COPING STRATEGIES OF FARMING HOUSEHOLDS AFFECTED BY 2010 FLOOD DISASTER IN SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study determined the coping strategies of farming households affected by 2010 flood disaster in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used in selecting the study area, while 178 farming households were the sample size of the study. The interview schedule with 0.82 reliability coefficient subjected to face and construct validity assessment was used as study instrument. Data were obtained from primary and secondary sources, while data analysis was achieved using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study reveals that most (45.5%) of the farming households relied on intervention from families and relatives as short term coping strategy, while majority (55.1%)of the farming households relied on borrowing as short term coping strategy. Furthermore, the study reveals that most (48.9%) of the farming households were distributed with relief materials by National Emergency Management Agency as medium term coping strategy, while majority (65.2%) of the farming households migrated to urban areas for non farm income activities as long term coping strategy. The null hypothesis between the coping strategies and adverse effects of 2010 flood disaster was rejected at 5% level of significance,while Cramer's V symmetric measure revels that the medium term coping strategy was the most (0.797)sufficient coping strategy due to intervention of multiple stakeholders. The study recommended that the provision of relief materials should cover sufficient distribution of food stuffs, drugs, livelihood materials, detergents and building materials that can be used to reduce the effects of migration to urban areas in coping with adverse effects of flood disaster.