Ghana Journal of Geography

Urban Greenspaces and Patterns of Common Mental Disorders in Ibadan City, Nigeria

Adeniyi Sunday Gbadegesin — 2024-10-15

The restorative roles that greenspaces have on human health are well established in the literature. However, few studies have examined the mental health impact of greenspaces in developing countries and particularly in Sub-Saharan countries where there have been predictions of likely escalated cases of common mental disorders (CMD). This present study examined the location of greenspaces, whether and how residents of Ibadan city, Nigeria connect with the green environments, and the effect of this access on CMD. The concept of human ecology of disease provided the framework for the study. The SRQ-20 was adopted for CMD screening in a cross-sectional survey method of 1200 respondents., The results showed that the availability, visits and time spent at greenspaces were related to lower levels of CMD (mean CMD score was 8.6, R=67% and R2 =56%). There is a higher prevalence of CMD amongst residents with no greenspaces surrounding their house (35.4% compared to 28.4%). There was also a negative relationship between CMD and participating in recreational activities in greenspaces (β = -0.054, p = 0.021). This study advocates for adequate planning and conservation of greenspaces in designated areas of the city and frequent visit to greenspaces. There is a need for government policies in favour of greenery. Residents are also encouraged to maintain greenspaces around the home.

Land Market and the “Sendoff” of Peri-Urban Agriculture in Tanzania: An Evolutionary Analysis of Practices and Actors

Kelvin Haule — 2024-10-15

Land markets such as sales, purchase and rentals in African cities were uncommon before colonialism. They emerged with the colonial land administration systems and reforms. Today, land markets have replaced traditional non-monetary land market practices and they are transforming land uses and or ownership. With the evolutionary theory of land rights (ETLR), this article analyses the nature (types, forms and characteristics) of land markets and their influence on changing peri-urban agriculture and livelihood strategies. Also, by mapping historically, we shed some lights on how land markets evolved before and after colonialism. In addition, we examine the land use/cover changes occurring in peri-urban areas due to prevalence of land markets. We used a mixed approach of collecting data through questionnaires, interviews and critical case study discussions with land market actors and government officials. In assessing land use/cover changes (2004-2017), we deployed World Bank data on Earth observation (2019) and Mbeya city council profile (2015). Largely, we found that today, monetary land markets are widespread and in different forms such as formal, informal, speculative, entrepreneurial, and land grabbing. These contribute to transformation of land use and peri-urban agriculture into other non-farm activities. Since these changes are mostly informal, they cause a “sendoff” or “a farewell party” of peri-urban agriculture. In case this transformation continues to be unmanaged, land markets will become a blight than a blessing to most indigenous people selling land voluntarily or involuntarily. Governance of land market is, therefore, imperative.

Child Restraint use and Seating Position in Motor Vehicles: An Observational Survey in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Yingigba Akinyemi — 2024-10-15

This paper examined child restraint use by child passengers in motor vehicles and factors influencing its use and non-use. Observational surveys were conducted to determine the number of child passengers restrained, the type of restraint and its correct use at nursery and primary schools in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. Questionnaire was administered to drivers to obtain information on demographic characteristics, child restraint use, reasons for use and non-use, and barriers to their use. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse data. A total of 3,175 vehicles were observed. Most (62.3%) of the drivers used seat belt while only 6.8% of the 3,175 children observed were restrained. Out of the 215 children restrained, 56.9% of the child restraint seats were not placed properly in the vehicles while 43.1% were correctly placed in the rear middle position. Restraint misuse was indicated by premature adult seat belt use (11.9%). Factors associated with child restraint use include age of the child, vehicle type and driver seat belt use. Parents whose children use child restraint cited safety and safety as reasons for use of restraint. Reasons for non-use of child restraint include parental beliefs. Barriers to use of child restraints seats include child’s unwillingness and cost.

