Abstract
In order to understand the indigenous methods of land evaluation, to comprehend the underlying factors of this evaluation and determine the farmers' strategies of land management, a study was conducted in the Yoruba speaking area of Kwara State, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty-five farmers were interacted with through interviewing and participant observation techniques. The study reveals that the Yoruba speaking farmers of Kwara State evaluate their land for agricultural purposes based on soil characteristics and other land factors such as slope and vegetal cover. In other words, soil classification is taken for land evaluation. Thus, in classifying their soils of the area, colour, stoniness, water content, fertility, slope and acidity are the major criteria used by the farmers. The soil characteristics were combined with the agronomic requirements of each crop, to determine the suitability of the land for a particular crop. The study also identifies the determinants and limitations of these criteria.
