Effect of Heavy Rain Fall on Farm Lands in Nigeria; A Case Study of Itu LGA
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The general objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of heavy rainfall in Lagos Metropolis.
Specifically, the study sought:
1) To find out the effect of heavy rainfall on the inhabitants of Lagos metropolis
2) To find out whether people of Lagos are aware of the implications of flooding in their environment
3) To evaluate the level of efficiency in the control and management of flood in Lagos metropolis.
4) To investigate whether the techniques/ methods used or proffered by government are adequately creating awareness about the health implications of flood in Lagos metropolis
5) To identify various ways the environmentalist/ policy makers could help in changing human behavior and responses to environment options that will help in dealing with flooding condition. heavy rainfall.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
Flooding is one of the major environmental crises one has to contend of within the century. This is especially the case in most wetlands of the world. The reason of this is the general rise in sea level globally, due to global warming as well as the saturated nature of the wetlands in the Niger Delta. Periodic floods occur on many rivers, forming a surrounding region known as flood plain. Rivers overflow for reasons like excess rainfall. The good thing about river overflows is the fact that as flood waters flow into the banks, sand, silt and debris are deposited into the surrounding land. After the river water subsided and go back to its normal flow, the deposited materials will help make the land richer or more fertile. The organic materials and minerals deposited by the river water keep the soil fertile and productive (Abowei and Sikoki, 2005). During times of rain or snow, some of the water is retained in ponds or soil. Some is absorbed by grass and vegetation, some evaporates and rest travels over the land as surface runoff. Flood occurs when ponds, lakes, riverbeds, soil and vegetation cannot absorb all the water. Water the runs off the land in quantities that cannot be carried within stream channels or retained in natural ponds, lakes and manmade reservoirs. About 30% of all precipitation becomes runoff and that amount might be increased by water from melting snow.
A flood that raises rapidly, with little or no relatively small area, or if, the area was already saturated from previous precipitation (Henry, 2006). During flooding water supplies that result in contamination of water (water pollution). Clean drinking water becomes scarce. Unhygienic conditions and Spread of water-borne diseases result. People, buildings, infrastructure, agriculture, open recreational space and the natural world. In extreme cases flooding may cause a loss of life. Torrential rains pushed rivers over their banks, collapsed mud houses and washed away livestock (Adelye and Rustum, 2011). Damage bridges and caused a dam to overflow, submerging buildings, displacement from homes, the loss of personal valuables and the ongoing fear and insecurity caused by the experience. Potable water supplies may be lost or contaminated in a flood and this can have immediate health effects upon people and animals. The economy can also be severely affected by flooding. Businesses may lose stock, patronage, data and productivity and disruption to utilities and transport infrastructure can have knock-on effects to a wider area. Tourism, farming and livestock can equally be affected. Vital infrastructure may also be damaged or disrupted. Electricity and gas supplies can be interrupted to individual properties but also to wider communities if sub stations and transformers themselves are flooded. Road links, railways, canals etc., may be blocked causing disruption to the wider transport network and accessibility severely disrupted for local inhabitants, especially amongst those considered most vulnerable and loss of communications networks (Adelye and Rustum, 2011). Although flooding, generally, is a bane to most people, floods can be quite beneficial. Actually, believe it or not, nature benefits more from natural floods than from not having them at all. The thing that makes natural floods a disaster is when flood waters occur in areas populated by humans and in areas of significant human development. Otherwise, when left in its natural state, the benefits of floods outweigh the adverse effects (Bradshaw et al., 2007). However, too much sand deposit will do the opposite. For farmers that maintain their crops along rivers, they should not feel threatened by yearly flooding. This gives their farm lands better soil consistencies and keeps their land fertile resulting to better harvests each year. Instead of preventing the natural flow of river floods, it might be beneficial in the long run to allow the flood waters to encroach into their lands (Hill, 1976). It was how nature intended it to be in the first place.
However, there may be limits to how much farmers can tolerate such natural occurrences. One has to increase production to feed the demands of the human populace. Great examples of how river overflows benefit humans are in the Nile River and the Mississippi delta. Farmers in Egypt have long equated river floods to high harvest rates.
