**8. Destruction of farmlands: a threat to local income and livelihoods of women**

As reported by Ugwu and Ugwu [47] one of the sectors impacted by flood is the agriculture, particularly in the global South nations. The Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency [48] predicted the year 2020 will be characterized by a wetter season with thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, worsening the rising of water levels of rivers, intensifying longer lasting and more intense flash floods in Nigerian coastal cities than the previous year. Undoubtedly, agriculture in Nigeria is a huge industry that contributes to a substantial amount of about 26.09% of the national GDP, besides employing about 36% of the total Nigerian labor force and the largest direct employer of labor [49]. The Akili Ogidi community operates an agrarian economy that is dependent on rain-fed agriculture and the (in)direct impact on sustaining livelihoods. Notably, agriculture has played prominent roles in supplying food products, giving employment to community members. Akili Ogidi supplies food items and serves as food baskets to other urban markets and locations. Egbueri [14] mentioned that the community is majorly involved in fishing and farming activities due to the presence of River Niger. Clearly, the location of the study area by the River Niger, its high dependency levels on rainfed agriculture and its high rurality index, climate change, and poor accessibility during floods are factors that place the community at high risk of flooding annually, where the poor conditions of the inhabitants are even a much bigger challenge to deal with providing no other option than for them to migrate internally.

### *Climate-Driven Temporary Displacement of Women and Children in Anambra State, Nigeria… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104817*

Flooding negatively affects plants by uprooting their stem and roots thereby limiting its growth, when runoffs from heavy storms sweep the entire farm surface. It has led to widespread damage to crops, reducing quality and quantity of livestock and farm products being transported to larger markets. NEMA [25] reported in 2013, that about 2, 217 farmlands were destroyed by flood in Ogbaru LGA. The impact of floods was also felt on soil deposits and quality from heightened erosion challenges and associated fluvial deposits worsening the deep-layered mottled Ogbaru soils making the soils unfavorable to plant growth (see **Figure 11**). Several households have experienced financial loss, hardship resulting from loss of farmlands, food insecurity, and hunger. Generally, this is a setback on local innovation, productivity, and development in of community.

Findings from this study confirmed the predictions of intense and last-longing floods of 2020 in Anambra state caused havoc on local farmlands, crops, and seedlings, bringing all farming activities to a halt. The inferences from interviews and discussions revealed that the community is hugely involved in the farming products such as cassava, citrus fruits, rice, and oil palm products. Also, rice cultivation is prevalent in the area, and particularly, the swamp rice cultivation and cassava farming were affected [50]. Drawing from the results of this study, about 72% of women report that their household income was from agriculture-related activities especially subsistence farming, fishing, and animal rearing. Findings from discussions revealed that women farmers were usually the worse hit during flood disaster where their farmlands are totally submerged destroying their farms and food products, economic/fruit trees, and farm animals (see **Figures 9** and **10**).

Generally, men and women continue to suffer from persistent floods-associated setbacks, yet women are impacted differentially as their livelihoods and general well-being are grossly depleted as they get more involved in gender roles, such as family care and nursing sick children. Women are found majorly in the agricultural sector, and invariably, the changing climate continues to impact women relative to accessibility to the resource opportunities they need to be more efficient. If the acclaimed unequal access to the resources and opportunities persists, then it will be difficult to combat food insecurity, hunger, malnutrition, and poverty that have become dire consequences. There is need for emphasis and actions that would promote gender equality while empowering women in agriculture to maximize their capacities in mitigating food insecurity, hunger, and extreme poverty. In the interview session, one of the community women leaders complained that their crops were either washed away by the floods or get rotten in the affected farmlands. She further informed that …

*… we are usually afraid at the onset of the wet season because we experience huge destruction of our farmlands and our root crops are destroyed and over the years the situation has worsened knowing that we are riverine and our occupation is agriculture."*

Majorly in Akili Ogidi, women are involved in the entire agricultural value chain, such as farm managers, suppliers of labor, harvesters, processers, and selling of farm products, making them vital and strategic in food security and agricultural production. Also, most women-headed households are all disproportionately affected by the reoccurring flood in the community. As confirmed by one of the women leaders in our group discussion, who has lost her husband, she said,

*"Women suffer the consequences of the flood especially the huge loss of income, major source of employment, livelihoods and food security for their family members. The*

*prices of food products are high and transportation is equally high since the floods block the only access route in the community.*

However, the women interviewees informed us that the community farmers have improvised local adaptation strategies where they farm twice in the year. The first planting season comes early in the year about late January/early February before the onset of wet season in March-April. This enables the farmers to harvest their farm products before their farms are submerged in the flood by May/June. The second planting season starts after the floods recede in late October/November, so that harvest can take place on or before January to prepare for another planting season to commence (see **Figure 11**). However, the floods of 2020 shattered their strategy, because the wet seasons extended longer than usual causing the floods to last longer as well. It is unfortunate that climate variability has remained unstable in recent times. One of the women interviewees responded saying …

*"We need government to support our farming activities so we can survive the floods and have food to give to our children since the flood takes away everything from us. We need farm inputs like fertilizer, tractors, loan, good roads to assist us in accessing our farmlands".*

