Abstract
Oke-Ogun Area of Oyo State, which
is widely known as the food basket of South-Western Nigeria, is a flood
prone area exacerbated by climate variability. Therefore, this study was
carried out mainly to assess the impact of flood disasters on the
livelihoods of farmers in Oke-Ogun Region of Oyo state, Nigeria.
The
data collected through in-depth interview, structured questionnaires,
Focused Group Discussions and portable GPS were subjected to analysis,
using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results reveal that
farmland’s close proximity to river/stream, limited drainage system,
frequent heavy rainfall, limited supports from external bodies during
flooding are some of the factors that make the farmers vulnerable to
flood disasters. The study also revealed that flooding has huge impact
on their farmlands and limited impact on their houses.
Furthermore,
the study finds that the farmers have very low coping mechanisms as
most of them do not have access to insurance facilities and do lack
timely and precise flood early warning systems, flood local signs and
community flood management committees.
The study stresses a
significant association between farmers’ vulnerabilities and their
livelihoods and recommended that government and relevant agencies should
provide adequate drainage system, weather forecast, insurance
facilities, and timely and precise flood early warning system to reduce
farmers’ vulnerabilities to flood disasters and enhance their
livelihoods.
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