Plantation Forest Management among Local Farmers in Offinso North District of Ghana

Rhoda Dedaa Acheampong — 2024-10-15

Deforestation has been on the rise from the world’s tropical forest since the late 20th century. Africa has reportedly lost more than 19 million ha of its original forest. The government of Ghana in the 20th century, got alarmed with the accelerating rate of degradation, its effect on the environment, and the failure of centralized forest management system. This led to the introduction of forest decentralization which brought forth local peoples’ participation in the restoration of the lost forest. Plantation forest unlike the Modified Taungya System has not been thoroughly explored in the Ghanaian literature, hence the justification for this study. This study is based on local farmers in the Offinso area in Ghana who are into reforestation and their contribution to increase in forested land cover in the country. The study adopted a mixed method approach to select 135 local farmers for the study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic discussions. The study revealed that farmers into forest plantation farming benefit from their activities, and that the economic benefit of wood has helped in increasing the forest cover of the area through afforestation.

Determinants of Household Access to Drinking Water in Nigeria

Oluwafemi Olubukola Okeniyi — 2024-10-15

Equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water has been identified as a fundamental human right. Few studies have also considered household access to drinking water regarding both sources of water and the time taken to get access to water. Thus, this paper computes access to drinking water based on the household’s water sources and the time taken to get the water sources. The determinants of household access to drinking water in Nigeria were examined using 2018 Demographic and Health Surveys data. As high as 68.9% of the respondents did not have water sources within their premises, and the majority were from the Northern part of Nigeria. Undeniably, 23.2% of the respondents had poor access to drinking water, and the majority were also from the Northern part of the country. This means regional disparity exists in household access to drinking water in Nigeria. The geopolitical zone, type of place of residence, type of toilet, access to electricity, ethnicity, household population, sex of household head, and wealth index significantly (p=0.01) explained household access to drinking water while religion, age of household head, and highest educational level proved otherwise. We therefore recommend a regional approach to tackle the problem of access to drinking water in Nigeria. There should also be the provision of boreholes, given that it appears to be a more feasible source of drinking water.

The Impact of drinking water source on disease transmission among pastoralists: The Case study of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Oswin Linuma — 2024-10-15

The study examined the impact of drinking water source on disease transmission among pastoralists, using a case study of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in Tanzania. A total of four villages located in the NCA were sampled and studied, namely: Endulen, Nainokanoka, Kayapus and Meshili. This was a cross-sectional study which deployed questionnaires, direct observation, document reviews and focus group discussions. A total of 396 households participated in the survey. The collected data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis techniques and descriptive statistics such as frequencies. The study findings revealed that unfiltered waterholes shared among humans, livestock and wildlife accounted for 82.1%; indicating that it was the primary source of disease transmission. Other sources of disease transmissions were: the use of untreated tap water, rivers, spring water and rainwater. The factors influencing the use of unfiltered waterholes were limited access to tap water, scarcity of drinking water sources, drought, population increase and tourists. The co-usage of water coupled with lack of latrines suggest fecal contamination of drinking water sources. Women were more susceptible to waterborne diseases as they were more directly engaging in all domestic activities including fetching for water as compared to men. The waterborne diseases affecting pastoralist communities were diarrhea, cholera, skin infection, dysentery, worms and typhoid fever. The study concluded that there is a nexus between shared drinking water sources and the prevalence of high anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) infection rates. It is recommended that the adverse impacts of disease transmission on drinking water sources can be mitigated through increasing supply of tap water, using treated water and encouraging community use of pit latrines.

Factors Influencing Personal Car Ownership Among Households in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria

Festus Amasikomwan Atewe — 2024-10-15

This study was conducted to identify the socioeconomic and demographic factors influencing personal car ownership in the Benin metropolis, Nigeria. Using a cross-sectional research design, a metropolitan-wide survey data from 630 households collected through questionnaire responses were analysed. The study area was first stratified into three zones (inner, intermediate and outer zones) to facilitate adequate data collection. Thereafter, five communities were randomly selected from each zone for questionnaire administration. Binary logistic regression was used to analyse the hypothesis on the influence of each indicator on personal car ownership. The result revealed that gender, household size, average monthly income and distance to place of work were the leading factors influencing car ownership among households in the study area, and thus presented in their respective order the highest Beta values (1.799, 1.346, 1.210, and 1.101). The study thus, offers support by suggesting policy process for either the strengthening or weakening indicator when the respective desire to encourage or discourage car ownership in planning is a priority. Consequently, the formulation of an appropriate policy that will be useful for strengthening or weakening key parameters is germane for predicting vehicle ownership in the study area.

