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Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cultivation is usually terminated when the soil shows signs of exhaustion or, more commonly, when the field is overrun by weeds. The period of time during which the field is cultivated is usually shorter than the period over which the land is allowed to regenerate by lying fallow.
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Jos is a city in the North-Central region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State. The city is situated on the Jos Plateau which is embedded in the Guinea Savannah of North-Central Nigeria. It connects most of the North-Eastern capitals to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja by road. Driving in and out of Jos, one is sure to encounter very steep sloppy bends and breathtaking mountainous sceneries which is typical of the plateau landform. The state was coined from its affiliation to this landform.
Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the seven states created at that time. The state derives its name from the Benue River which is the second largest river in Nigeria after the River Niger. The state borders Nasarawa State to the North; Taraba State to the East; Kogi State to the West; Enugu State to the South-West; Ebonyi and Cross-Rivers States to the South; and has an international border with Cameroon to the South-East. It is inhabited predominantly by the Tiv, Idoma,and Igede. Minority ethnic groups in Benue are Etulo, Igbo, Jukun peoples etc. Its capital is Makurdi. Benue is a rich agricultural region; popularly grown crops include: oranges, mangoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, soya bean, guinea corn, flax, yams, sesame, rice, groundnuts, and Palm tree.
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The Mandara Mountains are a volcanic range extending about 190 km along the northern part of the Cameroon–Nigeria border, from the Benue River in the south to the north-west of Maroua in the north. The highest elevation is the summit of Mount Oupay, at 1,494 m (4,900 ft) above sea level.
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology, involvement of family in labor and economic impact. Smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent, smallholdings may not be self-sufficient, but may be valued for the rural lifestyle. As the sustainable food and local food movements grow in affluent countries, some of these smallholdings are gaining increased economic viability. There are an estimated 500 million smallholder farms in developing countries of the world alone, supporting almost two billion people.
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The Jos Plateau is a plateau located near the centre of Nigeria. The plateau has given its name to the Plateau State in which it is found and is named for the state's capital, Jos. The plateau is home to people of diverse cultures and languages. The plateau's montane grasslands, savannas, and forests are home to communities of plants and animals distinct from those of the surrounding lowlands and constitute the Jos Plateau forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion.
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References
- ↑ "Kofyar, Jibiyal in Nigeria". Joshua Project . Retrieved 21 February 2019.
- ↑ "Kofyar | Hometown.ng™" . Retrieved 2021-01-23.
- ↑ Stone, Glenn Davis 1996 Settlement Ecology: The Social and Spatial Organization of Kofyar Agriculture. University of Arizona Press, Tucson
- ↑ Netting, Robert McC. 1987 "Clashing Cultures, Clashing Symbols: Histories and Meanings of the Latok War". Ethnohistory 34(4):352–380
- ↑ Netting, Robert McC. 1968 Hill Farmers of Nigeria: Cultural Ecology of the Kofyar of the Jos Plateau. Univ. of Washington Press, Seattle
- ↑ Boserup, Ester. 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarin Change under Population Pressure. Aldine, Chicago.
- ↑ Netting, Robert Mc. 1993. Smallholders, Householders: Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture. Stanford University Press, Stanford
- ↑ Stone, Glenn Davis, Robert McC. Netting and M. Priscilla Stone 1990 Seasonality, "Labor Scheduling and Agricultural Intensification in the Nigerian Savanna". American Anthropologist 92:7–23
- ↑ Netting, Robert Mc. 1964 "Beer as a locus of value among the West African Kofyar". American Anthropologist 66: 375-384
- ↑ Stone, Glenn Davis, Robert McC. Netting and M. Priscilla Stone 1990 "Seasonality, Labor Scheduling and Agricultural Intensification in the Nigerian Savanna". American Anthropologist 92:7–23
- ↑ Stone, Glenn Davis 1998 "Keeping the Home Fires Burning: The Changed Nature of Householding in the Kofyar Homeland". Human Ecology 26:239–265
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