Erosion Control and Food Security: Analyzing Variations in Livelihood Mobility of Rural Populations in Southeastern Nigeria.

Abstract

The role of indigenous knowledge in mitigating on erosion and food insecurity of the southeastern Nigeria has widely been influenced by disparities in micro mobilities of rural households. This has dissipated the availability of manpower for effective mitigation on erosion menace. The objectives of this study was to assess how the various aspects of indigenous knowledge in erosion control have affected variations in livelihood mobility and food security of rural population in South-Eastern Nigeria. The data for the study originated mainly from farming households in the study area through a mixed method embedded in an ethnographic survey. The study utilized the multi-stage sampling technique to sample three states of the south-eastern Nigeria vulnerable to erosion menace. Both structured questionnaire survey and qualitative focus group discussion methods were applied to collect the necessary information from 315 farm households. The received data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the content analysis. Findings from the study indicate that the indigenous erosion control networks have significantly declined owing to the discord between the communities’ capacities and the erosion control agencies. Furthermore, the data shows that the manpower capacities of the young generation are constantly disconnected and insufficient to promote sustainable erosion control. This clearly undermines sustainable subsistence food production and resilient erosion control capacities of communities in the South eastern part of Nigeria. The study recommends that youth participation in farming and environmental conservation should be encouraged by communities as a livelihood for the young generation. This can go a long way to advance as well as revitalize indigenous erosion control practices for soil and food output.