Agro-diversity on a farming frontier: Kofyar smallholders on the Benue plains of central Nigeria

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Abstract
This article examines the proposition that levels of agro-diversity decline with increasing intensification of agricultural systems. Much of the literature on swidden farming highlights the great numbers of both cultivated and wild species of plants these systems incorporate, while descriptions of mechanised intensive agriculture point to the small number of species managed. The article reports on an agro-eco-system that is known for its intensity—that of the Kofyar of central Nigeria—yet which maintains high levels of diversity. The article explores more generally, the role of biodiversity in systems of smallholder agriculture and makes the case that these systems, like that of the Kofyar, foster biodiversity as part of environmental and economic sustainability even as they adapt to new agricultural conditions.