ABSTRACT 

Agriculture is the worlds oldest and largest industry more than one half of all the people in the world still engages themselves in flirm Owing to the size of' the industry, large effect on the environment is u navoidable. Many scholars like Daniel B. Botkin & Edward A. Keller, (1998) agree that in the production, processing and distribution of food affect the environment. These effect can be either negative or positive (Edward, et al, I 95). The effects of' agriculture on the environment are divided into three groups; local, regional and global effect. But the major concern in this study will he on the local effects. 1'lie local effects of agricultural activities on the environment normally occ'ir at or near the site of the farming activity. 'These effects are mostly erosion, loss of soils and increase in sedimentation down stream in local .rivers. (Daniel et al, 1998). Regional effects are those that generally result from the combined effects of farming practices in the same large region. Regional effects include the creation of deserts, large scale pollution, increases in sedimentation in major rivers and in the estuaries at the mouths of the rivers and changes in the fertility of soils over large areas. Global effects include climatic charges as well as potentially extensive charges in chemical cycle (Daniel Ct. al. 1998). In developed and developing countries, there is a general perception that many management practices are leading to degraded  of natural resources through soil erosion, water contamination, deforestation, desertification and loss of productivity (Dover, et al, 1987). This trend is most evident in the tropics. (Jacobson, 1998). In Nigeria. in particular. erosion has remained one of' the  intractable environment problems facing society. This problem was brought about through  management practices. Although it is widespread, it is more prominent in the southern areas. Soil erosion appears to be oldest and most Selkus threat to farmland management in both developing an(I developed counties. In most African countries, Nigeria iii particular, 1)OSSCSS some form of atrial resources, the social and economic potential of these natural resources cannot be fully realized because the requisite development of a critical mass of trained man power to exploit then judiciously seem to be lacking.