Socio-economic Impact of Flooding on the Riverine Communities of River Benue in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of floods on the socioeconomic lives of residents of the flood plain of River Benue in the Adamawa area. The specific objectives of the paper include examining people’s perception of the causes of flooding in the study area, assessing the impacts of flooding on the socioeconomic activities in the study area, analyzing the People’s Response/Adjustment to Flood in the study area. Three Riverine communities were purposively selected and data for the study was elicited through questionnaires administered to randomly selected respondents in the selected riverine communities in the area. The results obtained indicate that majority of the respondents over 80% are aware of the devastating effects of flooding but they fail to act because of their preference of occupying the location despite their experience. Thousands of hectares of farmlands and other properties have been destroyed by flood over the years. Another finding shows that the impact of flood on transportation is, perhaps, the most devastating such that agricultural productivity in the area is limited as a result of lack of effective means of mobility. Changes in modal split were also found to be associated with the flood regimes. Traditional responses to the menace of flooding have been on the increase due to the ad hoc manner of government participation in providing an enduring solution. The rescheduling of field crops planting and levee construction were among the common responses of the people.

Keywords: Flood, River Benue, Transportation, Socio-economic, Environment