Agricultural Transformation in the Savannah

Abstract

This chapter examines how farmers have adjusted their farming practices since the 1980s, especially in response to emerging land scarcities, rising wages, and changing markets. Data was collected in four representative villages in the Northern part of the country through focus group discussions and interviews, and the data was supplemented with a farm modeling analysis. It is found that farmers have successfully adapted by increasing the size of their crop areas, growing more market-oriented crops, adopting labor-saving technologies like tractors and herbicides, and by growing fewer labor-intensive crops, which collectively has allowed them to increase their farm incomes and labor productivity. But as opportunities for bringing more land into cultivation are becoming exhausted, farmers will need to shift towards more yield increasing technologies.