ANALYSIS OF LAND USE CHANGE AND ITS EFFECT ON ARABLE CROP PRODUCTION IN SOUTH WEST, NIGERIA

This study analysed land use change and its effect on arable crop production in South West, Nigeria. Primary data used for this study were collected from 180 arable crop farmers in the study area. The analytical techniques that were used include descriptive statistics; multiple regression analysis and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). It was revealed that the average age of the arable crop farmers was about 5510.29. Majority of the respondents are males and are married, with an average household size of about 7 persons. The average farm size was 1.85ha, while the average years of farming experience was about 12 years. The study concluded that although agricultural purpose remained the predominant purpose of land use in the study area, the total land area previously allocated for agricultural purposes suffered the greatest reduction from all identified land use purposes in the study area. Scale of production, fulltime farming and farm income are the identified factors that reduce the conversion of arable land into non-agricultural uses, while population density, land ownership type, land sales right, land lease right and non-farm income were the factors that significantly increase the conversion of arable land into non-agricultural uses in the study area. It was also concluded that increase in arable land is positively correlated with increase in total arable crop production in the study area. This study, however, recommended that practices that promotes the efficient and optimum use of land for agricultural purposes such commercial arable crop production should be encouraged among the people of the study area; and that relevant government agencies saddled with the regulation of land use in Nigeria, through the proper implementation of the country’s land use act, should protect the fertile arable lands that are devoted to agricultural production and ensure that they are not converted to other non-agricultural purposes.