TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF VEGETATION COVER CHANGES IN NORTHEASTERN PART OF NIGERIA’S SUDAN SAVANNAH

Abstract

Survival of teeming population in sub-Saharan Africa necessitates conversion of natural vegetation to farmland in an unsustainable manner leading to environmental degradation and subsequently, the threat to food security. The study aims at analyzing of vegetation cover changes in Nigeria’s Sudan savannah agroecological zone. Landsat images of Yamaltu-Deba town with periodic interval of 10 years between 1990-2020 were acquired at 30 m spatial resolution and 16 bit of radiometric resolution was analyzed using Arc GIS. Image processing and data analysis was used to determine the trend pattern of vegetation cover changes. While NDVI was used to classify the vegetation into high, low, moderate, no vegetation and water body, overlay analysis was used to produce vegetation cover change map. The study discovered reduction in high vegetation at the rate of -9.32% in 1990 to -29.81% in 2020 while low vegetation cover changes increased from 4.09% in 2000 to 50.01% in 2020. In conclusion both high and moderate vegetation cover have been reducing at alarming rate resulting to increase in low vegetation cover. Therefore the study hereby recommended the need for incorporation of spatial integration of soil nutrient improve tree into the farming system and legislation against all form of deforestation.