Urban Encroachment into Agricultural Land in Abeokuta, Nigeria

Abstract

This study identified and assessed the effect of uncontrolled expansion of Abeokuta into some of the neighbouring rural farmlands, between 1966 and 2016. Primary and Secondary data were used for this study. Sources of primary data included 275 copies of household questionnaire that were administered to randomly selected households in eight neighbouring rural communities around Abeokuta. Secondary data included satellite imagery Landsat TM (1986), Landsat ETM+ (2006) and Landsat ETM+ (2016). Results indicate that Abeokuta has been expanding rapidly since 1966. Results show further that the distance between Abeokuta and the neighbouring settlements reduces with the passage of time. By 2016, all the eight neighbouring settlements have been submerged within Abeokuta metropolis, and major impacts of the expansion of Abeokuta include shortage of farmland areas, increase in the distance to farmlands, reduction in the size of farmlands, rising cost of living, and occupation diversification. In addition, key benefits of the expansion of Abeokuta into the adjourning communities were provision of banking facilities, health and educational institutions, police posts/stations, tarred roads and the extension of electricity to remote areas of communities. The study showed that substantial amount of agricultural land have been lost to urban encroachment, and therefore indicated strong need to delimit urban growth boundary through landuse zoning plans into rural areas in the region.