The knowledge of exposure of croplands to climate variability is of paramount importance in adaptive capacity planning to boost food production for the world’s growing population. The study assessed the exposure of croplands to climate variability in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria using Geo-informatics. This was achieved by examining the distribution pattern of climate indices in FCT from 1981-2017, determining the exposure index of croplands in FCT Area Councils and production of exposure map of FCT Area Councils, The spatial scope of this study is the entire arable land in FCT which is made up of six Area Councils. The research is contextually restricted to exposure of croplands to climate variables while other variables remain constant. The selected climatic variables are rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and potential evapotranspiration (exposure indicators). The arable crops in focus are yam, beans and maize while the soil variables selected for the study are: soil erosion, organic carbon content of the soil, clay content of the soil and percentage of arable land available for crop production. The temporal scope of the examined exposure indicators (climate variables) was limited to a period of thirty (37) years from 1981- 2017. The result indicates that Bwari has the highest exposure (0.1671) to climate variables while Abaji has the least (0.0868) exposure. AMAC is high (0.1371), Kuje (0.1304) is moderate while Gwagwalada (0.1132) and Kwali (0.1154) have low exposures to climate variability. The implication of this on the referenced crops is that crop yield will be highly reduced in Bwari and optimum in Abaji Area Councils due to their climatic requirement. The power of Geo-Spatial Technology in combining different indices of exposure to produce exposure map was demonstrated in the study.
Despite the wide coverage of study on vulnerability in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria over the years, it was observed that no emphasis has been placed on assessment of vulnerability of croplands to climate variability using the integrated vulnerability assessment and Geo-Informatics technique. This was achieved by determining the climate variability pattern in FCT from 1981 to 2017, determining the exposure index and the degree of sensitivity of croplands to climate variability, assessing the adaptive capacity of farmers to climate variability, evaluating the vulnerability of croplands to climate variability and developing vulnerability maps of croplands using the information produced. Yam, beans and maize were used as referenced crops in this study. Indicators were generated and analyzed on the three components of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The study used the mixed research design. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to assign weight to the indicators. The weights were used to generate the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity indices which were used to generate the vulnerability index map. Aggregate vulnerability index (AVI) was finally determined from the weighted sum of all indicators and used to produce the vulnerability map of the six Area Councils. The study shows that Gwagwalada Area Council has the highest vulnerability (0.2323) and Abaji Area Council has the lowest (0.005). Kwali and AMAC Area Councils were highly vulnerable to climate variability (Kwali 0.1562, AMAC 0.1565). Kuje Area Council has low vulnerability (0.0273) to climate variability. Bwari Area Council showed moderate vulnerability (0.0982). The implication of the results is that the three crops (maize, beans and yam) will produce moderately at moderate vulnerability while their production will be marginal and optimal at very high and very low vulnerabilities respectively. Crop production will be optimum in Abaji, marginal in Gwagwalada and moderate in Bwari. The study also revealed that vulnerability assessment is essential in determining the varying degrees of vulnerability in different localities. It also provides information that can help researchers, policy makers, private and public institutions in planning location-based adaptation strategies and prioritizing allocating limited resources in FCT. Agriculture should be heavily subsidized in terms of providing irrigation infrastructure to farmers to reduce over-reliance on rain fed agriculture. Installation of early weather warning system manned with expertise should be made available in all the Area Councils to provide timely and accurate climatic information to farmers.
Urban Growth and its Impact on Urban land cover change in Akure South Local Government area was investigated to bridge the knowledge gap created by data deficiency on the nature, scope, and magnitude of urban threat on the land use/land cover type, most especially the agricultural land in the area. This was done through the analysis of Landsat images of three epochs from 2000 through 2010 to 2020. The processing of the satellite images was done in ArcGIS 10.8, while the analysis and 2030 projection were done in Microsoft office excel using the result from the analysis. QGIS was used to remove the scan lines error on the 2010 image. The result showed increasing urban growth (built-up area), reducing vegetation and farmlands, and increasing rock outcrops. The changes vary among the different classification characteristics. Both farmlands and vegetation increased in the first epoch and reduced in the second epoch due to man's urbanization and other socio-economic activities. The increasing change in the second epoch was higher in built-up areas while rock outcrops increased throughout the study period. The research was able to assess the magnitude of farmland and vegetation that have been converted for urban uses over time. It also proved the efficiency of Remote Sensing and GIS technology in urban growth studies.
The assessment of solid waste characterization in Keffi Local Government Area in view of adopting biogas technology for solid waste management was carried out. This was achieved through assessment of the quantity of solid waste generation and the composition (organic and inorganic) in the study area. Materials used for data collection are weighing scale and waste bins. Stratified and systematic samplings were used to select households for data collection. The selected households’ waste generation were observed and weighed on daily basis for one week and average weight was calculated for each household to quantify the amount of waste generation and composition. Solid waste generation per household per day in Keffi Local government area ranged from 0.9 Kg to 1.5Kg with mean value of 1.26Kg. There was a significant different (F>P@0.05) in the quantity of solid waste generation among the ten wards. Though, solid wastes in Keffi consist of diverse materials from both raw materials mostly farm/animal residues and manufactured goods, it has higher organic (71.79%) than inorganic (28.21%) components. Thus, it was concluded that adoption of biogas technology for solid waste management in Keffi Local Government Area is feasible based on waste characterization of the area. Pilot demonstration of biogas production from organic waste was recommended
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