ABSTRACT

This study evaluated impact of Typha grass on the livelihood of the crop, fishery and livestock farmers in selected areas of Yobe and Jigawa states, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select respondents for this study. A total of two hundred and fourty (240) respondents comprising of one hundred and fourty-five Typha grass affected farmland (145) and ninety-five (95) non-affected Typha grass farmland.Primary data were collected from 240 respondents through the use of random sampling techniques with the aid of structured questionnaire. The statistical tools used to analyze the data were descriptive statistics, regression analysis, chow test statistics and t-test.The study shows that 96% of the farmers were married, about (46%) of the respondents fall within the age range of 40-59years, the majority of the farmers (51%) had no formal education. The majority of farmers operate farm size ranging from 1-3 hectares, about 82% of the respondents do not had access to extension services. The household size ranged from1-10 persons with 58%. Majority of the farmers, (79%) were not members of a cooperative society.Regression on factors influencing livelihood activities on crop, fishery and livestock using output, income and level of living indices, the value of coefficient of determination of crop output, income and level of living, were 0.62, 0.58 and 0.42 respectively meaning that about 62%, 58%, 42% of the variation in the Typha grass area was explained by the independent variables in the regression model. Chow test statistics was to assess the impact of Typha grass on the output, income and level of living for crop, fishery and livestock farmers. Chow test F-calculated for crop output, income and level of living was 15.58, 4.61and 13.28respectively while that of F-tabulated value for 6 degree of freedom with sample size of 240 was 2.80, at 5% level of probability, hence there is significant impact of Typha grass on crop, output, income and level of living on crop production in the study area. In terms of fishery output, income and level of living, Chow test F-calculated was 16.65, 21.06 and 28.01, while the F-tabulated value for 6 degree of freedom with sample size of 240 was 1.86 at 5% level of probability, hence significant impact of Typha grass on fish output, income and level of living. Also, Chow test F-calculated for livestock output, income and level of living was 4.96. 4.58 and 2.94 respectively, while that of F-tabulated value for 6 degree of freedom with sample size of 240 was 1.96 at 5% level of probability, hence there is significant impact of Typha grass on output, income and level of living of livestock farmers in the study area. About63.6% of the farmers have farm sizes (0.1-0.5 hectares) covered with typha grass scattered in differnt location. This was closely followed by those respondent whose farm sizes covered by Typha grass are between 0.6-1.0 hectares and 1.1-1.5 hectares constituting 27.3% and 9.1% of the respondents respectively. Majority of the farmers 56% employed method of cutting and at the same time flooding the area to avoid seed germination and stem sprouting. About 36% of the farmers use mechanical clearing method by slashing the weed while about 9% of the farmers use chemical method as a strategy to reduce the weed.The most severe problems encountered in crop and animal production in the study area is weed. This constraint constitute serious impediments to production and need to be addressed adequately before crop, fishery and livestock production can be improved in the study area. It is recommended that agro based industries and non-governmental organization should be encouraged by the local government to support research on this weed. 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Agriculture has been the mainstay of the Nigerian economy despite the decline especially since the oil boom of the 1970's that heralded the petro-dollar era, till date, a greater proportion of the population-about two-third of the total labour force of the nation, depends on the sector for their livelihood and the rural economy is propelled by agriculture (Sunday, 2009). The country has an area covering 92.94 million hectares including 91.1 million hectare of land mass and 1.3 million hectares of water bodies. Of this, agricultural land area of 83.6 million hectares is classified: as follows 28.2 million hectares arable land, 2 million hectares fadama (irrigable land), 2.5 million hectares permanent crops, 10.9 million hectares forest/wood and 40 million hectares pastures. It is in light of this fact that the Nigerian Government put agriculture at the forefront of its economic agenda (Sani, 2012). Human communities no matter how sophisticated could not ignore the importance of agriculture. In modern times however, many in the urban world have forgotten this fundamental connection. Insulated by the apparent abundance of food that has come from new technologies for the growing, transportation, and storage of food, humanity's fundamental dependence on agriculture is often overlooked (Sani, 2012). Agriculture is the predominant occupation of two-third of working population for their livelihood. It is the main source of food for most of the population and is also main source of