The Effects of Bushfires on Farming Industry Among Small-Scale Farmers in Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba District, Sierra Leone

Abstract

This study analyzed the effect of bush burning on the smallholder farming industry in Kori Chiefdom. The researchers used a structured questionnaire to obtain primary data from three hundred and eighty-four (384) farmers who were selected through a combination of multi-stage and simple random techniques. Cochran's (1977) scientific formula was adopted in selecting the sample size for this research. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The result indicates that, 56% of the respondents are male, and 59% of the farmers ages fell between 31 and 40 years. Farmers are highly affected by bush burning in 2019 and 2020, with 27.1% and 21%, respectively. Some of the crops the fire destroyed were cassava, groundnuts, pineapples, pepper, and parboiled rice. Land clearing (21.4%) was identified as the major root cause of fire outbreaks, and (34.8%) of the respondents admitted to the practice of bush burning for 1–10 years. The majority of the farmers claimed to have lost household assets valued at NLe1,000 and below, (53.2%) of the respondents accepted the fact that burning creates devastation for agricultural products. The study further showed that 60.9% of the respondents indicated that a lack of fire equipment that can help reduce the spread of fire was one of the main constraints facing their communities in controlling a wide fire outbreak. The study recommended that the town chief in those communities should enforce legislation, local laws should be made against uncontrolled bush burning. The government and international non-governmental organizations should help by providing bushfire equipment and training at the community level, which will help prevent the spread of bushfires if they occur.