Utilizing land and water resources at Apoje sub-basin (Southwestern Nigeria) on Osun river for agricultural production

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the untapped land and water resources that abound at Apoje subbasin on River Osun, and to determine the most appropriate statistical method to estimate the water resources. A field study of cultivable farmlands on the sub-basin was conducted. The stream flow discharges of River Osun at Apoje were also analyzed using the Normal, Log Normal and Pearson Type III distributions. Results obtained show that over 800,000 ha of cultivable farmlands remain untouched while a minimum annual volume of water of about 60.24 x 10⁹m³ also remains unused. Of the three statistical distributions used to analyse the steam flow discharges of this sub-basin, the Log-Pearson Type III distribution gives the best fit with coefficient of correlation R² of 0.99. The distribution also gives the Upper and Lower limits of flood of 553.85m³/s and 344.45m³/s respectively.

Keywords: land and water resources, agricultural production, Apoje sub-basin

Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 5(1&2) 2005: 75-79