Agricultural land-use change and disappearance of farmlands in Kaduna Metropolis-Nigeria

This study assessed agricultural land-use change in Kaduna metropolis. This study combined the use of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) application to ascertain the rate of agriculturalland-use change from 1980 to 2012 in the study area. The four imageries (Landsat MSS 1980, Landsat TM 1990, Landsat ETM+ 2005 and Nigeria Sat X 2012) used were classified and compared to understand the rate and extent of agricultural land-use change during the different periods. The findings revealed that the study area experienced a significant reduction inagricultural land and these leads to continued disappearance of farmlands. Lastly, the decrease in agricultural lands leads to loss of livelihood, reduction in food supply and increase poverty. This has raised so many concerns about the sustainability of Urban and Peri Urban Agriculture (UPA) production in the study area whereby the small scale farmers are the most affected.Key Words: Land-Use, Urban, Farmers, Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Kaduna, Nigeri