Strategies For Involving Rural Farmers In Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation In Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Farmers lack ability conserve if the conservation efforts are poorly paid. Besides, those responsible for creating awareness opportunities for advancement, lack specialized training and have low prestige, lack sufficient equipment and managerial capacity. These ultimately affect the conservation efforts of the rural farmers.Shepherd (2002) blames the poor conservation disposition of the rural farmers on tenure and land use changes. He noted that one of the facts which emerge of recent in the conservation circle is the tremendous paucity of formal forester knowledge about the conservation offorest-based agro-resources. Set against this knowledge, one finds the imposition of European concept of property and land tenure, with disastrous effect. The most importantgap was the failure to understand the Swidden fallowing system which had used thelandscape sustainably for some years now. swidden fallowing is coming to an end and moremarginal lands are farmed with accompanying destruction of bush areas. Each householdhead now tries to spread his bets by sowing over as wide and varied an area as possible withthe result that conservation practices such as manuring, intensive sowing and weeding,planned fallowing and water conservation, have been replaced by quick easy farming(Thompson, Feeny, and Oakerson, 2006).Indirectly related to this is the land use changes relating to economic change and the loss ofauthority of elders in the traditional farming community. Thompson el al (2006) noted thatthe introduction of plantation crops such as oil palm, cocoa and rubber as major economiccrops has a negative effect on other many areas with attendant loss of agro-ecosystem andagrobiodiversity. He also said that in some local communities the authorities of the clanelders who were originally solely responsible for livestock and agro-resource management, isbeing eroded by modern education for the young and the promulgation of Land Use Acts bythe government. Pointing out the effect of this on conservation effort, he said that, theStrategies for Involving Rural Farmers in Agricultural BiodiversityConservation in Akwa Ibom State, NigeriaCamilus Bassey Ben106weakened position of the elders makes the conservation of agro-resources through theinstitution of sacred groves no longer tenable.Another factor which has tremendous adverse influence on the ability of the rural farmer’sconservation is unattended population growth. Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team(NEST), (2001) rightly argued that a finite world can support only a finite population. Under agiven socio-economic system and technology, there is an upper limit to the number of peoplewhich land area can support. As long as the number of people is below this critical value theirdemand for agricultural land, grazing land and food at least in theory can be met without theenvironment being degraded or destroyed by population pressure, However, if the criticalpopulation density is exceeded, these human demands translate into excessive pressure onthe land and agro-resource, The partnership between population and the environmentbecomes endangered and may break down as problems of deforestation and loss ofagrobiodiversity Once the population sinks into a miserable state, what was once aharmonious and happy partnership between people and environment can easily become avicious cycle in which environmental degradation makes people desperately poor. Povertyforces people to over-exploit the available agro-resources with disregard to conservation.Population pressure seems to have led to the shortening of fallow periods under the shiftingcultivation, In its traditional form, shifting cultivation is known for a rich source of cropdiversity (BOSTID, 2002) In Nigeria, the whole cycle has less than halved in length and thefallow period is less than a third of what it was (NEST, 2002). The tendency is for thefallowing system to shrink in the end to the point where it is replaced by, crop rotation andmonocropping. In these systems conservation practices are often replaced by quick easyfarming (Thompson, Fenny, & Oakerson , 2006).One of the constraints to the conservation of agrobiodiversity by rural farmers is lack ofeducation. Nigeian Conservation Foundation (NCF), (2005) pointed out that tacklingenvironmental problems (loss of agrobiodiversity inclusive), requires action mostly fromenvironmental education, Noibi (2002) noted that a person’s level of ignorance of theenvironment can be said to be positively related to the degree of damage to theenvironment. He exemplified this by relating a case of farmers who over-graze their land orsubstitute chemical fertilizer for organic manure and pesticides for biological means of pestcontrol without bothering about the implications of that action on land and agrobiodiversity,It could therefore, be inferred that lack of environmental education among the farmers is thesingle greatest contributor that constraints the conservation of agricultural biodiversity byrural farmers. Education can impart knowledge and determination necessary to resolve agiven set of environmental problems.The social and perceptual factors also influence the conservation attitude of the ruralfarmers. According to Kellert (2008), the development of compelling rational and effectivestrategy for protecting endangered agro-species will require an increasing recognition thatJournal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Volume 2, December 2010107most contemporary extinction problems are largely the