Implication of Land Grabbing Activities on Cassava Output in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the implication of land grabbing activities on cassava output in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. The survey research design is adopted. The population comprises all the cassava farmers in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State. However, a total of 80 cassava farmers were sampled using
purposive sampling technique in order to ensure that it is only the real owners of the dispossessed lands were used in the study given the nature of land ownership in the study area. Descriptive statistics and simple regression models were used in analyzing the data. Results show 49 years as the mean age of the respondents and their households’ size was 5 persons and 51.2% of the respondents were male. From the result of the simple regression analysis, it was discovered that total land size of 19.49ha in hectares (-3.930769) was statistically negative in influencing the 5125kg output of cassava, produced in the study area. It was discovered that the lands were
mainly grabbed by the State government through legal means based on the Land Use Act which stated that all lands belong to the government and the farmers were not duly compensated and most of the grabbed lands were converted to built-up lands especially for recreational purposes and other constructions which had little or no direct benefits to the farmers. Lack of land security was the major constraints to the cassava farmers. It was recommended that compensatory lands be released to the farmers as well as incentives granted in order to facilitate improvements in cassava production in the area.