Land Holding Rights of Fulani Pastoralists and its Effect on their Agropastoral Production System in Ogun State, Nigeria

The study focuses on land holding rights of the Fulani pastoralists and its effect on their agropastoral production system. It was discovered that among the land holding rights options available for land users in Yoruba communities where the Fulanis are settled, leasehold right was the viable option for the pastoralists. The implications of this is that the Fulani pastoralists cannot use the allotted lands for viable social and economic activities such as building of modern houses, establishment of small cottage industry and cultivation of permanent or cash crops such as Oil palm, Cacao, Kola etc since they are holding the land in their custody on a temporary basis. Therefore, their economic activities were limited to production of arable crops. From the average land size of about 5 ha available to majority of the pastoralist, between 0.5 and 1 ha are used for building livestock sheds, residential housing units and storage silos. Land size of about 1ha or more are cultivated for crop production and grazing pad. The situation of the pastoralists calls for government intervention in order to ensure that they have access to secured land rights. This is essential as it will make it possible for the pastoralists to become empowered to use allotted land for viable economic activities that would enhance their living status and meaningfully impact on the economy and development of their areas of settlement.