result of socio-economic and politicalforces. Norton (2008) pointed out that only a small minority of people possess much concernor empathy for the plight of endangered agro-species. Kellen (2008) while reflecting this viewnoted “the study of vanishing biodiversity is necessarily the study of man’s perception ofanimals and plants. What we fear, what we hope and what we admire in animals/plants willinevitably determine their fate. Agro-species are there but most of them figure as villain inour myths”.As Norton intimates, agro-species are viewed somewhat more positively when they possesssome aesthetic and utilitarian values. Human benefit factors include animal capacity toprovide food, clothing, recreation and companionship. Ecological factors include species rarityand its contribution to diversity and ecological balance. Important psychological factorsinclude the animal’s species aesthetic characteristics, spiritual and religious associations,habituating capacity and behavioural plasticity. These factors and values outline theperceptual categories rural farmers typically employ in deciding which species are worthy ofpreservation.Another factor affecting conservation by rural farmers borders on the conservation policiesoperating in the country. NEST (2008) pointed out that one of the biggest bio-resourcesmanagement problem is the absence of well coordinated rational policies and legislationoperating in the country, but such policies have often been implemented without reallyconsidering local socio-economic issues. Also conservation policies tend to be largely“western” in outlook and having been designed and possibly managed by governmentofficials can be poorly adapted to meet vital local needs (Barrow, 2008) He pointed outthat conservation can involve a range of different interests such as central government,state/local government, local farmers, and conservation group/development staff and theremay be conflict of interest between them. He concluded that developing conservation policieswithout taking the needs and demands of these different group’s will tend to end in difficulty.Constraints to the conservation of agrobiodiversity by rural farmers are also associated withculture and religious beliefs. NEST submits that because of the closer relationship betweenculture and the environment, any campaign for environmental awareness and conservationmust take on a new cultural time, calling for new ways of life and a new orientation. Duringpre-colonial times, religious beliefs and practices played important roles in the conservationespecially agrobiodiversity. Sacred grooves and sacred animals were not exploited by peopleand so they remained in their pristine state. However, with the institution of colonialgovernment and the spread of western values and culture, our traditional methods ofconservation gradually disappeared and sacred forests became hunting ground (NEST, 2001).On the adverse effects of religious influence on traditional conservation practices, varioustraditional farmers have developed over the centuries, effective method of using theenvironment sustainably. These included the setting aside of land for religious and otherStrategies for Involving Rural Farmers in Agricultural BiodiversityConservation in Akwa Ibom State, NigeriaCamilus Bassey
CHAPTER ONE INTROUCTION The conservation of biodiversity is one aspect of environment, which has recently receivedglobal attention. Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability among living organisms andthe ecological complexes in which they occur (Board on Science and Technology forInternational Development (BOSTID), 2002. It is a term used to describe the degree ofnature’s variety including both the number and frequency of ecosystems, species or genes ina given assemblage. It is essentially synonymous with life on the earth. It is usuallyJournal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Volume 2, December 2010© 2010 Cenresin Publicationswww.cenresin.org103considered at three different levels: genetic diversity, specie diversity and ecosystemdiversity. Genetic diversity is the sum total of genetic characteristics of individual plants,animals and other living organisms inhabiting the earth. Such characteristics may includerapid growth, high yields, diseases and pests resistance, and environmental adaptation.Specie diversity refers to the variety of living organisms on earth, while ecosystem diversityrefers to the variety of habitats, biotic communities and ecological processes in the biosphereas well as the tremendous diversity within ecosystems in terms of habitat differences and thevariety of ecological processes.The concept of agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity as it is sometimes referred couldbe identified within a macro concept of biodiversity. Agricultural biodiversity is restricted toplants and animals used in commerce or having potential use (Srivastava, Smith and Ferno,2001). It is the diversity of genetic resources (varieties, breeds, species, cultivated, reared orwild) used directly for food and agriculture; the diversity of species that support production(soil biota, pollinators, predators, etc.) and those in the wider environment that supportagroecosystems (agricultural, pastoral. forest and aquatic), as well as the diversity ofagroecosystems themselves (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2008) .Agroecosystems arethose ecosystems that are used for agriculture, and comprise polycultures, monocultures andmixed systems including crop-livestock systems (rice-fish), agroforestry agrosilvo pastoralsystems, aquaculture as well as rangelands, pastures and fallow lands (Pimbert, 2009).