Abstract:
The study analyzed the effect of sand mining on food crop production in Ondo State, Nigeria. It specifically described and compared socio-economic characteristics of landowners in the study area; identified the perceived factors influencing landowners to lease land to sand miners; evaluated the soil management requirements for remediating the mined agricultural lands and estimated the opportunity cost of leasing agricultural land to sand miners by farming household. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 respondents from the study area. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, soil analysis and Net Present Value (NPV). The result revealed that the average mean age across all four locations is 51years; about (51.7%) of the respondents have a secondary level of education across the locations. Also, the mean household size of the households was about 5 persons. Sand mining offers better job security than farming (x̅ = 4.96), Sand mining provides quick access to income (x̅ = 4.91), Sand mining offers job opportunities to people without lands (x̅ = 4.81), Sand mining does not require any specialized skills to engage in (x̅ = 4.71), Unemployment/underemployment compel people to engage in sand mining (x̅ = 4.56), Sand mining is economically more rewarding than farming (x̅ = 4.52), Sand mining is economically more rewarding than farming (x̅ = 4.52) were the most factors influencing landowners to lease their lands to sand miners. The result revealed that soils in the study area were acidic with an average pH of 5.3 after sand mining. The soil organic carbon of the plots was below the critical level, likewise the exchangeable potassium, sodium and the soil organic matter which is an indication that fertilization of the plots is highly necessary; the total nitrogen was higher than the critical value while the phosphorus content was within the critical value. The Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) was very low having a value less than 3meq/100g. Also, inorganic fertilizer (animal manure) has economic value as plant nutrient sources and can be used as amendments for soils to improve soil physical properties by adding organic matter. The result of the NPV from leasing the land to sand mining activities as against remediating the land for agricultural practices was -N42,187.60. The results revealed in the study area that here is severe soil nutrient depletion in the study area based on sand mining activites.
