Farming Practice, Settlement Pattern and Population Density in South-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

of Iboland in the Eastern Region of Nigeria.x In conclusion he pointed to the need for further research amongst the Ibo, particularly in the contrasting environments of the lowlands. The following paper represents an attempt to develop such research and is based on field work from the centres of Port Harcourt and Aba in 1954. The major part of the work is concerned with conditions in Aba Division, especially in that part of it termed Aba Ngwa County, whilst the study made in the area north of Port Harcourt, that is in Diobu District, is used to provide a comparison. The farmer of south-eastern Nigeria is essentially a hoe cultivator; his work has the character of gardening rather than farming, since it is small scale and permits individual attention to the plants grown. Since holdings are small a large number of people per unit area is possible upon farmed land with resulting high rural densities. However, the chief problem of the south-east is that in many parts the population densities are very much higher than the present system of land holding would appear to allow. Grove has already shown the problem in the Awka-Orlu uplands and the Udi Plateau. South of these the lower and more level regions, stretching down to the deltas of the Niger and Cross rivers and to the lagoons and bars of the firmer ground between, appear to be divided into two density zones characterized by Aba Division with 347 to the square mile and Ahoada, which