ACCESS TO LAND, QUALITY OF LIFE AND EMIGRATION ON THE MAMBILLA PLATEAU, TARABA STATE NIGERIA

¹Ibrahim umar; ²Mahmood H. Umar and ³Umar M. Adamu

¹Department of Crop Protection, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria

²Department of Agric Education, Federal College of Education, Yola, Nigeria

³Department of Agricultural Extention, Adamawa State University, Mubi, Nigeria

ABSTRACT 

This study was carried out to assess how access to land affects quality of life on the Mambilla plateau.  Data were collected using the questionnaire, interview and personal observations. A proportionality factor was used in selecting ninety (90) villages out of 227 villages of the study area and 500 farmers were selected from these villages using stratified random sampling. Among the findings is that farmers have inadequate access to farm land and that they are no equal access to land on the Mambilla plateau by the farmers. The crop producers have less access to land than the animal rearers. Zember and Tukur (2005) stated that an estimated total land area of about 83.6% and 8.3% are devoted to range land and crop cultivation respectively on the Mambilla plateau. Poor agricultural practices by the farmers has subjected the fragmented land to continuous cropping and over grazing leading to loss of nutrient and erosion for low yield. The average family size of the farmers is 7 persons in a family with an average annual income of N250000 meaning that most of the farmers are living on less than a dollar per day. The findings also show that there is positive correlation between annual income of the farmers and their farm size and those farmers are poor as a result of in-adequate access to land. The above factor is partly responsible for conflict and migration on the plateau. Recommendations on how to overcome these challenges are proffered.