AN ASSESSMENT OF URBAN AGRICULTURAL LAND USE CHANGES USING GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY OF JOS-BUKURU

The urban agricultural land use change of Jos-Bukuru between 1961 and 2002 is assessed. The aim is to generate relevant, accurate and timely data that would enhance the quality of decisions and actions in an attempt to ensure the survival, expansion and the sustainability of urban agricultural land use. A geospatial information system approach was adopted in the mapping and assessment of urban agricultural land use change in the study area Topographic map of Jos-Bukuru urban at the scale of 1:50000, Landsat TM image of 1986 and 2002 with spatial resolution of 30m, among others. Data conversion, digitizing, editing, analysis was carried out using ILWIS 3.2 and Arc-View 3.2 software. The study reveals among others that agricultural land use increased substantially between 1961 and 1986. However, between 1986 and 2002, about 63% of agricultural land was lost. Out of this, about 68% was lost to urban development. The percentage increase in urban in urban expansion was 3.5% from 1961 to 1986 and 3.8% from 1986 to 2002. While the percentage in urban agricultural land use between 1986 and 2002 was 3.9%. Overall, while urban spatial expansion is increasing agricultural land use is decreasing. The study recommends among others that urban agricultural land use should be made a legitimate in urban expansion planning; specific agricultural practices should be zoned to specific locations within the city; and, that urban farming should be incorporated into the poverty alleviation programme of the Federal governmen