ASSESSMENT OF LIVELIHOOD ASSETS OF FARMING HOUSEHOLDS AFFECTED BY 2010 FLOOD DISASTER IN SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed livelihood assets of farming households affected by the 2010 flood disaster in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used in four stages to select the most flood-affected farming communities in which 178 farming households were obtained as sample size for the study. Interview schedule and checklist was used as research instruments for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the qualitative data, while participatory rural appraisal tools were used to obtain the quantitative data. Majority (63.5%) of the farming households had residential buildings that were made of mud, which made the buildings highly vulnerable to adverse effects of the 2010 flood disaster. Majority expressed that excessive rainfall (91.6%); excessive release of water (92.1%) from Bakolori, Goronyo and Lugu dams caused the 2010 flood disaster. Also, the fertile soils (46.1%), closeness to Rima and Sokoto Rivers (51.1%) utilised for lowland farming (61.2%) was the farming households’ reasons for living in flood-affected areas. Livelihood assets lost to the 2010 flood disaster in all the study LGAs were estimated to be N93,605,000 million, Wamakko LGA had encountered the highest lost with mean value of N606,088 per households. Assistance (45.5%), borrowing from non-affected families (55.1%), intervention from donor groups (48.9%) and migration for livelihood alternatives (65.2%) were adopted for coping with stress caused by the 2010 flood disaster. Analysis of Variance revealed a significant difference in the extent of losses in monetary term among the study LGAs at 5% level of significance (F-Cal. = 7.12> F-Tab. = 1.32). The wealth ranking revealed that the quantity of food, livestock and fish was reduced due to adverse effects of the 2010 flood disaster. Therefore, the study recommended that the concerned stakeholders should expedite actions to control the adverse effects of flood disaster in the study area.