| Abstrakt: |
Edo state, like many other states in Niger-Delta and Nigeria as a nation has resultant land and water degradation problems such as persistent oil spillage, erosion of arable land, sedimentation of dam and reservoirs. This research study investigates the effects of land degradation in all the local government areas in Edo state. The results of the findings indicated that 28% corresponding to 634,416.3 ha of arable land had totally been affected by soil erosion. Highest erodibility index of 0.75 was obtained at Estako west (Auchi), while least value of 0.1 was found at Akoko-Edo local government area respectively. Between 1976 and 1997, 1,820,410.50 barrels of crude oil spilled with maximum spill value 600,511.02 barrels in 1984 and minimum spill of 5,956 barrels in 1989. Reduction of cassava production was estimated and analyzed. The result showed that the reduction is highly significant at 95% confidence interval. Etasko -west had the highest reduction from 7.26 MT/HA in 1993 to 1.1 MT/HA in 2002. In addition, analysis of erosion and land degradation control expenditures showed that little attention has been paid to controlling land degradation in the state. Erosion control expenditure was increased from 4.1% in 1990 to 10% in 2002. This increase is not significant at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of significance. All these constraints affect agricultural production, human well-being, social and economic growth of the people in Edo state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
