ASSESSMENT OF AFFORESTATION PROGRAMME AND COMMUNITY PERCEPTION IN GUMEL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, JIGAWA STATE

This study assessed afforestation programme and community perception in Gumel Local Government area of Jigawa state. Field data collection was done using structured questionnaire and Landsat satellite imageries. A total of two hundred (200) questionnaire were distributed to the 200 sample size drawn from the sample area using a multi-stage sampling design technique. In a similar way, Landsat data were collected for a period of thirty (30) years using Landsat TM for 1988 and 1998 with Landsat ETM for 2008 and landsat-8 operational land imager (OLI) for 2018 using Earthexplorer. A 30m by 30m resolution Landsat image of the study area was obtained from NASA website. The images were downloaded from the Global Land Cover Facility of the University of Maryland (GLCF, 2018) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and spatially referenced in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection with datum World Geodetic System (WGS). The images were extracted to Tiff formats for processing and classification using maximum likelihood classifier in Idrisi Selva. The collected data were subjected to analysis such as mean, simple percentage, graphs and tables. Results shows that between the year 1988 to 2018, afforestation in Gumel Local Government Area of Jigawa State increases significantly due to the success of the afforestation programme. It was however recommended that Government agencies in charge of forestry activity are thereby encouraged to put up measures in ensuring the avoidance of forest encroachment activities so as to ensure abundance trees and land covers.