An Assessment of Land Use/cover Using Conventional and Satellite Data in Tomas Irrigtion Scheme, Kano, North - Western Nigeria.

Soil is a life supporting system upon which human beings have been dependent from the dawn of civilization. Hence comprehensive information on soil resources, its potentials, limitations and capabilities are required for a variety of purpose, which includes sustainable agriculture, reclamation of degraded lands among others. Data from SPOT 5 (2005), a satellite image and ERDAS; a geographic Information System were used to assess the current and potential land use in Tomas irrigation scheme. Soil map of Tomas at the scale of 1: 25,000 produced by Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MANR, 1987) was digitized and used to obtain the current and potential land use maps. Supervised image classification system was employed in the classification. Three major land use types (LUT) were identified viz; rainfed which accounted for 70.42 % of the total area, irrigated 12.6 % and “others” covering 16.94 %. The land capability classification of the soils revealed “marginal”capability class (IIIfs) with major limitations of inherent low fertility and soil texture. The extent of land utilization indicated that 86.2 % of the land in the study area was over utilized; these are marginal lands subjected to intensive and moderately intensive use. This is where severe environmental problems are expected. Only 12.81 % of the land was properly managed, where current land use fits potential capability.