or email: allprojectmaterials.com
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Research
Methodology
3.1 Study Area
This study will be carried out in Delta State. The state is
bless with fertile soil and favourable climate which make it an important
producer of food and cash crops. Delta state is an oil production state of
Nigeria situated in the region known as the Niger Delta, south -south
geopolitical zone with a population of 4,098,291 (Federal Republic of Nigeria
official gazette, 2007). The state presented covers a landmass of about
18,050km of which more than 60% is land. The state has approximately between
longitude 50.00 and 60.45 east and latitude 50.00 and 60.30 North. It is
bounded in the north by Edo state, the east by Anambra State, South-East by
Bayelsa. The state has a wide coated belt inter-lace with rivulets, which form
part of the Niger Delta. Delta state was curved out of the former Bendel state
on August 27th 1991. It consists of twenty-five (25) local government areas
groups into three agricultural zones which are; The Delta North, Delta South
and Delta Central. The Delta North (Delta Ibo) comprises of Aniocha, Ika,
Oshimili, Ukwani, Ndokwa region while Delta South and Delta central are made up
of Urhobo, Ijaw, Isoko and Itsekiri. The state enjoys tropical climate with two
district seasons. These are the rainy season (April-October) and the dry season
(November – March). The rainfall is heaviest in July. The temperature ranges
between 200C and 340C with annual rainfall in the coastal areas is about 2557mm
and 1905mm in the North.
The natural vegetation of the state varies from the mangrove
swamps along the coast to every green forest in the fresh water zone and
derived savannah in the north. Farming and fishing are the main occupation of
the indigenes of the state major food crops and cash crops produce in the state
include yam, maize, cassava, plantain, vegetables e.g (green, pumpkin, bitter
leaf, saint leaf, water leaf, etc) fruits e.g (orange, banana, mangoes
pineapple, pawpaw, guava etc) rubber, oil palm etc. They also engage in
livestock farming such as pigs, goats, fisheries, poultry bird etc.