FLOOD AND ITS IMPACT ON FARMLANDS IN ITIGIDI, ABI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA
Eni, Devalsam I, Atu, Joy E, Oko,Comfort..O,Ekwok,Innocent

Abstract
Flooding has significant impacts on global and regional food production particularly the common stable food crops performance in tropical sub-humid climatic zone. In this study farm land was divided into fifteen (15) plots for easy analysis. A quadrant of 5Oni x 50m was demarcated and the different types of crop cultivated in the study area were identified. The depth of inundation of river water was measured a meter rule of 100ml. Soil samples were collected and taken to the laboratory to determine the soils physical properties. A semi Structured interview was held with 50 farmers. The interview covered topics such as farm characteristics causes of floods, types of crops destroyed and factors influencing flood. The result reveals that plot 8 with degraded vegetables covered a total area. 175 hectare, also the crops was inundated to a depth of 15m. Crops such as water leaf, tomatoes, melon and cucumber were highly devastated. Cassava, pepper, potatoes and tomatoes were cu1tivated in soils with 69% sand content and has a textural class known as sandy loam. The mean of sand, silt and the clay content in the study area was 494.5, 18 and 15.8 respectively. PH value ranged from 5.10 -6.70. The above result showed that flooding had a significant impact on soil physio-chemical properties because organic matter and nutrients were leached down the soil. It was recommended that plant species that are tolerant to excess water inundation should be improved within the study area to ensure large scale crop production.

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