The Socio-economic Impact of Zobe Dam on Its Neighboring Environment
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
- identify the socio- economic characteristics of residents in Oyan and Ikere Gorge dams;
- profile the livelihood asset and diversification activities among fisherfolks in the study area;
- identify the constraints encountered by fisherfolks in the study area.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Livelihood strategies
This refers to the various combinations of activities and choices that people make or undertake in order to achieve their livelihood goals (ODI, 2003). These include productive activities, investment strategies, and reproductive choices. People‟s access to different levels and combinations of assets is probably the major influence to their choice of livelihood strategies (Ellis, 2000a). For instance, some activities require particular skills or may be labour-intensive, which denotes the choice of high levels of human capital; while some others may require start-up (financial) capital or good physical infrastructure for the transport of goods (physical capital). Others may require a certain type/level of natural capital as a basis for production (land, fishing ground, good quality water, and so on) or access to a given group of people, achievable only through existing social connection, which is social capital.
Different livelihood activities have different requirements but the general principle is that those who are endowed with assets are more likely to be able to make positive livelihood choices (Ellis, 2000a). That is, they will be choosing from a range of options in order to maximize their achievement of positive livelihood outcomes, rather than being forced into any given strategy because it is their only option. Livelihood strategies are intimately connected with people‟s objectives, that is, the beneficial livelihood outcomes that they seek.
Livelihood outcomes
Ellis (2000a) outlines the major livelihood outcomes as the outputs of livelihood strategies which can be established through participatory enquiry. They include the following:
More income
People continue to seek a simple increase in net returns to the activities they undertake and overall increase in the amount of money coming into the household. Increased income also relates to the ideal of economic sustainability of livelihoods.
Increased well-being
In addition to income and things that money can buy, people value non-material goods. Their sense of well-being is affected by numerous factors including their self-esteem, sense of control and inclusion, physical security of household members, their health status and access to services, political enfranchisement, and maintenance of their cultural heritage.
Reduced vulnerability
Fisherfolks are often forced to live very precariously with no cushion against the adverse effect of the vulnerability context (Ellis, 2000a). Their livelihoods are unsustainable. For such people, reducing their vulnerability to the downside and increasing the overall social sustainability of their livelihoods may well take precedence over seeking to maximize the upside.
Improved food security
Food insecurity is a core dimension of vulnerability. Participatory poverty assessments have shown that hunger and dietary inadequacies are distinct dimension of deprivation (Ellis, 2000a).
More sustainable use of the natural resource base
Environmental sustainability or sustainability of the natural resource base is a major concern that is not adequately captured in the other livelihood outcome categories. Although often viewed as a donor objective, it is shared by many who recognize the long-term benefit of prudent resource use.
The right to a standard of living
This includes food and housing, as enshrined in international agreements. This is not achieved for many of fisherfolks whose primary day-to-day objectives continue to be to secure enough food to eat.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
research design
Socio-economic impact analysis examines how an act of development could potentially impact a community, the social and economic aspects of the potential impact, and the community attitude towards the changes. According to Bird [21], measuring the aggregate impact of a project is a challenging task. The most straightforward approach is to measure the impact on each specific sector separately such as economy e.g., income, social, income distribution, and environment, and thereafter add them together to obtain the total effect [12].
Area of study
Zobe Dam is located in Makera, a rural settlement 75km south of Dutsinma headquarters of Dusinma LGA, Katsina State. The dam has rivers Karaduwa and Gada as its tributaries and stores up to 177 million cubic meters of water during rainy season. The reservoir formed by the Dam covers 4,500 hectares of rocky land and it is about 2.7 kilometers long flowing north-westward to the Sokoto Basin. The study area is located between latitudes 120°20’34.62″ and 120°23’27.48″ North of the Equator and longitudes 70°27’57.12″ and 70°34’4.68″ east of the Greenwich Meridian. Dutsinma LGA is bounded by Kurfi and Charanchi LGAs in the North, Dan-Musa and Matazu in the South, and Kankia and Safana LGAs in the East and West respectively (Figure 1). Makera community has estimated population of 19, 629 in 2017 based on growth rate of 2.8% [28]. It has mean annual rainfall of between 600-800 mm, mean onset of 18 May – 7 June, Late-onset dates of 9-29 June, mean cessation dates of 27 October, and early cessation of 27 Sept.
