In such a vast area as West Africa, with such varying climates as those described in Chapter 2, it is not surprising that agriculture should also vary greatly from place to place.

In the country near the coast, with its heavy rainfall and short dry season, the life of the native farmer is one long fight against the rank growth of vegetation. Clearing new land covered with thick bush or forest is a laborious operation; and, when the land is cleared, an enormous amount of labour is continually required to prevent the weeds and undergrowth from encroaching on the cleared area and destroying the crop. The farms therefore tend to be small and intensively cropped, and are indeed more in the nature of gardens than farms. Mixed cropping is the general practice, and the spacing of the plants is as close as possible. Two crops of cereals can be grown every year; and other crops can be interplanted with the yam crop, the most important crop of this area. By such heavy cropping, a whole family can live without difficulty on the produce of a comparatively small piece of land. The following quite typical example will give some idea of the intensity of the cropping on native food farms in the vicinity of Ibadan, in Southern Nigeria:

1. 1st year. Bush cleared and burnt in July and late maize planted on the flat in September. Hills for yams made in November and yams planted in the same month.

2. 2nd year. Early maize planted through the yams in March, cotton planted through the yams and maize in early August, maize harvested late in August. In addition, edible beans and gourds also grown in the cotton.

3. 3rd year. Early maize with cassava planted through it.

4. 4th year. Cassava.

5. 5th year. Reverted to bush.

In the whole cycle of four years the land only received one thorough cultivation, namely when the hills were made for the yam crop. The labour of deep cultivation is reduced to a minimum, but weeding and shallow cultivation are done frequently.