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• < UNITED RATIONS
AF ICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECOlJOFIC
• ~ DEVELOPMENT AHD PLAHIHNG D A K A R
COURSE ON NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT .AlTD
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PLANNING
A?:El LAND USE PLANNING
Mr. ~.A. OKVTUOSA
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ID~P/~T/CS/2122-19
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DECEJ'.lBJ!R 1968
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A.
AGRICULTURE AND LAND USE PLAID~ING
IDEpVETjCS/2122-19 Page 1.
Peculiar characteristics of the Agricultural Sector
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Africa.1. Agriculture being man's primary 0ccupation9 prod~ction is characterized by relatively primitive techniques and very limited use of capital equipment, whereas production in non-
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agricultural sectors is characterised by modern techniques • and intensive use of capitql.
Agriculture is based on land the right of use of lhich is diffused. It is thus the 11self-employment11 sector and a receptacle for unemployed labour the marginal product being estimated at zero in sorne cases. ·In non-agricul tfxal sectors, on the other hand9 ownership is concentrated in few hands and employment is limited. Production is characterized by hiring of wage-labour for profit-making purposes with the tendency to offer employment up to the point where marginal product is equal to the prevailing wage-rate.
3~-. Entrepreneurship is diffused and uninformed whereas in the non-agricultural sectors management is concentrated and usually well-informed and consequently renot very readily to measures tha t increase production and pro fi ts.J
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Agricultural production is biological which means that there can be little control over the level of production which is seasonal and fluctua tes 1-ridely from year to year wi th weather9 the incidence of diseases and pests9 etc. whereas production in non-agricultural sectors is technical and levels of production are easily controlled.·-1 ·-~ ·-·--. -. -
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ID~/ET/CS/2122-19 Page 2.
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The most important factor of proiuction in agriculture, namely9 land, bas characteristics that vary from place to place wbereas in n on-agri cul tu.~él~. ~~-~~? r~.2..-_q.§l-.] }.~ÇhJo_: .WLJ,;i.,;QJUF'n~t.s-.ar e hom ogen ous and their cbaracteristics wall known. . . _,_···---~-~~·---~~-.:·---~-·:..~. _ .... ~.. ., '., ___ ...... .:.. ··•~.-r·· ~-··r·_ .... ..,-._.
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The biggest demand for food products come from the p~9duce*s. .
thèmselves witb their. dema~d and, therefore9 tbe supply of food
'products .partially insulated from changes in priee whereas in
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the non-agricultural sectors producers' demand forrns an insig- nificant proportion of the total demand and variat~ons in priee readily affect the levels of demand.
The affects of these are that
(a) because of the low capital .content of agricultural production anQ the fact thatJ as now accept~~ by many+, production can substantially be in- creased by the g.doption of othe~ .. measures. th an inves tmcnt of capital, the incremental capital-output ratio analysis caJmot sui taoly be applied to planning the agricultural sector.
(b) the biological· na ture of a·gricul ture coupl.ed wi th the variabili ty in land characteristics and the diffused nature ahd ignorance of the pro- ducers makes it virtually impossible to make realistic estimates of input- output ratios and response coefficients and, therefore9 oflevels ·of produc-
tion~ ,,
(c) the subsistance nature of pro~uction makes it difficult to estiruate farm incarnes and income E?lasticity of·demand and9 therefore, tGtal demand for food pr()ducts and9 since output (supvly) cannat be realistically estir:Ja- ted, planning i'or a balance bet-v;reen s:upply and demand is unrealistic.
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All these suggest that9 besid.es its other short-comings, the present apprQach to economie development planning is unsuitable for plani'ling agricul tural development in Africa. A different appro-~cb is desi.rable.
+ Quotations from Dumont, Stolper and Jacoby (FAO)
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B. Lg.nd Use Plauning (i),Land Use Survey
IDEP/ET/CS/2122-19 Page 3.
Agricultural land use planning is concerned with the allocation of land resources for various agricultural purposes. Land use urvey needs to precede land use planning.
Stratified multi-stage land atilization sample survey can provide sufficient information on which planning can be based.
Land use is classified into : (a) Arable land, sub-classified into
(i) land under temporary crops, (ii) temporary pastures and meadows,
(iii) land under market and kitchen gardens (iv) ·land temporarily fallow,
(v) all otber land;
(b) Land under permanent (or tree) crops;
(c) Permanent pastures and meadows, sub-classified into (i) cultivated pastures and meadows,
(ii) uncultivated pastures and meadows;
(d) Woods or forest land, sub-classified into (i) forest plantation,
(ii) natural woods or forest;
(e) All other land, sub-classified into (i) unutilized land,
(ii) all other land.
