Impacts of flooding on agricultural practices in Bunkure Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Flooding has become one of the key environmental issues that have impacted agricultural productivity in northern Nigeria. This study examines the impacts of recurrent flooding on agricultural practices in Bunkure Local Government Area, Kano State, integrating multi-year satellite-derived Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) analysis, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) terrain assessment, and household survey data. The LULC classifications (2019–2023) based on Landsat data show the presence of considerable Spatio temporal changes in agricultural land, vegetation, bare land and water bodies, which are highly affected by seasonal floods. Terrain analysis also indicates that hydromorphic lowlands in the southern and central parts of the LGA are highly prone to inundation, resulting in prolonged waterlogging of farmlands. The outcomes of the surveys conducted on 346 farmers affirm the prevalence of the effects such as delayed growth of crops, untimely death of crops, changed planting time and low quality of harvests. The findings align with recent studies showing increasing flood frequency and rainfall intensity across northern Nigeria linked to climate variability. In general, flooding has led to massive loss of crops, soil erosion and economic distress particularly to smallholders and vulnerable farmers. The combined spatial and socio-economic analysis indicates evidence that there are changes in the agricultural land availability and productivity in response to the annual floods. The research recommends that flood resistant crop varieties, better drainage systems, and land-use planning should be adopted in minimizing the exposure of farmlands to flooding. Enhancing the early warning system and incorporating local knowledge in line with the contemporary farming practices will boost resiliency in the communities. The study provides context-related observations to enable policy intervention in the case of sustainable agricultural and disaster-risk management in flood-prone rural LGAs.