The higher the flood waters from the river, the better the harvest for that year. However, the case of the Mississippi delta is a little different (O’Connor and John, 2004). The Mississippi River naturally overflows and leaving behind huge deposits of sediments. In time these sediments created lands which are now identified as part of the Mississippi delta.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Ogili (2002) defined research as a process of finding out the solution to a problem. It is an activity with clear purpose in mind the result of which will contribute to or constitute the solution of a real problem. This chapter deals with the method used in collecting data required in carrying out this research work it explains the procedures that were followed and the instrument used in collecting data.
SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
Data were collected from two main sources namely
-Primary source and
secondary source
primary source: These are materials of statistical investigation, which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment, the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary data: These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as by products of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE
The population of the studies is the National environmental management agency. And ministry of environment A sample of 160 staff was collected with adequate working experience and questionnaire was dully administered to them. . Applying the general formula of determining sample size by Yamani (1964):
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
INTRODUCTION
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to find out the effect of flood on land utilization: disaster prevention and control in Nigeria.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the effect of flood on land utilization: disaster prevention
Summary
In many countries across the world, rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed. Defenses such as levees, bunds, reservoirs and weirs are used to prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defenses fail, emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are used. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe and the Americas with coastal defenses such as sea walls, beach nourishment and barrier islands. While flood modeling is a fairly recent practice, attempts to understand and manage the mechanisms at work in floodplains have been made for at least six millennia
Conclusion
Some environmental effects of flooding in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria was reviewed to provide the desired knowledge needed for the effective management of flooding. Floods are caused by many factors: Heavy rainfall, highly accelerated snowmelt, severe winds over water, unusual high tide, tsunamis, or failure of dams, levees, retention ponds, or other structures that retained the water. Flooding can be exacerbated by increased amounts of impervious surface or by other natural hazards such as wildfires, which reduce the supply of vegetation that can absorb rainfall. The effects of flooding from the sources outlined above are felt by various ‘receptors’. These include, people, buildings, infrastructure, agriculture, open recreational space and the natural world. Flood warning is the provision of advance warning of conditions that are likely to cause flooding to property and a potential risk to life. The main purpose of flood warning is to save life by allowing people, support and emergency services time to prepare for flooding. The secondary purpose is to reduce the effects and damage of flooding. Floods renew wetland areas which in turn host a wide range of flora and fauna. Preventing flood waters from entering such wetland areas will create imbalance to the natural state of things resulting to destruction of natural habitats and even extinction of various species of animals and plants. Floods play an important part in various ecosystems. Humans, therefore, should be careful when they try to prevent or control floods. Oftentimes, human intervention causes more harm than good.
Recommendation
The over-riding justification for implementation of flood warning systems is mitigating risks to life or serious injury and any future flood warning system benefit assessment methodology should reflect this. There is a need for any tangible benefit assessment methodology for flood warning scheme justification to move from a largely uni-directional focus on the movement of possessions, to a holistic approach incorporating the benefits from operational and resilience activities.
It is on this note that the researcher therefore makes the following recommendation:
- Adequate research should be embarked on to study the further occurrence of flood in the area
- Flood control measures should be put in place to mitigate the effect of flood
- Fund should be made available by government and other donor agency to lessen the burden of this natural disaster on the victms
References
- Abowei, J.F.N. and F.D. Sikoki, 2005. Water Pollution Management and Control, Double Trust Publications Co., Port Harcourt, pp: 236.
- Adelye, A. and R. Rustum, 2011. Lagos (Nigeria) flooding and influence of urban planning.
- Urban Design and Planning (ICE), 164(3): 175-187. ISSN: 1755-0793, E-ISSN: 1755-0807.
- Bradshaw, C.J., N.S. Sodhi, S.H. Peh and B.W. Brook, 2007. Global evidence that deforestation amplifies flood risk and severity in the developing. Also a flood has recently hit Pakistan which is said to be more devastating than the Tsunami of 2005 world. Global Change Biol., 13: 2379-2395.
- Dance, K.W. and H.R.N. Hynes, 1980. Some effects of agricultural land use on stream insect communities. Environ. Pollut. (Series A), 22: 14-28.
- David, R.L., L.P. David and W.E. Kenneth, 1981. Variable effects of sediment addition on stream benthos. Hydrobiologia, 79: 187-194.