loo is being 
project is to 
agricultural 
lologies and 
ad. Analysis 
F the Hausa 
nd and orga- 
| this paper. 
jue for the 
authorities. 
ere maps are 
ent for deve- 
! inadequate 
re taken for 
any parts of 
ere topogra- 
photography 
and land-use 
int in the de- 
such as farm 
rtilizers, and 
orojects have 
| social varia- 
ess. Agricul- 
of cultivated 
sponsible for 
ch a context, 
nore difficult 
the extent of 
  
  
ion of renew- 
  
     
  
   
   
   
    
   
    
  
  
  
    
   
    
      
    
   
    
     
   
   
  
    
    
  
  
  
  
   
   
    
    
3. There is an inadequate number of research and development institutions with the capacity to 
undertake mission-oriented research on technological adaptation to the development process. 
Consequently, many of Nigeria's resource studies have been commissioned on the basis of ad 
hoc arrangements with external bodies (e.g. the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza- 
tion and the British Overseas Development Agency) or imp lemented through contracts with foreign 
firms. In many cases, Nigerians have not been involved (Adeniyi, 1985; Hunting Technical Services 
Ltd., 1981), and the experience gained and the data collected have thus been largely lost to 
Nigeria. No doubt, this must have been in his mind when Hall argued that projects such as inven- 
tory mapping and analysis can be successfully applied to resource development plans only when 
the research techniques and data gathered are thoroughly understood by the host country's scien- 
tists and planners (Hall, 1982) 
Against this background, and recognising the potential of remotely sensed data, a proposal 
was submitted to the University of Lagos Central Research Committee by Adalemo and Adeniyi 
for a national land use inventory and mapping project, based on preliminary consultation with a 
number of government agencies, particularly the River Basin Development Authorities. A number 
of constraints were recognised at the outset: 
1. The size of Nigeria and the diversity of its ecology and land ma nagement practices, 
2. The inadequacy of traditional methods of field mapping. 
3. Local unavailability of instrumentation for digital processing of remote sensing data. 
These considerations dictated a strategy based upon the selection of a limited but diverse area 
for a pilot study, and co-operation with an external institution possessing the necessary skills and 
resources and the willingness to share them. 
À three-year joint project between the Departments of Geography at the Universities of Lagos 
and Waterloo, starting in August 1985, has been approved for funding by the International Deve- 
lopment Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, and has the following goals: 
1. To develop the scientific and technical capabilities of the Department of Geography, Univer- 
sity of Lagos, in various aspects of remote sensing applications and cartography, especially 
in the field of resource inventory and mapping. 
2. To provide practical results from the project to relevant government agencies, in particular 
the Sokoto- Rima River Basin Development Authority (SRRBDA). 
3. To share the technical remote sensing expertise and facilities at the University of Waterloo in 
the furtherance of the goals of the University of Lagos. 
THE SOKOTO-RIMA RIVER BASIN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 
The Sokoto- Rima River Basin Development Authority (SRRBDA) is one of eleven establi- 
shed during the period of the 1975-80 Plan. The natural basin covers an area of approximately 
195,000 square kilometres (Udo, 1970), and includes most of the territory of Sokoto State and 
the northwestern part of Kaduna State (Fig. 1). For administrative purposes, the Authority 
restricted its activities to the territory of Sokoto State between 1983 and 1985. It has primary