Population of study
The study targeted adult males who are household heads. This is because the norm in typical Muslim dominated settlement in northern Nigeria with the exception of food preparation places the responsibility of all family needs on the husband who is recognized as the household head. The survey was designed to capture 10% household population which only one person was interviewed in a household. But the household population of Makera community was not available. Therefore, the population of the community was converted to the household population by dividing 19, 629 with 5 which is the standard household size in Nigeria according to [28]. This gave 3, 926 as household population and 10% of the household population gave 393 as sample size.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Gender, Age Distribution and Marital Status of Respondents
The study had 88.78% male respondents with only 11.22% females. It observed males contribute more to family income than females and this may be due to the Hausa/Fulani culture and religion with 100% population of the area being Muslims may have also played a significant role. Age wise, 34.63, 41.33% and 23.98% of respondents fall within age groups 21-30, 31-40, and above 40 respectively. The result revealed respondents aged between 21-30 and 31-40 constitutes 76% which are active population fully engaged in income activities of farming and fishing in the area. Majority of respondents 70.92% are married, 16.3%, 6.12%, and 6.12% are single, divorced and widows respectively. The high marital status of respondents is another typical characteristic of Muslim dominated settlements in northern Nigeria.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study revealed the Dam has both positive and negative impacts on Makera Community. The positive contribution includes; provision of reliable source of water with equitable access for domestic water supply, irrigation, fishing and livestock watering. The dam serves as a source of attraction for people and infrastructures such as road, school, and electricity. The equitable access is shaped by the preconceived notion that water is a free commodity or “gift” and each member of the community has the right of access. The negative impacts are occasional floods and erosions that washed away crops, farmlands, and spread of water-related diseases such as malaria, typhoid, schistosomiasis etc. Therefore, there is need to enhance the beneficial contributions and minimize the adverse impacts of the dam. In the light of the above, the following recommendations and suggestions for further studies were proposed thus;
- The water quality of the dam should be analyzed to determine its suitability for human
- The provision of improved infrastructure for water- based recreation and tourism is necessary to enhance the benefit of the dam.
- The dam can also be used for development of a mini hydro- electric power plant project to augment the national power grid and contribute to the production of clean
- Fisherfolks diversify into other livelihood
- The diversified activities are a sustainable coping strategy to increase fisherfolks
- The income share generated from different fisherfolks activities are affected by
- The patterns of livelihood diversification activities are dependent on seasonality.
- Age, years of education, physical capital, natural capital, social capital and financial capital affect the extent of livelihood diversification.
- Inadequate extension service, distance to market, restrictions on the use of motorized boats and poor transportation were the major constraints to livelihood diversification of the sampled fisherfolks.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- There is a need to establish technical and vocational schools in rural areas especially for fisherfolks as this would boost thoeir basic knowledge and skills in their livelihoods thus improving their livelihood abilities and human assets in order to improve their livelihood This will improve their level of knowledge and skills and also provide employment and entrepreneurial skills for the fisherfolks in the study areas.
- In the rural communities, vocational institutions should be provided so as to increase fisherfolks‟s educational skills and knowledge and empower them in order to improve their livelihood diversification
- There is a need for the provision of rural credit institutions by government agencies. It is necessary that saving institutions (such as informal credit and savings „ajo‟) be institutionalized, especially with reference to fisherfolks so that they can also access soft loans from banks with their low income wage/savings and also at low interest
- There is need to promote information sources such as the sue of GSM in the rural areas as these act as a ready, relevant and reliable sources of information for the fisherfolks in their livelihood diversification opportunities.
- There is need to provide a conducive environment for rural livelihood activities to thrive by providing rural policies that would enhance sustainable rural livelihoods so that fisherfolks livelihood activities can thrive and blossom in the study
- Government and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) should improve and develop the rural sector through the provision of basic infrastructure such as power supply, good road networks and pipe borne water supply in order to improve the livelihoods of these This will enhance sustainable livelihood and encourage livelihood diversification of the fisherfolks in their communities
References
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- Cox, W. E. (ed.)(2010). The role of water in socio-economic Report of the International Hydrological Programme-11 Project. UNESCO: France.
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- Guvele, C. A. (2011). Gains from crop diversification in the Sudan Gezira scheme. Agricultural System, 70 (1), 319-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(01)00030-0
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