Abstract

Floods are natural events with negative economic and social consequences. This study assessed the effects of flood on rural household livelihood activities in Fagge Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State. The objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics, find out the livelihood activities, assess the causes and effects of flood and describe the coping strategies of flood by rural dwellers. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used. Out of ten (10) districts in Fagge LGA, three districts were purposively selected, forty (40) household heads were randomly sampled from each district to give a total of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Chi-square () were used to test the hypotheses. The mean age was 35.7 years. PPMC result showed that age (r= 0.227, p= 0.013) was significant to livelihood activities while Chi-square () test revealed that sex ( = 26.286, p = 0.002) was significant to livelihood activities. Chi-square () test also revealed that deforestation ( = 22.44, p = 0.002), overgrazing (= 28.459, p = 0.004) were significant to farming activities. The study concludes that livelihood activities that increase deforestation like overgrazing and poor drainage maintenance should be discouraged.

Key Word: Flood, Kano State, Livelihood activities, Rural household