FARMING SYSTEMS (Contd)
iii. Pastoral Farming : Pastoral farming essentially means the rearing or grazing of livestock, particularly cattle, sheep and goats.
Types of Pastoral Farming
There are three types of pastoral farming, namely, *Nomadic herding, *Ley farming and *Ranching.
- Nomadic herding: this is practised by the Fulani tribe of Northern Nigeria. It involves the moving of the herdsmen, known as *nomads, with their animals, usually cattle, from one place to another in search of greener pasture and water.
Advantages of Nomadic Herding
- Ensures constant food supply for the animals without the farmer laboring to establish the pastures.
- Varieties of palatable pastures are made available for the animals as they move from place to pppplplpla
Disadvantages of Nomadic Herding
- High incidence of pests and diseases since there are no special effort by the farmer to control them
- Uncontrolled breeding, leading to the production of poor quality animals
- Animals and herdsmen are often exposed to wild animals and thieves
- Animals may sometimes go out of control, destroying crops in the farm
- Ranching : this involves rearing the animals on a large expanse of land. A typical example in Nigeria is the Obudu Cattle RaRanch.
Advantages of Ranching
- Animals are better managed and protected from pests, diseases and thieves
- Pasture is available for the animals the year round
- Animals are more productive
Disadvantages of Ranching
- It is capital intensive
- Requires large area of land
- Requires trained personnel to manage the ranch
- Ley Farming : this combines pasture with crop production. After the pasture has been grown for about four years, it is tilled and used to cultivate crcro. It is otherwise referred to as *rotational pasture.
Advantages of Ley Farming
- Animal droppings serve as manure to the crops
- Crop residues are used for feeding animals
Disadvantages of Ley Farming
- High cost of fencing
- Destruction of soil structure and erosion may arise dub to over-grazing
Factors Affecting the Adoption of a Farming System
- Land Tenure System : excessive fragmentation of land will limit usage, restricting the farmer’s to small scale farming in order to maximize use of land.
- Environmental Factors: these include soil factors and climatic factors; they together determine the type of crops to be grown in an area.
- Social Factors: people’s taste, tradition and religion also determine the type of crops and animals produced in the area.
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