Population Pressure and Crop Rotational Changes Among the Tiv of Nigeria

Shifting agriculture and the carrying capacity of the land are critically important in developing tropical areas. Signs of breakdown in shifting agricultural systems, such as decreasing crop yield and soil fertility, have long been recognized. Among the Tiv another indication of breakdown is manifest when proved cropping sequences are deliberately altered. The first dot map of Tiv population depicts high densities in the south-central part of the division, and the annual rate of increase of population among the Tiv is calculated at a little more than three percent. The areas of high population density display evidence of a degraded environment, and in these same areas a new crop rotational sequence has evolved. This altered cropping pattern, known as “bugh bu,”appears to be the result of the carrying capacity of the land being exceeded; it is found in areas with population densities of about 400 per square mile (154.4 per square kilometer).