GIS Analysis of Peri-Urban Agricultural Land Encroachment in (FCT), Nigeria

Abstract

Population explosion, globalization of the economy and the technological advancement of man are responsible for major modern-day transformations in the nature and flow of the Earth ecology, which has a very broad historical background that dates back to ancient times. Presently, the fast urban growth in Nigeria has affected approximately 400,000 hectares of vegetative cover. In the Kuje area council, the increases in urbanization and sprawling pattern of development in Abuja have culminated into the quick disappearance or total transformation of fertile agricultural sites into peri-urban development. This study use questionnaire administration in the ten wards of the area council and multitemporal images of Landsat TM and Nigeria Sat-1 over a period of 35 years (1975–2010) to assess the level of urban encroachment on agricultural lands and displacement of farmers in Kuje area council. The study reveals that urban encroachment into agricultural lands is alarming at the rate of 15.7 Km² annually, and a total of 509 Km² of agricultural land have been lost to urbanization within the 35 years under review. It is therefore recommended among other things that land management in the area council should be incorporated into the existing Abuja Geographical information System (AGIS) for effective sustainable human development.