Chapter one
Introduction
1.1Background of the study
Floods cause large scale destruction leading to massive socioeconomic and environmental damages to human lives, structures, properties and the farm lands, thereby inflicting extreme suffering on the communities affected. Disasters hamper sustainable development food security and growth. The losses from natural disasters like flood are increasing and have a disproportionate impact on less developed countries. They devastate the standard of living and overall development prospects. Recognizing the importance of disaster mitigation and management, in order to avoid the enormous losses from flood disasters leading to food insecurity, the world Bank‟s assistance are moving away from traditional relief and reconstruction towards supporting the culture of prevention for sustainable development (A. Khatri, 2006)
This new approach increasingly relies on knowledge sharing, creating communities of practice, and raising awareness in disaster risk management targeting government officials, civil society, and local communities prone to flood. There is also enough evidence to show, that the rise in flood disasters and consequently food insecurity is related to the rise in the vulnerability of people all over the world. This rise in flood disaster was induced by the human determined path of development. Noteworthy also was the recognition that this increase in vulnerability was not uniform. There were large variations across regions, nations, provinces, cities, communities, socioeconomic classes, castes, and even gender, with poverty and illiteracy being the leading cause of vulnerability especially in sub sharan Africa (John, 2013)
The World Bank in one of its publication defined food security as being able at all times to have access to food in the quantity and quality desired for an active, healthy life World Bank. Food and Agriculture Organization FAO in its definition of food security emphasized that, food security must encompass access to preferred food. It is instructive to note that a household is said to be food secure if they are able to get and consume in a continuous manner nutritionally rich, healthy and preferred food through legally acceptable means to guarantee good health. When a household or a community lacks, or is potentially vulnerable due to the absence of one or more factors outlined in these definitions, the household or community is said to be food insecure (FAO, 2010)
The frequency of flooding in Nigeria is on the increase in Sept 2010 heavy rain started in the North and neighboring Niger republic, these led to serious flooding in three states, Nasarawa, Sokoto, kebbi and Jigawa all in north east Nigeria causing human and material damages in the affected communities. The heavy downpour led to the overflow of the Hadejiariver, the situation further compounded by the release of water from Dams and poor drainage system. 1.5 million People were displaced with many casualty and farm land, crops and property worth millions of Naira destroyed (NEMA, 2010)
Statement of the problem
A clear understanding of the extent to which flood disaster affect food security of smallholder farmers occupies a large fraction of farming population and the strategies they adopt to mitigate the effect of this disaster is critical to policymakers and other stakeholders to further improve and implement holistic strategies and actions in order to minimize the effect of the disaster. Though different literatures have studied natural disasters and climate change effect on agriculture, but empirical evidence on flood disaster, its implication on livelihood and coping strategies adopted by faming households in the study area is scarce. Therefore, the study seeks to assess the impact of flooding on food scarcity and marketing activities, implications for farmers education in Nasarawa Eggon Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To determine the impact of flooding on food scarcity in Nasarawa
- To determine the impact of flooding on food marketing activities in Nasarawa
- To determine the implications of flooding on farmers education in Nasarawa
Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses are formulated to guide the study;
H1: there is no impact of flooding on food scarcity in Nasarawa
H2: there is no impact of flooding on food marketing activities in Nasarawa
Significance of the study
The study will give a clear insight on the assessment the impact of flooding on food scarcity and marketing activities, implications for farmer’s education. The study will be beneficial to students, farmers and policy makers. The study will suggest solution to control flooding in Nasarawa in order to avoid scarcity of food. The study will also serve as a reference to other researcher that will embark on the related topic
Scope of the study
The scope of the study covers assessment the impact of flooding on food scarcity and marketing activities, implications for farmers education. the study will be limited to Nasarawa Eggon Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
Limitation of the study
Limitations/constraints are inevitable in carrying out a research work of this nature. However, in the course of this research, the following constraints were encountered thus:
- Non-availability of enough resources (finance): A work of this nature is very tasking financially, money had to be spent at various stages of the research such resources which may aid proper carrying out of the study were not adequately available.
- Time factor: The time used in carrying out the research work is relatively not enough to bring the best information out of it. However, I hope that the little that is contained in this study will go a long way in solving many greater problems.
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