Agricultural land use patterns and their relative gross margins in the north-west zone of Nigeria

This study aimed at providing information on the land use practices of farmers and the associated gross margins of different farm production systems in the North-West Zone (NWZ) of Nigeria. Two States in the NWZ were surveyed, namely, Kano and Katsina. Two Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) zones were purposively selected in each of the two States. In Kano State, Rano and Danbatta zones were selected, while in Katsina State, Funtua and Ajiwa zones were selected. The results of the survey showed that agricultural land was used by farmers for cropping purposes and extensive livestock activities. The cropland base was devoted to sole-and mixed cropping activities, with the latter predominating. Sorghum-based mixtures dominated in Rano zone, maize-based mixtures in Funtua zone and millet-based mixtures in Danbatta and Ajiwa zones. The results also indicated that gross margins computed on a per hectare basis were higher for two-crop production systems than sole-crop and three-crop enterprises in the study area. Global Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 6 (1) 2007: pp. 19-3