Research
An Assessment of the Trends of Climatic Variables in Taraba State Nigeria
This paper is the second part of a TETFUND sponsored research carried out to examine trends of climatic variables in Taraba State Nigeria. Previous studies concentrated on the evidence of climate change in the state, awareness of climate change among students of tertiary institutions in the state and farmers perception and adaptation to climate change in northern Taraba. There is need to examine the trend and pattern of climatic variables in the whole state. This knowledge gap may greatly reduce the failures in measures to develop a state wide effective monitoring, adaptation and mitigation measures to climate change in the study area. Climatic data such as mean monthly and annual temperature and rainfall totals and rain days per annum for the four meteorological stations in the state (Lau, Gassol, Ibi and Gembu) for a period of 30 to 35 years was obtained. These were used in calculating the mean temperature, mean monthly rainfall, annual rainfall, the onset, cessation and length of rainy season. The result shows that all the stations exhibited a similar trend of increasing temperature with exception of Gembu where the temperature is decreasing. Annual rainfall show increasing trend in the southern and central part of the state with exception of Lau in the northern part of the state. All the four stations where synoptic data were obtained (Gembu, Gassol, Ibi and Lau) shows late onset of rain, while only Ibi show late cessation of rains. Length of rainy season show decreasing trend in all the stations with exception of Ibi, where It is relatively stable. The implication of such a trend, mean a reduction in annual rainfall, and hence reduced crop yield, especially if the trend persisted for a long period of time, which can lead to a tendency towards a drier condition.
The Challenges of Fishery Resource Management Practices in Mayo Ranewo Community in Ardo Kola Local Government Area (LGA), Taraba State Nigeria
Taraba State is well endowed with abundant surface water which includes ponds and rivers. This include rivers Benue (second largest river in Nigeria which traverse the state for over 390km), Taraba and Donga and their tributaries. The state has about 500,000 hectares of water body and 142 natural ponds. Fishery is therefore an important local resource bases of the rural communities in the State especially those along the river Benue. Conflict over access and ownership of this local resource base as a result of increasing population and demand for fish has been a source of concern to many people in recent times. This study examines the challenges of the fishery management practices in the local community in the face of declining fishery resources, increase degradation and climate change among others. The study focuses on artisanal inland fishery on the River Benue and its tributaries using the case study of Mayo Ranewo. It considers the challenges of operating fisheries in a sustainable way, the principles and management practices adopted in the rural community. The survey design method was used to collect data. The instrument involves the use of questionnaire which was randomly administered on 65 respondents in Mayo Ranewo community. Focus group discussion method was also used to generate additional information to compliment the questionnaire data. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data collected. The study is important because it provide information that will guide small scale fisheries management in the face of social, economic and environmental changes and allow for more adaptive response to new circumstances and opportunities.
