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ABSTRACT
Rapid growth of town or urban expansion is one of the dominant agent of change in land use, and the impacts can be felt at all levels be it locally, regionally, or globally, and it has spatial growth on farm lands. Thus, this study examines the impacts of urbanization on agricultural land and farming activities in Ekosodin, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Benin City Edo State, Nigeria. Primary and secondary sources of data were employed in this study which include a key-informant interviews and distribution of 160 questionnaires. The secondary data gotten from satellite imageries include the spatial distribution of land use land cover class in Ekosodin, from 1987-2021. The primary data revealed that residential lands are used for cultivation in Ekosodin. Therefore, urban phenomena has no encroachment on agricultural land use, but had effects on farming activities; likewise, arable crop production is prevalent in Ekosodin. Majority of the respondents which are over 44.4% disagreed that people are encouraged to conserve farmlands. The secondary data revealed that; apart from waterways, cultivated lands had the lowest area coverage of 172.25 HA, while the forest land had the highest area coverage of 767.25 HA from the onset of the study period; Hence, the urban built up area fed more on the forest land than the agricultural land, adding up to 779.63 HA with a total area extent of 997.92 HA, and cultivated land lost 125.64 HA to urban growth. Sustainable development and proper planning have been recommended at all levels.
