Land Market In Rural Abia State And Implication For Agricultural Development: A Case Study.

ABSTRACT

The demand for land is a derived demand. Land is demanded not for its direct consumption, but because it provides a means to an end. The supply of land resources is hmjte(l as nature's free gift. Factors such as topography, drainage, soil fertility and fixed location exert limitation on the supply of agricultural land. Land in Sub-saharan Africa is said to be corporately owned. very member of the community, clan or family has usufructory rights to the communal land. The traditional land tenure system prohibits an individual the I t'anslbi ab1ity, kRy or sale of rural land rights. [n Nigeria, according to Agboola (1979), methods of land ownership are generally rooted in traditional institutions. For this reason, they constitute one af the most fundamental lninan factors affecting agricultural development in he area. in South eastern Nigeria especially in Abia State, ownership of land controlled by the fiilies in which the elders decide on the allocation or ;haring of land a o'st the family members. Family land in the area is associated with i alerit:mce and fragmentation of land holdings.