force poorer producers to adopt subsistence oriented strategies, It, therefore. implies that a farming system had been evolved which emphasizes multiple cropping systems in order to hold forth for the risky nature. though subsistence becomes more pronounced.