Analysis of Landuse and Landcover Dynamics Downstream of Shiroro Dam, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Landuse and Landcover are activities both natural and manmade that characterised the usage of land. While Landuse is described by arrangement and man’s input in a certain land to produce changes and maintain it, Landcover on the other hand is biotic and abiotic features that cover the earth surface. Land degradation often associated with how man use the land for agriculture or farming is one of the parameters that influence the natural hydrologic cycle of a watershed. This paper is aimed at analysing the Landuse and Landcover dynamic downstream of Shiroro Dam in Niger State, Nigeria. Three different datasets (Landsat satellite imageries) of the area for 1990, 2010 and 2016 were classified and analysed using ArcGIS 10.2 and Idrisi Tiga GIS software. The result of the analysed data revealed that, vegetation cover reduced drastically from 62.84% in 1990 to 28.38% in 2010, water body significantly reduced from 2.03% in 1990 to 1.9% in 2016. On the contrary, agricultural land shows a significant increase from 22.43% in 1990 to 50.98% in 2016. Bareground and builtup areas also increased from 8.93% and 3.77% in 1990 to 12.34% and 6.37% in 2016 respectively. Consequently, it is evident that the increase in agric land, builtup area and bareground is as a result of increase in population, which led to increasing demand for food, shelter and deforestation for firewood. Consequently, it is recommended that the concern authorities should formulate effective landuse and landcover based development strategy