This study assesses the impact of the Gerio irrigation scheme on the registered farming communities of Yola metropolitan area. Data for the study was obtained through a questionnaire survey administered randomly to 183 out of the total of 610 farmers that operated under the scheme. Personal interviews were also conducted with the officials of the scheme and other relevant agricultural development authorities in the area. The results show that the Gerio scheme has improved the income of the farming families, which reflected in the quality of their living conditions. A number of the farmers have now owned personal houses, means of transport and other basic possessions. The results further revealed that the people are highly susceptible to adoption of modern farming techniques such as the use of high yield seeds, application of fertilizers and pesticides. Other findings revealed that the majority of the farmers are willing to partner with the governmental agencies in the management of the Gerio scheme.
A radiological survey was carried out over Jimeta area of metropolitan Yola, Adamawa State, using a portable radiation alert monitor 4 of S. E. International, Inc. USA. The study showed that a mean whole body dose equivalent rate of 0.83 ± 0.11 mSv/y and mean absorbed dose rate of 1.19 ± 0.17 mGy/y resulted from total environmental radiation in Jimeta. Allowing for a cosmic radiation of 0.28 mGy/y the mean absorbed dose due to the environmental radioactivity is therefore 0.91 mGy/y. These values are lower than the 1 mSv/y recommended to the average individual member of the public by International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Hence residents of Jimeta are not unduly exposed to health risk due to environmental radiation exposure.
Environmental changes in the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands have grossly affected the functionality of the ecosystem with multiplier effects on livelihoods of more than 1.5 million people. The most critical change occurred through the invasion of the water bodies by Typha grass, which has hampered the predominant activities, fishing and farming, thereby subjecting the people into abject poverty conditions. This has attracted the attention of Nigerian Government, International Development Agencies and Non-Government Organizations in designing and implementing several intervention measures. In many communities, the failure of the interventions in up-lifting the quality of life has been attributed to the wetlands resource utilization strategies prescribed. This study uses the concept of sustainable livelihood framework by focusing on the occurrence of Typha grass (external vulnerability factor), capital assets and policy/institutional structures to construct alternative livelihood strategy model in order to develop household resilience against environmental changes. Data for the study was obtained from household surveys in fifteen communities of the wetlands region and analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression and Foster Greer Thorbeke models. The results indicate that a combination of five capital assets: physical (power, road and markets); human (experience, skills and schooling), social (cooperative, remittance and linkages), natural (land, forest and fisheries); and financial (savings, disposables, credit) resources serve as the optimum factors in yielding higher incomes and thus developing a resilience against environmental vulnerability and poverty.
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