Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development

In the past two decades, population-environment research has focused on the hypothesis that house hold population has significant influence on agricultural land-use patterns and the health of the environment. This study is therefore aimed at providing land use planners in Nigeria with basic data and information that will be useful in identifying the prospects for and constraints to intensive cultivation systems in Obagaji area. The simple random sampling technique, using the table of random digits and availability sampling method were respectively employed to select settlements and farmers for investigations. Structured interview was utilized to generate data for the study. In order to capture the inputs to land in the study area, the level of agricultural land-use intensity was measured, using three surrogates, namely, proportion of farmland cultivated, frequency of cultivation and crop combination level. The study results showed that Obagaji area is a mixed cropping region where semi permanent cultivation with rotational bush fallow system dominates the existing cultivation systems. The characteristic features of agricultural practices in households with low number of family members in the area are: more extensive land-use systems, more of shifting elements than permanent cultivation, only very small proportion of land is under cultivation at any one time and very short cropping period on the field. The reverse is true for households with high number of family members. The direct variation in intensity of agricultural land use with regards to family size in the area is significant