This study makes an appraisal of the traditional food crop farming methods practiced by the local farmers of the Mambilla Plateau of Nigeria. A survey of 20 farms was undertaken and some local farmers and agricultural extension workers were interviewed. It was noticed that cash crop (tea and coffee) production and pastoralism have gradually taken over almost all farm land, hence, the waning of local farming methods such as bush fallowing, mixed farming, rotational and mixed cropping .This is so because indigenous farmers are restricted to small patches of lands, which have been exhausted of their natural nutrients thereby, forcing them to use processed organic fertilizers and pesticides, which have endangered the lives of man and the soils. In conclusion, the paper notes that this stems from the fact that Nigeria just like most African countries lacks a realistic maintenance culture policy, which requires the judicious utilization of both her past and present human and natural resources, with less or no foreign assistance. There is therefore, a need for such a policy to be established, so as to enable an inward oriented development attitude in these times of global economic crisis.

Keywords:Indigenous, Mambilla, Farming, cash crops, pesticides, pastoralism.

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