Relative Significance of the Physical Environment and the 1978 Land Use Decree on Agriculture in Nigeria: The Small Holders' Plight

Abstract

"The promulgation of the Land Use Decree in 1978 is probably the most important step ever taken in transforming Nigeria's agriculture. Its aim is to revolutionise the customary land system considered as a threat to agricultural development. We examine in turn : the main concepts which, in the various régions of Nigeria and other tropical African countries alike, govern traditional land tenure; the problems set by the old system; the relations between land system and environment; the conséquences of the 1978 Decree for small holders."