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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Adapting to Dams: Agrarian Change Downstream of the Tiga Dam, Northern Nigeria
Authors:Thomas, David H.L.
Adams, William M.ISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:World Development
Volume:27
Issue:6
Period:June
Pages:919-935
Language:English
Geographic terms:Nigeria
Northern Nigeria
Subjects:dams
farm management
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(99)00041-8
Abstract:In Africa, the economic and social impacts of large dams on communities inhabiting flood plains downstream have mostly been adverse. However, most studies of the impacts of dams have been short term and confined to the years immediately following dam closure. This paper takes a longer term perspective, examining, over a 20-year period, the response of inhabitants of the Hadejia-Jama'are floodplain in Northern Nigeria to the changes in downstream flooding patterns that followed the completion of the Tiga Dam in 1974. The paper shows that despite adverse short-term environmental impacts of dam construction, in the longer term, farmers have managed to adapt their agriculture in the floodplain. Factors important in this adaptation include the effects of environmental change themselves and the availability of new agricultural technologies, although there are indicators which suggest that in some cases this increased level of production may not be sustainable. The implications of the response of floodplain farmers to desiccation over a period of decades are discussed. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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