THE SPONTANEOUS FACTOR IN RURAL CHANGE: THE CASE OF YAM PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN THE ZARIA AREA OF KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

📄 Project Abstract

Specific examples from many third world countries, including Nigeria, point to a general case in which agricultural production of rural societies tends to increase under rising prices and contract under falling prices. In the case of the Zaria rural area, however, the study shows that the forces behind increased yam production in the area are (1) the efficiency of the marketing system and (2) the relative profits which the farmer earns from the cultivation and marketing of yam vis-a-vis cotton and groundnuts which are the two other commercial crops in the area. The study shows that the process of yam cultivation passed through three evolutionary stages in the study area. The first was the preliminary stage when yam cultivation was in its infancy. The second was the pre-commercial stage when yam cultivation developed only gradually. The third and final stage, the commercial stage set in about the end of the Nigerian Civil War when there seemed to have been an increase in the tempo of gr...