Aims: This paper assesses the population pressure on land resources in Nigeria: The past and projected outcome. Study Design: 1967 to 2068 time series data were used. The data sets were resorted to due to lack of complete national data. Place and Duration of Study: Past (1967-2017) and projected (2018-2068) five decades in Nigeria. Methodology: The time series data were obtained from the United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, National Population Commission, International Energy Statistics and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on population levels, renewable and non renewable resources in Nigeria. Others such as transformity were adapted from Odum (1996) and Odum (2000) for specific objectives. Data collected were analyzed using modified ecological footprint/carrying capacity approach, descriptive statistics and Z-statistics. Results: Results showed that the mean annual pressure on land resources in the past five decades (1967-2017) was 9.323 hectares per capita, while the projected pressure in the next five decades (2018-2068) was 213.178 hectares per capita. Results also showed that about 73.08 percent of the pressure per capita in the past five decades emanated from arable land consumption (6.813ha), while 75.91percent of the pressure is expected to emanate from fossil land in the next projected five decades due to crude oil and mineral resource exploration and exploitation. The carrying capacity of land resources in the past five decades was 6.4091 hectares per capita, while that of the projected five decades was 1.667 hectares per capita, an indication of ecological overshoot in both periods. Conclusion: Population pressures on land resources per capita in the past and projected five decades are higher than the carrying capacity of these resources in the country. Citizens lived and are expected to live unsustainably by depleting and degrading available land resources. Arable land consumption is the major contributor to the total pressure on land resources in the past five decades, while the consumption of fossil land due to exploration and exploitation of crude oil and mineral resources is expected to contribute majorly to the total pressure on land resources in the next five decades. Limiting affluence (per capita consumption of resources) and improving technology will not only ensure sustainable use of arable and fossil lands but place consumption within the limits of these resources for a sustainable future.

Aims: To examine the income diversification activities and sustainable land management practices among rural cassava-based farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. Study Design: Primary data collection. Place and Duration of Study: Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Pre-requisite study, Post-Graduation in Agricultural Resource and Environmental Economics, between August 2017 and January 2018. Methodology: Data were collected using well-structured questionnaire, administered to rural cassava-based farmers. Multi-stage and purposive sampling techniques were employed, and one hundred and twenty (120) farmers were randomly selected for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Sustainable Land Management Index, Probit model and Inverse Herfindahl–Hirschman Diversity Index. The sustainable land management index (SLMI) was constructed from twelve (12) different sustainable land management indicators based on the sustainable practices prevalent in the study area. Results: Results showed that cassava-based production was dominated by female farmers (63.33%) with mean age of 46, married (70.00%) with mean household size of 6 persons. The Inverse Herfindahl-Hirschman Diversity (IHHD) results showed that 87.50% of rural cassava-based farmers diversified their income base into other income-generating activities namely, off-farm and/or non-farm activities. The mean naira value for on-farm income was N 130,646.2k, while that of off-farm and non-farm were N 20,554.17k and N 78,333.33k, respectively. Cassava-based farmers diversified mostly into non-farm activities together with their on-farm activities, with a mean annual income (in naira) of N244,333.60k. The probit analysis showed that off-farm and non-farm activities have positive and significant effects on sustainable land management practices. The off-farm and non-farm activities encouraged the rural cassava-based farmers to adapt sustainable land management practices. However, doubling farmer’s engagement to off-farm activities (off-farm2) had a negative effect on sustainable land management, indicating that doubling their engagement to off-farm activities empowers farmers to adapt unsustainable labour-saving practices such over use of agrochemicals (herbicides, inorganic fertilizers and insecticides), due to drudgery and exhaustion as they allocate more of their labour services to another farmer’s farm. Conclusion: In order to improve the adoption and adaption of sustainable land management practices, and reduce the drudgery in cassava production as farmers diversify more into off-farm activities, sustainable labour-saving technologies and practices such as conservation tillage and simple tools that reduce labour requirement in cassava production, save time and energy, were recommended. More lands should be allocated to cassava farmers, as farm land diversity will facilitate the adoption and adaption of sustainable land management practices such as fallowing and crop rotation that increase productivity by replacing fallow periods with growing different crops that replenish soil nutrients.

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Aims: This study assessed the demographic transition in the past and projected five decades in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1967-2068: Empirical evidence from Nigeria. Study Design: Past and projected time series data (between 1967 and 2068) were used for the study. The 1967-2068 data sets were resorted to due to lack of complete national data. Place and Duration of Study: Past (between 1967 and 2017) and projected (between 2018 and 2068) five decades in Nigeria. Methodology: The time series data (1967 to 2068) obtained from the 1950-2099 Interpolated Demographic Data of the United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, on Births, Deaths and Population levels, were used for the study. The 1967-2068 data sets were resorted to due to lack of complete national data. Data collected were analyzed using birth and death rate indices, demographic transition index, growth rate equation and granger causality statistics. Unit root, co-integration and error correction tests were also carried out. Results: Results showed that in the past five decades (1967-2017), the mean crude birth and death rates per 1,000 populations were 43.9 and 18.0 respectively; while that of the projected five decades (2018-2068) was 28.9 and 7.9 respectively per 1000 populations. The demographic indices showed that in the past five decades (between 1967 and 2017), Nigeria was at the second stage (stage II) of demographic transition and expected to remain at this stage in the next five decades (between 2018 and 2068). Results also showed that the population growth rate in the past five decades was 2.584 percent, while the growth rate in the next five decades as projected was 2.098 percent. The population growth rate (2.098 percent) in the next five decades (between 2018 and 2068 as projected) is expected to decrease by an average of 0.486 percent. Results also showed that there is a mutual link between demographic transition and population growth. Conclusion: Nigeria is currently at the second stage of demographic transition and expected to remain at this stage (stage II) in the next five decades. Demographic transition increases the prediction of population growth and vice versa.