Adaption to floodings with new strategies. Benue State in Nigeria as an example (PDF)

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Regional Geography, grade: 1.0, University Of Abuja (FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE), course: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, language: English, abstract: The study examined Socio-economic factors influencing adaptation strategies of flooding in Benue State, Nigeria. The study used purposes, multi-stage random, and convenient sampling techniques to select 315 farmers whose farms have been affected by flooding. Data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary sources using structured questionnaires, interviews, journals, data from NIMET and publications from other relevant agencies like BNARDA. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, Maximum Likelihood Estimate (MLE).
Economic losses caused by floods are rising in Africa. Both researchers predicted that if nothing is done by way of mitigation, crop yields would drop by 50% in 2017. This scenario is already manifesting in Asia and other tropical countries where the rural farming households depend on agriculture for their livelihood. The floods have adversely affected billions of people mostly through loss of farms and farmlands, rendering people homeless. In Nigeria, It is very common-place event to lose a large chunk of produce to flooding based on lack of adaptive strategies hinged on socio-economic factors of farmers. Farmers often lack the meteorological knowledge of what it takes to synchronize the adaptive strategies to the climatic events of flooding. It is estimated that tons of useful Agricultural produce are washed away during excessive rainfall (flooding) and pushes to great economic losses by the nation at large and farmers in particular.
In Benue State, it is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers to engage in crop production activities during flooding without adequate adaptation strategies. These strategies are linked to Socio-economic factors and these Socio-economic factors create a lot of challenge if they are not properly understood because they present problems that will make farmers adopt the adaptive strategies slowly. The effect of these on Nigeria and theme state is lack of food sufficiency. It is very important to note that Benue State regarded as the food basket of the nation will have a major setback in fulfilling this note. The role stands out when farmers are able to churn out a harvest commensurate to the expectation of teeming population of the state and nation.