(a) Explain any four reasons why small-scale farmers dominate agricultural production in your country (b) Suggest any two measures that can be taken to enco...

(a) Four reasons why small-scale farmers dominate agriculture in Nigeria.

• Shortage of capital: most farmers are poor and cannot raise the large funds needed to buy machinery, inputs and large tracts of land, so they farm small plots.
• Land tenure system: communal and inheritance-based land ownership fragments land into small, scattered holdings that cannot support large-scale farming.
• Use of crude/traditional implements: reliance on the hoe and cutlass and family labour limits the area one farmer can cultivate.
• Lack of access to credit and modern inputs: difficulty in obtaining loans, improved seeds, fertiliser and extension services keeps farms small.
• Poor infrastructure and storage: bad roads and lack of storage discourage producing large surpluses.
• Illiteracy and low level of technical knowledge among many farmers.

(b) Two measures to encourage large-scale farming.

• Provision of agricultural credit and subsidies: government and banks should grant cheap loans and subsidise inputs so farmers can expand.
• Land reform: reform the land tenure system to make large blocks of land available and secure for commercial farming.
• Provision of mechanisation and infrastructure: supply tractors, irrigation, good roads and storage, plus extension education and guaranteed prices.

Examination reminder: in (a) explain why farms stay small (capital, land tenure, tools), and in (b) give measures that directly remove those constraints.