Additionally, findings showed that the women and men were heavily dependent on the River Niger for their supply of large fish species during the floods. The community is traditionally surrounded by two Rivers Niger and Ulasi that provide various species of fishes and aquatic life. The participants informed during survey that they experience huge sales from large species of fishes caught and sold (see **Figure 12**). The floods provide an advantage for their fishing business because the majority of the fishes are brought to the river surface and even to their doorsteps during the flood events. During an interview session, one of the fisher women added that the supply of fishes is the only advantage of the floods …

*"The floods bring to us large amounts of fish from the river. It drops the fishes for us at the bank of the river. It makes it easy for us to collect the fishes. This makes so many women to go into fishing business in the wet season to increase our income. We have work to do this time apart from house jobs.*

It is on record that women face high levels of discrimination such as poverty, inadequate knowledge, and low execution of human rights among others, because women are overwhelmingly burdened with the huge roles of caring for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities and this places them at higher risks during flood disasters. A study carried out by Ihaji and Aondoaver [51] confirmed that women and children were the main casualties in flood relief camps in Cross River, Nigeria. There is need to support Akili Ogidi women to prepare for climate-driven floods. Hence, women should be given more considerations in terms of food, healthcare accommodation, and social facilities.

## **9. Effect of flooding on health of women and children**

Findings from the study showed that flooding had extensive and significant effects on the health of community members—men, women, children, and people with disability. However, women and children were extensively affected by the harsh conditions provided by the flood. Alderman et al. [52] categorized health effects into short and long terms. Moreover, short-term health effects observed during the floods

#### *Climate-Driven Temporary Displacement of Women and Children in Anambra State, Nigeria… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104817*

include infections, drowning, mental health challenges, physical injuries, and waterborne diseases. The longer-term health effects result from physical dislocation, shortages of safe water, injuries, depression over the loss of personal property, and death of a family member though most of the deaths in Akili Ogidi are from drowning of children and women. However, globally, it has been shown that mortality rates after major flooding increase by 50%, while with a prevalence of 8.6–53%, mental and psychological distress continue beyond 2 years after the flooding events [52].

Studies have confirmed that men and women are not affected in an equal magnitude because women have disproportionate vulnerability to flood disasters, compared with men. Considering, the flood disaster in Akili Ogidi, the women and children were more vulnerable because women are often concerned over their children's safety. During the focus group, discussion session of the married women, a nursing mother related her experience during the flood. She reported that …

"During the 2020 floods I was pregnant and I had four other children aged 6, 5, 4 and 2years which I had to cater for. Worse still, our community health center was shut down because of the flood. I and the children suffered from exhaustion, stress, body pains, fever and physical injuries such as cuts, sprain from falls and insect bites from mosquitoes worsening my health condition".

Understandably with the physiology of the pregnant state, such injuries may indirectly contribute to complications such as abortions, abruption placentae leading to vaginal bleeding in pregnancy (in the case of trauma or fall on the gravid abdomen), and even death from being carried away by the flood. Also, access to health facilities were further compounded by the destruction of such properties by the floods. It was noted by observation and during interactions with the women that they had restricted access to contraception, which would have been obtained as part of family planning services during postnatal care where the health facilities to function as required.

Report showed that women and children were badly affected as there were reported cases of deaths. According to Duncan [53] more women die during flooding disasters than men, which may be related partly due to less physical ability to run, and most of these women died trying to save their children. It was noted that the Anambra flood in 2019 killed four persons—a nine (9) year old boy, a (7) year girl, an (18) year boy, and a pregnant woman [28].

Flood-related or flood-prone injuries occurred as people tried to save themselves, their family, and their valuable possessions from the flood and theft. There were also reported cases of sexual violence (women and children being raped and abused), concern over missing children, and properties. Other health features seen were loss of appetite, lack of sleep, nightmares, tiredness, and irritability. All these can affect the psychological and mental health of the women and even the children whom flood has made orphans and homeless. Makwana [54] affirmed that mental and emotional/psychological trauma experienced by women and children contribute to intense impacts psychologically such as anxiety, low mood, and frustration. Even the children's mental health was badly affected by hunger and food (in) security from intense poverty in our study area. Although the devastating mental health flood impacts on women may not be comparable to men, women will need more professional assistance to recover and stabilize their mental/emotional state due to challenging patriarchal gender biases.

Further, the flood damages the conditions of the environment (water, land and air) making it vulnerable to pollutants that sponsor increased fecal oral transmission of disease [55]. Generally, there is poor state of hygiene maintenance increasing the risk of waterborne illnesses, such as hepatitis A and cholera. With the high levels of poverty, negligence and poor access to clean water supply, and sanitation strategies, women are more susceptible to infections [56]. The major source of water supply was surrounding rivers that were polluted by the flood. Also, studies have reported postflooding events bring an increase in cholera, nonspecific diarrhea, poliomyelitis, rotavirus, and typhoid fevers [57]. Intense precipitation influences waterborne disease outbreaks such as cholera, cryptosporidiosis, non-specific diarrhea, rotavirus, typhoid, and paratyphoid [58–60].

This is because floods can easily move (in)animate objects such as debris carrying parasites, bacteria, and viruses rapidly into the moving water systems and spread waterborne and related diseases. Also, studies showed that during the September 2012 flooding in Lagos, the flooded water came with lots of fecal pathogens and pollutants affecting major parts of Lagos. This is a challenge that pollutes drinking water, the associated poor sanitation [61], can lead to skin irritation and diseases as people wade through the polluted muddy-infested water to reach their homes.
