CLASSIFICATION OF SETTLEMENTS BY ECONOMIC POTENTIALS IN THE SOUTHERN REGION OF NIGER STATE: A LOCATION QUOTIENT APPROACH

Regional economic activities and developments are measured through various techniques where Location Quotient (LQ) is one of the most reliable techniques. This paper classifies the settlements by economic potentials in the southern region of Niger state using the LQ. A structured questionnaire was administered to 1.040 in the 37 rural communities selected from 37 districts in 8 LGAs in the Niger South Federal constituency in Niger State. The data collected was analysed using LQ. Findings of the study in terms of economic potentials of the region, reveals that communities are mainly engaged in basic economic activities; including the cultivation of food crops (rice, maize, beans, millet and yam); cultivation of cash crops (benisead, ground nut, vegetable, cassava and melon), plantation agriculture (palm, kola nut, cashew and sugar cane). Findings in terms of basic economy revealed that Egbako has the highest LQ with an average score of 0.06, and is closely followed by Takuma, Batako, Kusoyaba, Mukugi and Kalmo, with an average LQ score of 0.04 each, while in terms of non-basic economy, the findings indicates that both Egbako and Kuchita have the highest non-basic LQ with an average score of 0.07, which were closely followed by Katcha, Mukugi and Gayankpa settlements with non-basic economic LQ and average scores of 0.04 each. The study concludes that LQ is one of the best techniques in measuring economic potentials of regions. It also recommends LQ for regional economic assessments.