Dominant factors for solar energy choice by Manufacturing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs’) in Tanzania

Felichesmi Lyakurwa — 2024-10-15

Energy demand by manufacturing industries has increased significantly whereby fossil fuels consumption is dominant. Increased concern over resource depletion, and environmental impacts, suggests future dependence on renewable energies. Tanzania is blessed with abundant solar energy and its exploitation may contribute to increased energy access. Despite the paybacks of renewable energy, studies on the exploration of the dominant factors for energy choice by manufacturing MSME’s are scarce. This study explored the dominant factors for solar energy choice by manufacturing MSME’s. Questionnaires were used to collect data (n = 236) from employees in manufacturing MSMEs’ whereby descriptive and multinomial probit (MNP) model were employed to establish the dominant factors. The findings of MNP revealed that not expensive energy, and other factors (e.g., availability of solar appliances) have significant influence on solar PV use, while the adoption of hydro-electricity was significantly influenced by not expensive and advised to use energy. Easy access, and not expensive have significant influence on fossil fuels. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) results revealed that all factors (i.e., environmental, social, and economic) have significant influence on workers perception of sustainable manufacturing. These findings provide critical information for policy making instruments in Tanzania for informed decisions in the formulation of policies in the utilization of renewable energy technologies.

Geo-spatial Analysis of Infrastructural Facilities in Selected Oil and Non –Oil Producing Areas of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Mbom-Abasi Inyang — 2024-10-15

Studies have shown that the significance of infrastructural facilities is dependent on their availability and spatial distribution. This study investigates the spatial distributional pattern of existing infrastructural facilities in twenty selected rural communities in the oil and non-oil producing areas of Akwa Ibom State. Spatial data were collected on the facilities through field inventory. The study adopted location quotient, Gini coefficient, and the standard score analytical techniques to analyse the spatial concentration, inequality, and infrastructure gaps in the study area. The results revealed a significant variation in the infrastructure distribution with varying degrees of locational concentration, deficiencies, and inequalities. The oil-producing area has four privileged communities, best served with education, health, and water infrastructure. About 51% of the population lives above the income poverty line. In comparison, the non-oil producing area has three privileged communities, best served with small-scale industry and commercial infrastructure. About 45% of the population lives above the income poverty line. It can be concluded that there is a spatial inequality in the provision and distribution of the infrastructural facilities between the oil and non-oil producing areas. The paper recommends enhanced infrastructure investment in underserved areas and an adherence to an optimal location standard to promote equity and spatial balance in the infrastructure provision.

The Perceived Effectiveness of Risk Reduction Strategies Adopted by Smallholder Horticultural Farmers in Nabuyonga Sub Catchment, Mbale City, Uganda

Frank Mugagga — 2024-10-15

Smallholder horticultural farmers face a mix of inter-related risks and challenges which jeopardize their livelihoods, food security and nutrition, thereby rendering them increasingly vulnerable to a spectrum of emerging climatic, health, price and financial risks. This study thus, aimed at contributing to a better understanding of the risks faced and the perceived effectiveness of the risk reduction strategies adopted by smallholder farmers in pursuit of an enhanced urban food system resilience in Mbale City, Eastern Uganda. A multi-level sampling criteria in which households that practiced horticulture were purposively selected from the lists obtained from the Mbale City Production office. Thereafter, seventy-seven households were randomly selected from the lists for the study. Data were collected by way of household interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and field observations. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics notably, independent t- tests and analysis of variance. The results revealed that significant risks such as floods and dry spells (88.3%) which mainly affected tomato gardens (72.7%), followed by counterfeit inputs (83%), price fluctuations (76.8%), health risks (particularly COVID19) (71%) and stealing of already grown crops (66.2%). It was established that effectiveness of adopted risk reduction strategies was significantly influenced by education levels, income sources and gender (p-value < 0.005). The study recommends several interventions including the exploration of low-cost technologies by smallholder farmers, enhancement of stakeholder engagements, improved logistical support and facilitation of agricultural extension officers as well as, investing in affordable storage facilities. If implemented through a coordinated process, these recommendations could significantly enhance agricultural productivity, value addition and sustainable livelihood opportunities while concurrently promoting the economic prosperity of the wider Mbale City region.

