Population and Agriculture in the Sokoto Rima Basin of North-West Nigeria : A Study of Political Intervention, Adaptation and Change, 1800-1980.

Abstract

K. Swindell — Population et agriculture dans le bassin Sokoto-Rima (nord-ouest du Nigeria) : étude de l'intervention politique, de l'adaptation et du changement, 1800-iq8o. En dépit d'une pluviosité médiocre et irrégulière, cette zone s'avère être, depuis le début du xixe siècle, une des plus intensément cultivées en Afrique tropicale. Son développement débute avec l'installation à Sokoto, après le jihâd peul, du centre administratif du califat. L'intensification de l'agriculture résulte de la disponibilité d'une main-d'œuvre importante (libre ou servile), de l'utilisation de gadoues et de fumier, et d'une demande urbaine croissante de produits vivriers. Aujourd'hui comme hier, les cultivateurs pallient l'irrégularité des précipitations par un large éventail de techniques culturales, l'exploitation complémentaire des zones inondées comme exondées, et l'irrigation en saison sèche. Pendant la période coloniale, la région est devenue économiquement périphérique par rapport au développement des cultures de rente dans le Sud-Est, pour lesquelles elle a fourni une main-d'œuvre abondante. Depuis l'indépendance, on a entrepris d'améliorer l'agriculture grâce à des plans d'irrigation à grande échelle dont la réalisation devrait modifier l'écologie agricole du bassin Sokoto-Rima.

Appraisal of Groundwater Potential of Fadama Areas within Northern Nigeria: A Review

“…In the northwest, the Sokoto Rima basin is ecologically one of the most marginal regions for agriculture in Nigeria due to its irregular rainfall distribution. It is divided into 3 physiographic regions according to Swindell (1986).…”

“…The irrigated floodplains (Fadama) are formed by the deposition of transported weathered exogenic terrigenous materials derived from the surrounding basement rocks. They are mostly of local occurrence except along the courses of major rivers like Rima in the Northwest and the Hadejia Jama'are to the northeastern part of the country Swindell (1986). Fadama is not only important for their irrigation potentials but also as a major source of freshwater for domestic consumption, livestock grazing and watering in sub-Saharan Africa .…”

Slaves: inequality and sustainable agriculture in pre- colonial West Africa

“…Barth travelled in the 1850s through intensively cultivated fields of millet, sorghum, cotton and indigo (Barth 1859). From later evidence we know that manuring, stubble grazing, intercropping, ridging and irrigation were part of the system (Raynaut 1989;Swindell 1986;Swindell & Iliya 1989). Kenneth Swindell has argued that the "creation of an intensively cultivated area around the town of Sokoto bears a close relationship to the large inputs of labour in the 19 th century and its control through a centralized hierarchical political system rooted in the precepts of Islam" (Swindell 1986:88).…”

Re-evaluation of Shallow Floodplain Aquifers Groundwater Potentials and Storage of Sokoto Basin, Northwestern Nigeria

“…The area of study constitutes about 280,000 hectares of the Fadama land / Floodplains. Fadama and Floodplains Agriculture is being practiced throughout the dry season, Fadama land may be cultivated almost continuously, as rice can be grown in the wet season and followed by variety of dry season crops which rely on accumulated soil moisture or irrigation, [1]. Declining rainfall in the semi-arid northern Nigeria has put most floodplain located in this zone under pressure from several sources [3,4].…”

“…Fadama is any low-lying land which is subject to seasonal flooding or waterlogging, including the floodplains of rivers and streams which has been inundated together with seasonal pools and depressions where land is moistened due to the rise in the water table, [1]. The total irrigation potentials of Nigeria is put at 2.0 million hectares, out of this figure the Fadama lands of northern Nigeria occupied about 0.94 million hectares, [2].…”