Effects of Gully Erosion in Kontagora, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Environmental degradation is a menace to many developing cities and they are not unconnected with the changes in the weather pattern occasioned by Climate Change. Erosion in a changing Climate is usually very devastating as it causes a lot of losses both to the environment and the economy of places where they occur. Erosion in Niger State is devastating and has caused a lot of human and material losses. In this study the cause’s effects of erosion and the coping strategies were studied. The entire study areas were mapped to identify the extent of the erosion. Gully Erosion Classification System which assessed the gully and allocates an erosion class rating was used. The results revealed that natural and anthropogenic factors are responsible for the causes of erosion in the study area. Poor drainage systems (27%), poor road condition (21%), overgrazing, poor construction techniques (19%), dumping of waste along drainage channel, and falling of trees. The effect of gully on property value (2.57) and threat to lives and properties (3.10) is moderate, while the effect of gully erosion on loss of farmland (2.26) is low. The use of sand bags is the most common coping strategy employed by majority (56.8%) of the respondents which could be as a result of the low cost of producing the sand bags.