Insecurity and the Coping Strategies of Residents in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria

Jolly Osaretin Egharevba — 2024-10-15

This paper examines urban insecurity and the coping strategies of residents in the Benin metropolis. The main objective of the research is to determine insecurity challenges and coping strategies of residents in the Benin metropolitan area. The research adopted the survey method. A total of 384 copies of the questionnaire were administered to the residents in the study area. However, only 367 valid copies of the questionnaire were returned. The results of the analysis revealed that armed robbery was the most common crime incident in the study area with Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance value of 0.84 and a mean ranking of 1.16. The results further showed that Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area (LGA) had the highest proportion of armed robbery cases (33.66%), car snatching (34.69%), and rape (38.6%) with a total crime incident of 106.95% (n=138) while Egor LGA had the highest proportion of burglary cases (37.97%). The study further revealed that the perception of respondents to crime incidents was high with a mean value of 4.04. Majority of the respondents (with Kendall’s Coefficient Concordance value of 0.66 (66%) and a mean ranking of 1.56) were of the view that the government should empower local vigilantes to combat crime in the area. The paper concluded with the recommendation that police patrol of the various neighbourhoods in the study area should be intensified and there should be an efficient channel of information gathering with utmost confidentiality between the informants and the respective agencies that are responsible for combating crime.

Effects of Industrial Effluents on Catfish Ecosystem In Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria

Toluwalope Mubo Agaja — 2024-10-15

The ecological balance of aquatic ecosystems, particularly those supporting vital species like catfish, is increasingly threatened by industrial effluents. This study assessed the toxicological effects of industrial effluents on the catfish ecosystem in Ilorin metropolis. The objectives were to determine the physico-chemical properties of water from a natural fish pond on industrial land-use; compare the physicochemical properties of the water with the standards of WHO and FEPA; examine the growth indicator of catfish in the study area; and assess the relationship between the physico-chemical properties of the water and the growth of the catfish in the study area. Primary and secondary data were gathered and the sampling involved taking 1% of catfish from three natural ponds on industrial land, each with earthen ponds of 50 by 70 meters with a capacity of up to 5000. Water samples were collected from the river and the natural fish pond over a six-week period, divided into three phases corresponding to different developmental stages of the fish. These water and fish samples were subjected to laboratory analysis. Descriptive and inferential methods used in the study were percentages, graphs, charts, the chi-squared test, and a correlation matrix for data analysis. This study revealed that industrial effluents raised the level of parameters such as iron, copper, lead, and electrical conductivity in the water sampled beyond the recommended levels of WHO and FEPA Standard’s guidelines, with mean values of 7.843, 0.23, 1.01, and 260.667 mg/l, respectively. Chemical parameters such as Fe, Mn, Cu, Co, Pb, and I in the water had no significant effect on fish growth as their p-values (0.472, 0.493, 0.180, 0.672, 0.328, and 0.511, respectively) were higher than the 0.05 level of significance. The physical parameters such as pH (0.918), temperature (0.367), nitrate level (0.292), total solids (0.495), and total soluble solids (0.502) did not show any impact on the growth of catfish. The study concluded that fish growth is affected by the availability of zinc in the fish pond, the increase in electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and total dissolved solids in the water. It is recommended that water quality monitoring be conducted to ensure the good functioning of the aquatic ecosystem for increased fish productivity.

Temperature and Rainfall Trends as Indicators of Climate Change in a Rainforest Region of Nigeria

Sylvester Odiana — 2024-10-15

This study examined temperature and rainfall trends as indicators of climate change in a rainforest region of Benin City in Nigeria. To achieve this, temperature and rainfall data spanning 32 years (1991 - 2022) were collected from the archives of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in Benin City for the study. The data collected were analysed using linear regression and the result revealed an increasing trend in annual temperature (R²= 0.439, p <0.000). The mean temperature over the study period in the study area was 27.7 ^°C. Rainfall, on the other hand, showed no trends at (R²=0.005, p < 0.697). The mean rainfall over the study period in the study area was 2284.5mm. The pattern of temperature and rainfall observed in this study could be attributed to climate change. As such, we recommend that efforts should be intensified toward mitigating climate change in the study area.