Difficulty arises witb regard to differentiation between temporary and permanent pastures and meadows and between land tempotarily ~nd p-er- manently (woodland and unutilized land) fallow. FAO adopts five years as 'eut-off' period. This appears too short since fallow cycle in most countries of Africa is greater tban five years. Consequent anomaly in land utilization classification in Nige~ia were sone
80%
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IDEP/ET/CS/21?2-19 Page
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in Eastern Nigeria where rotational cycle bas decreased·to·--4:-..i:~·&-y"êars'·~ias classified as arable land while sorne
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of all land in No_rthe_rn_ l!J,igeria where rotational period is still up to7 - 9
years was classified as forestor waste land.. 1Cut-off1 period of eight years will appear more appropriate.
Land use survey does not provide adequate basis for planning. Land resource survey or assessment is also necessary. This includes assembly of data on climate soil characteristics, drainage and irrigation potentials.
The land is then classified according to its ecological, soil and climatic characteristics.
(ii) Principles of land use planning
The best principle of land use planning is to allocate land for the production for which it is best suited. This can be determined with outpu~
input analysis. In this regard, this analysis is useful since the principle of ceteris paribus will properly apply, production technique and priee
relationships between products being assumed constant. This principle ensures maximisation of gross national proJuct. It will, however. take many years to complete the analysis for the whole country and even then the information will not be suitable for long-term planning since crop yields (output) vary with
input mix and production techniques which will be expected to change
with time. The output-input analysis will, therefore, need to be on a con- tinuing basis. In the developing countries of Africa this will entail much expenditure of man-power and capital wbich are scarce.
An alternative approach is to allocate land for agricultural purposes according to the resource potentialities. The suitability of various areas for various crops '"~ll be determined on "theoretical" basis. This ensures that land is allocated for the production for which i t is sui ted, .but not best suited. It, tberefore, does not ensure maximisation y gross national product, but it may lead to maximisation of net national produot.
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IDE?/ET/CS/2122-19 Page
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In planning land use the following need to be taken into account (a) land is privately owned in most cases, not
~ta te- owned,
(b) distribution of population was governed by historical
factors among others and farm labour is compara tivel;• immobile so that in sorne cases poorer land is being cultivated while richer land is left undeveloped or unutiliz~d,
(c) Government has no autocratie control over production and over the movement of people, and
(d) production is mainly subsistance in nature.
Consequently, perfect allocation of land for agrifultural purposes is unrealistic. The plan can provide only a guide for Government measures to persuade the peasants to change to the. type of .proJï .. ct:ion to 11 1ich a particular area is allocated. Howev;~r, .... s~ppe·,eac;h arca ·d.s·-aHoca;toù:.for
the production for which i t is sui table thereby enqlJ.ring good r..ë-turns, the peasants may respond quickl y provided good measures are adopted.
It wiil likely happen that sorne areas are suitabl~ for several crops. As far as annual crops are concerned, this will not cr ate problems. The crops could be grovm in rotation or alternately. However, with regard to forests or woodland a choice has to be made between thb several suitable purposes.
An approach will be to estimate areas for forests or woodland nnd for permanent pastures. 1-Tith regard to planning for
fores~
area, the internaldemand for forest products should be estimated. This ponsists of
(a) urban demand for bouses which depends on growth of urbanisation and wood component of building materials;
(b) rural dema.nd for bouses which depends on grouth of rural population9 increase in personal income, education and on wood component of building materials;
(c) general demand for household furniture which depends on increase in personal income, on education n.nd on incrcase in popul~ttion;
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(d) general demand for firewood which depends on increase in
·-popul~tion and on increase in income and availability of substitutes;
. ( e) the J.emand by the paper industry;
(f) industrial demand for fuel wood9 poles, sleepers packnging materials and other forest end products.
If the demand for forest products thus estirr.ated anJ. projected is moro than the supply estimated from areas sui tn,ble for useful troe-grmdh in uninhabi ted or very sparsely inhabi ted areas then output-input an.alysis .::.nd
the comparative ccst of importing the forest proJucts to meet the
deL,and h::tve ·to be applied. Actual areas to be reserved for fcrests Cém
theo be deteroined. On the otber band, if tbe demand is less than the estimated supply from uninbabited or very sparsely inhabited areas, forest areas will be determined on tbe basis of opportunity cost.
In summary, land use planning involves land resources survey and analysis, classification of areas according to their resource potentials, demarcation of areas for forests or woodland and allocation of the rest of productive land for the production for which it is most suited on the basis of its resource potentials.
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