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Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Sunvit Farm is a private farm that has been turned into an agricultural training school, located between the towns of Fugar and Agenebode in the centre-south of the country, about 5 km from the western bank of the Niger river. The Ogbudu and Obe rivers form, respectively, the northern and eastern boundaries of the farm. Several other small rivers run through the farm with the result that large areas of it are usually seasonally flooded and three small seasonal lakes are created annually by retreating flood water. The vegetation is a mix of southern Guinea Savanna, riparian vegetation with Guinea–Congo Forest affiliations and open, cultivated or fallow, fields.
See Box and Table 3 for key species. Some 222 species have so far been recorded, with a diversity reflecting the mix of savanna, forest and wetland habitat-types. These include the nationally uncommon
Coracias cyanogaster and, of forest species, the locally threatened
Psittacus erithacus, as well as
Pteronetta hartlaubii and
Caprimulgus nigriscapularis. The flooded riparian forests are home to breeding
Scotopelia bouvieri, known from only one other IBA nationally. Many waterbirds also occur, including
Anhinga rufa, now nationally rare as a result of widespread habitat degradation. A variety of Palearctic migrants overwinter, including tens of
Circus pygargus. Large flocks of
Quelea erythrops are common in the cultivated parts of the farm.
Non-bird biodiversity: The farm and adjoining areas are believed to support a small population of Syncerus caffer (LR/cd).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The farm has recently become an agricultural school and large-scale farm operations have been suspended. As a result, hitherto heavily disturbed areas may be expected to regenerate. Even when farming operations occurred in the recent past, a large portion of the farm was set aside by the farm’s management as a private reserve. Threats come mainly from the local fishing settlements on and around the property. Parts have been cleared for farms by families of these fishermen. They also illegally hunt on the farm while the fuelwood needed for smoking fish sometimes comes from trees they fell in the riparian forests.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Sunvit Farm (Nigeria). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/sunvit-farm-iba-nigeria on 22/11/2024.
