CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Despite her plentiful resources and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in Nigeria. The situation has worsened since the late 1990s, to the extent that the country is now considered the 20th poorest country in the world (IFAD, 2000). Feeding the rapidly growing population of Africa and Nigeria in particular has become a major development concern (FAO, 1990). Over 70% of Nigeria population is classified as poor, with 35% living in absolute poverty (IFAD, 2000). Poverty is especially severe in rural areas where social services and infrastructure are limited, with unstable income being a primary factor militating against their welfare (Enete and Achike, 2008). The great majority of those who live in rural areas are poor and depend on agriculture for food and income.
To meet the food and raw material demand of the growing population, agriculture must be approached on a sustainable basis (FAO, 2003). Sustainable development according to the Bruntland Commission is development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). The struggle for food supply to catch up with massive population growth which is in a geometric pattern requires a consistently adequate level of soil fertility achieved in a sustainable way (Heckman, 2005 ).
Soil fertility, an element of natural capital, is key to the livelihood of the majority of the rural population of sub Saharan Africa who depend on agriculture as a central element in their livelihood strategy (Mangala, 2005). As agricultural production is the main source of economic activity in Nigeria, declining soil productivity means not only less food crops is grown but also that production of cash crops and income are endangered (FAO, 2001). The rural poor are often trapped in vicious cycle of poverty between land degradation fuelled by the lack of relevant knowledge of appropriate technology to generate adequate income and opportunities to overcome land degradation (FAO, 2000; Ojameruage, 2004).
Low organic matter coupled with low native nutrient status in most arable soil of Africa is responsible for low productivity and unsustainable production base (Fakoye, 2007). One of the most well known practices to recover and maintain the soil productivity is to add organic amendments (Westerman and Bicudo, 2003). Organic manure plays an invaluable role in rectifying land degradation and enhancing productivity thus achieving farm household food security, income and agricultural development (IFDC, 2007; Alimi, 2002).
As the population increases and puts pressure on diminishing resource, escalating environmental problems further threatens food production (IFAD, 2000). Increasing population pressure on the country has contributed to land degradation constraint leading to reduced size of land holding and consequently to reduced or zero fallow periods (Corsini, 1991). This has led to concerns over the long-term sustainability of agriculture. The reduced ability to use traditional soil fertility management practices such as fallow and crop rotation to restore soil fertility limit farmers’ productivity (Lal and Stewart, 1990; Dewitt, 2002).
Organic manure remains the major natural and sustainable means of rectifying soil fertility.
Biodegradable waste if well managed could be of immense help in ameliorating soil nutrient problem.
The extent to which agriculture can absorb municipal solid waste and contribute to poverty reduction, increased food security is still lacking among policy makers (Mkwabisi, 2005). The implication is that the financial costs associated with waste management are ‘ directly linked to food insecurity and soil fertility problems (Cave, 2001). Adeniyi (2008), attributed this to poor waste management, as plants nutrients that can be used for crop production, forestry programmes, landscaping, land restoration, soil improvement or animal feed are delivered to dumping sites.
One important consideration in dealing with wastes is to treat it as an important resource (Mercado, 2006). With the unlimited and available sources of biodegradable waste from metropolitan cities coupled with the unstoppable rise in prices of fossil-based fertilizers, organic manure production from municipal solid waste becomes a promising enterprise (Aganon, Roxas, and Dacumos, 1999) in (Mercado, 2006). By converting biodegradable waste to organic manure for crop production, a lot would have been saved to our foreign reserves due to reduction in fertilizer importation (Aganon et el., 1999) in Mercado 2006.
